Elizabethan Poverty

Question 1

What made you poor?

Answer 1

spending more than 80% of your wages on food
- needing financial help (poor relief) or charity (alms)

Question 2

Types of poor (6)

Answer 2

widows or women abandoned by husbands and their family
the sick and the elderly
orphaned children
people on low wages
itinerants
vagrants and vagabonds

Question 3

How did population growth increase poverty?

Answer 3

the population grew by 35% throughout the country- particularly fast in the cities
Londons population was 150,000 (10 x bigger than England’s second-biggest city Norwich)
increased demand in food = drove up prices
increasing labour supply = drove down wages
urban people didn’t grow crops -= had to buy
ordinary people could no longer provide for themselves or their family

Question 4

what did people use common land for?

Answer 4

collecting firewood
graze their pigs
forage for food

Question 5

when was the cloth trade especially bad?

Answer 5

1563-64, 1568-73 and 1586-88

Question 6

why did sheep farming become popular and also mention the land needed for sheep farming

Answer 6

81.6% of England’s export (biggest export)
the price of wool increased as demand for wool grew
* sheep farming became profitable and landowners turned to it to make money
sheep farmers had lots of sheep and needed land to keep them on

Question 7

why was an increase in sheep farming a problem?

Answer 7

took common land and land that had once been used for growing crops
didn’t require much labour- unemployment rose
feeding sheep over winter meant that some crops were only grown for animals to eat which angered people when large numbers of people were going hungry and couldn’t afford bread

Question 8

what was enclosure?

Answer 8

replacing large open fields, which were farmed by villagers, to individual fields owned by one person

Question 9

Why did farmers enclose land?

3

Answer 9

prevent livestock from wandering off - so they can control animal breeding and produce better livestock
to stop them from trampling other crops
enclosed fields were easier to drain and made planting and caring for larger crops easier

Question 10

How did enclosure increase poverty? (4)

Answer 10

led to small farms being merged and tenant farmers evicted which caused unemployment and rural depopulation
landowners often grew rich but ordinary farm labourers, who couldn’t afford the increasing rents suffered
more efficient techniques for growing crops and sheep farming = fewer labourers = unemployment
common land was enclosed: this was vital for survival as they used it for grazing pigs and subsistence farming etc.

Question 11

why was subsistence farming important?

Answer 11

this was where people grew their crops so it was vital for their survival

Question 12

How did land values and rent cause an increase in poverty?

Answer 12

money that could be earned from farming increased = landowners increased rents of tenant farmers: those who couldn’t pay had to make way for wealthier more successful tenants

Question 13

How did bad harvests affect poverty?

4

Answer 13

caused food prices to rise because there wasn’t enough food to go around
food grew much more slowly than the population
bread prices, the basis of most peoples diet rose fastest of all
more people meant lower wages, people struggled to pay for bread

Question 14

how did wages cause poverty to increase?

Answer 14

wages did not rise as fast as prices

Question 15

how did demand in land increase poverty?

Answer 15

more demand for land meant landowners could charger higher rents for the land where people lived or farmed
entry fees went up too, some tenant couldn’t afford to keep their land; others evicted for sheep farming

Question 16

who were the impotent poor?

Answer 16

people who were unable to work due to being ill, disabled or simply being too old (people were sympathetic to them)

Question 17

what were the two types of poor?

Answer 17

impotent poor and able bodies poor

Question 18

why was the problem of the able-bodied poor more noticeable in towns?

Answer 18

due to a rising population that led to increased poverty and social problems. Towns often had more resources and charitable institutions, which attracted the poor seeking aid

Question 19

what was poor relief?

Answer 19

Government and ecclesiastical action to relieve poverty

Question 20

what was the poor-rate?

Answer 20

Tax on property levied in each parish

Question 21

when was the statue of artificers?

Answer 21

1563

Question 22

what were the aims and features of the statue of artificers?

Answer 22

aimed to regulate the labor market by fixing prices, imposing maximum wages, restricting workers’ freedom of movement, and regulating training

Question 23

when was the vagabond act?

Answer 23

1572

Question 24

what was the aim of the vagabond act?

Answer 24

punishment for vagabonds and relief for the poor and impotent

Question 25

what were features of the vagabond act?

Answer 25

-It allowed for vagabonds to be enslaved for two years.
-It continued weekly parish collections for the poor.
-Able-bodied persons who had not worked could be branded with a ‘V’ and sold into slavery for two years.
-Child vagabonds could be forced into service.

Question 26

When was the poor relief act?

Answer 26

1662