Elizabeth I - Lives of the Rich and Poor Flashcards
1563 Statute of Artificers
1563 Statute of Artificers
Attempted to create employment to reduce vagrancy, also
tied men down to one area
1572 Vagabonds Act
Poor rate introduced, a local register kept for distribution. Harsh punishments for vagrants who broke rules (whipping,
burning through the ear etc.)
1576 Act for the Relief of the Poor
Help to find work given to able-bodied vagrants. Those who refused were sent to Houses of Correction
1598 Act for the Relief of the Poor
Four Overseers of the Poor appointed to each parish. All inhabitants had to pay the poor rate. Work found for the able bodied
1598 Act for the Punishment of Rogues
Begging was strictly forbidden and anyone caught was whipped and returned to their place of birth or sent to a House of Correction.
1601 Act for the Relief of the Poor
Known as the Poor Law. The government accepted they had a responsibility to help the poor and set up legal frameworks to tackle poverty
Clapper dudgeon
Tied arsenic to their skin to make it bleed and get sympathy
Hooker/ angler
Used a long wooden stick to steal clothes and valuables
Doxy
A female beggar who hid her thefts by pretending to knit
Abraham man
Pretended to be mad to get donations through pity
Rufflers
Former soldiers who used threats of violence to get money
Dummerers
Pretended to be dumb to get charity
Counterfeit crank
Sucked soap so they foamed at the mouth to try to get sympathy – they looked ill
The impotent/ deserving poor
Those who were genuinely unable to work due to age, hardship or other physical issues. It was recognised
that these people were in need of ‘poor relief’
The able-bodied poor/ sturdy beggars
Those considered capable of work but were unable or unwilling to find employment. It was thought that these individuals needed to be encouraged or even forced to find work
The very rich (Nobility)
The nobility maintained their wealth by renting out the considerable land they owned. They built a number of very large houses during this period to show off their wealth
(such as Hardwick Hall). Many were built in ‘E’
and ‘H’ shapes. Landscape gardens became popular with the gentry during this period. The children of nobles would have private
tutoring in French, Latin and Greek. Nobles wore expensive clothes and wore jewellery to show off their riches.
The rich (Gentry)
The gentry owned more land than they could farm, so they rented it out. They built new homes made of stone, which had at least
eight rooms and quarters for their servants to live with them. Fashion was used to show their wealth and power. They dressed stylishly but with less gold and silver colours than the
nobility. Sons of the gentry attended grammar school. Their hobbies included tennis, fencing, music and dancing.
The poorer people
Lived in much smaller one roomed houses made of timber frames, wattle and daub, with a thatched roof. Farmers and labourers
worked 12 hour days with a main meal at 6pm. They had a low life expectancy as many died from diseases such as smallpox, typhus and sweating fever. They had few changes of clothes and spent their free time in inns or gambling on cards, dice or blood sports.
Main reasons for vagrancy:
- Rising inflation
- Rising population
- Costly foreign wars and unemployed soldiers
- Dissolution of the Monasteries
- Rural depopulation
- Rack-renting
- Changes in farming methods
- Bad harvests
- Decline in the cloth industry