Elizabeth Society - Problems For The Poor Flashcards
What did not being able to work cause?
Poverty
Who do modern historians identify the ‘poor’ as?
Those who spent 80% income on bread
Why was there a survey of the poor in Norwich 1570?
To see who was receiving or might need poor relief
How many of the poor were under 16?
40%
What type of women were often poor?
Widows
How did Elizabethans divide poor?
Into ‘idle’, ‘deserving’ and ‘impotent’
How much did population grow in Elizabethan’s reign?
By 35%
What became the fastest growing city?
London
Why did price of food in town rise?
As there were more people to feed
How was food gotten to urban areas?
Grown in countryside and brought into urban areas for sale
When were food prices even more pricy?
When harvest were bad
What was food production slower than?
Population growth
What was the basis of Elizabethan diets and why was it a problem?
Bread, but grain rose in price fast
What didn’t increase with prices?
Wages
What did landowners sometimes do to keep cost down?
Cut wages of others
What did landowners do after the demand for land grew with population and why was it bad?
Set up an entry fee to buy land and dharged higher rent for land. Some tenants couldn’t afford to keep land
How much of English exports were wool and woollen cloth?
81.6%
How did farming sheep become profitable?
As demand for woollen cloth grew
What number of sheep in a flock wasn’t unusual?
Over 2000
Why was increase in sheep farming blamed for problems of the poor?
Sheep farming took common land
Rose rural unemployment as it didn’t require much labour
Feeding sheep over winter used crops of starving individuals
What were enclosures?
Replacing large, open fields with individual fields for one person
What did enclosures often lead to?
Eviction of tenant farms and resulted in unemployment and rural depopulation
What caused new farming techniques?
An increase in printing presses
How did some farmers get better livestock and what did this require?
By controlling animal breeding which required enclosures
Why were enclosed fields desirable?
Stopped animals escaping and trampling on crops
Easier to drain and made planting crops easier
What type of farming did rising food prices encourage?
Arable farming (growing crops on farmland)
What was ‘up and down husbandry’?
When crops and livestock were used in rotation each year
How was more soil produced when crops were planted in ‘up and down husbandry’?
Livestock fertilised crops so soil produced more when crops planted
Why did animals have to be in enclosed fields?
So manure from animals was where it was needed
What was a bad use of land that happened before enclosure?
One field was left fallow for a year so soil could recover
Who benefitted and didn’t from enclosures?
Landowners got rich, farm labourers for poorer
What did new farming techniques lower need for?
Labourers
Why were wages reduced?
Increase in population and supply of labour
What land was sometimes enclosed?
Common land in villages
What was common land?
Where people could graze pigs and collect firewood
How were subsistence farmers affected by enclosures?
They needed common land but this was enclosed
Why did landowners put up rent of tenant farmers?
As potential money from farming increased
What happened to poor tenants?
Kicked out and replaced by wealthier or sometimes land vacated was enclosed
What did pamphlet by Sir Thomas Smith in the 1560s say?
Blamed gentry and yeomen for preferring sheeps to crops due to better wool prices
What did Sir Thomas Smith’s pamphlet lead to?
Hostility of sheep farm owners, especially those who enclosed farms for sheep
What did people feel should be the priority in the poverty crisis?
Growing food
How much of land in Englad was enclosed by end of 16th century?
2-3%
What problems can enclosure simply explain?
Rising food prices and increasing number of vagabonds added to unemployment
Vagabondage increased. Who were vagabonds?
People who lived outside social hierarchy as they had no places - no employer, master or place to belong
Why did Elizabethans fear vagabonds?
Lived outside of the law
What made vagabondage worse?
Rural depopulation
Why did city life increase?
People left village to work in towns and cities but city life was hard
What problems did poor relations between Spain and England lead to and what did this cause?
Trade embargos with Netherlands and increases in unemployment. Caused people who left villages to become beggars or criminals
What area was outside of the authority of the government and what did this mean?
Outside of city wasn’t in their control and crime and disorder was high and urban poor grew fast
What did Elizabeth’s government recognise but what didn’t change?
Recognised unemployment but still treated vagrants harshly
What was poor relief?
Finanical help for the poor
How was poor relief paid?
The poor rate
Who organised poor relief?
JP’s
What was a Christian duty in terms or poor relief?
Helping the poor such as charity work
What were vagrants?
People who could work but didn’t
Who were vagrants treated if caught?
Whipped and imprisoned
How was problem of increased able-bodied poor with population growth noticeable in towns?
They were visible in towns as many people who lost livelihoods in rural areas came to towns for work
When were new ways developed to help poor?
After unemployment was recognised as a real problem as the cloth trade was awful during 1563-64
What laws were passed in the same year as the Spanish fury?
Key Laws to help poor
Who nationally dealt with poor relief?
Elizabeth’s government
Who did poor rates work when Elizabeth came to throne?
Local officials coule get poor rates weekly and distributed it to impotent poor
How was it clear that poor were slowly being recognised?
New laws passed due to fear of vagrancy and social unrest
How was the 1572 Vagabonds act a turning point?
Established national poor rate for first time
How did the 1572 Vagabonds Act recognise unemployment?
Gave towns responsibility of providing work to able-bodied poor rather than simply punishing them for their circumstances
What did the 1563 Statute of Artificers aim to do and what were its features?
Aim: ensure poor relief was collected
Features: anyone who refused to pay poor rates could be prisoned and officials failing to recognise poor relief could be fined up to £20
What was the aim of the 1572 Vagabonds act and what did it feature?
Aim: deter vagrancy
Features: vagrants were to be whipped and a hole drilled through each ear
Imprisoned if arrested second time and given death penalty on third
Established national poor rate, sheltering impotent poor and JPs kept register of poor
Towns and cities given responsibility to find work for able-bodied poor
What was the aim of the 1576 poor relief Act and what did it feature?
Aim: distinguish between able-bodied poor and impotent poor and find able-bodied poor work
Features: JPs provided able-bodied poor with wool and raw materials to make and sell
Those who refused to work after help sent to special prison funded by poor rates (house of correction)
What was the impact of the poor laws?
. Poverty still a major problem
. Trade hit badly by conflict with Spain and revolt in Netherlands
. More sympathy for vagrants, less than 10% whipped in some towns
. Recognition of unemployment as genuine and not laziness
Who stirred up fear of vagabonds?
Pamphlet writers
How did treatment of vagrants change after poor laws?
Sometimes just given money and sent away, cheaper for parish
How did poor laws help unemployed stay in home town or village?
Laws provided poor with things to make and sell. Important part of poor relief until 19th century
How was Ipswich ahead in poor relief?
1569, established school for poor children,a hospital for poor people due to sickness and a special prison for the idle poor
How did some London parishes have special help for all ages?
Special help for abandoned babies, old and sick
