Elizabeth The Poor

Question 1

What was the name given to ordinary people without work?

Answer 1

Paupers

Question 2

How did paupers survive in Elizabethan England?

Answer 2

Charity, begging or the church

Question 3

Why did poverty rise in Elizabethan England?

Answer 3

• actions of previous monarchs
• changes in agriculture
• population increase
• flu outbreak

Question 4

How did the actions of previous monarchs affect poverty in England?

Answer 4

• Henry VII limited nobles having private armies leaving lots of soldiers out of work
• the reformation under Henry VIII closed monasteries - nuns and monks and other church workers were left with nowhere to live or work
• also left the sick and poor with no-one to care for them
• collapse of the cloth trade under Henry VIII and Edward VI lost many jobs

Question 5

How did changes in agriculture affect poverty under Elizabeth?

Answer 5

• bad harvests in the 1590s lead to food shortage and starvation and lead to inflation
• landlords would keep sheep instead of crops - ‘enclosure’ - meaning less workers were needed
• unemployed workers headed to towns in search or work but there weren’t enough jobs

Question 6

How did the population increase affect poverty?

Answer 6

• the population rose from 2.8m to 4m
• shortage of places to live gave power to landlords who increased rent - ‘rack renting’

Question 7

How many people died in the flu outbreak and when did it happen?

Answer 7

• 200,000 people
• 1556

Question 8

How had precious monarchs attempted deal with the poor?

Answer 8

• from around 1500 beggars were punished in the stocks or sent back to their home towns
• from around 1530 beggars, first offence - publicly whipped, second offence - hole burned in ear, third offence - hanged
• these remained through most of Elizabeth’s reign

Question 9

What were some ways towns and cities attempted to deal with the poor?

Answer 9

• opened hospitals like Bedlem for the mentally ill, sick and orphaned
• issued beggar licenses
• youth training to teach children trades
• taxes for the rich to help pay for the poor

Question 10

What did the Poor Law state?

Answer 10

• the wealthy should be taxed to pay for the care of the poor
• fit and healthy paupers should be given work

Question 11

What were the three levels of poor?

Answer 11

• helpless poor - sick and old
• able-bodied poor - work in exchange for food
• idle poor - punished and sent to house of corrections

Question 12

Why do some historians say the poor law wasn’t successful?

Answer 12

Because it made each area responsible for its own paupers they were simply sent from one area to another