Elizabethan Society and Golden Age Flashcards
Family life in Elizabethan England
-Average family had 4/5 members
-Life expectancy was 35 years
-high infant mortality rate
-low illegitimacy rates (2.8% of recorded births occurred out of wedlock)
- Marriage age was about 26 (when they could set up a home)
-poor harvests endangered life, often combined with sweating sickness or influenza
-the bubonic and pneumonic plagues were the main killers
Wealth in Elizabethan England
-wealth linked with social status
-14% of national income belonged to 1.2% of families
Land = power and money, ‘Great Landlords’ owned 17% of all cultivated land
-south east was most prosperous
-2/25 of the richest towns were not in the south
-Lawyers and merchants had the greatest opportunity to build up profits
Poverty in Elizabethan England
-half of families in Elizabethan England could be classed as ‘labouring poor’, the received 20% of the national income
-North West was the poorest part of the country
-Poverty would increase in times of crisis (war, inflation, plague, famine)
-Popular perception was poverty was on the increase, led to Liz’s Poor Laws
The Great Chain of Being
-The order of the world for Elizabethans -God, Angels, Monarchs, Nobility, Gentry, Peasants, animals, plants, non living thing
-As a part of this, there were 4 human classes: nobility, gentry, yeomanry and the poor
-class determined everything; what you would wear, where to live and the jobs you got
Societal structure in the countryside vs the city
Town-Merchants held power and prestige followed by professionals and businesses owners, in the countryside these roles did not really exist so their structure was very similar to the feudalist model
The Gentry
-Landlords of the countryside
-could earn lots but it depended on the amount of land they owned
-often JPs or MPs
-held titles of Knight or Esquire
The Nobility
-2nd to only the queen
-Dukes or Lords, titles passed through lineage
-Women gained titles through marriage but would not loose them in widowhood
-Would own lots of land, money
-faced different punishments for treason, often beheaded not hung
-perhaps be a part of government but queen could revoke that power at any time
Yeomen > Tenant farmers > labouring poor > peasants
Y- owned land or worked as servants for nobility
T- rented the land
L- also known as landless poor
P- poor, sometimes vagrants
Continuity in Elizabethan society
-Aristocratic dominion
-Range and roles (like JPs) of the gentry remains the same, many people fell under gentry such as Christopher Hatton and normal landowners
-Role/position of most societal layers stayed the same
Change in Elizabethan society
-careful with giving out peerage, esp. dukes, between 1547-72 all ducal title betrayed the monarch (Somerset, Northumberland, Suffolk and Norfolk)
-Nobles often enhanced their prestige through the building of big manor houses/projects in order to accommodate the queen on progress, eg the Burghley House
-Gentry class grows and the proportion of those who were seriously wealthy increases
-This also meant the gap between the right and the poor widened due to a development of consumerism in the upper class
Population + population spread of England
4 million at the end of Liz’s reign, in 1550 it was 2.9 million, Liz faced a population boom
Most people still lived in the countryside and London remained the biggest city (around 150,000 people)
Bristol and Norwich were the largest provincial cities and most cities had populations >5000 people
Inflation
as the population grew, prices for goods rose as more people needed them
Wages also fell as there were more people present to do the work
Deserving Poor
cannot help their situation (eg old people, young children, those who are ill)
often lived in urban areas
Those with money began to help these people more due to their belief in the great society (eg. Archbishop Whitgift founds and funds numerous alms houses)
impotent poor
Underserving poor
They can help their situation (eg young people, the physically able)
seen as untrustworthy
beggars/vagabonds
also known as the idle poor/able bodied poor
Poor laws prior to Elizabeth’s reign
Beggars were treated harshly, if they were caught outside their parish they were 1st whipped, 2nd lost an ear and 3rd hanged (although this rarely happened)
Vagabonds had to have a licence to beg and a badge identifying themselves- JPs chose who had a licence
As for aiding the poor, laws were put in place that created mandatory collections in parish for the poor and a register was created for the poor, only the deserving were given funds
Statute of Artificiers
-1563
-compulsory labour, esp. at harvest time
-minimum hiring period of 1 year, me could not be dismissed without good cause
-ban of following a craft unless they serve a 7 year apprenticeship
-max wage rate are set by JPs
Rate of Relief act
-1572
-not the real name of the idk what its actually called
-established that local rate payers must pay a rate of relief to the poor in their parish
Poor Law Act
-1576
-first attempt to create a national poor relief system
-administrated locally
-towns had to make provisions for their deserving poor
Act about vagrancy
-1579
-idk what the actual name of the act is
-1st time offenders would be whipped and sent back to their birthplace/parish
-2nd time would result in execution
Poor Relief Act
-1601
-Elizabethan Poor Laws
-Completed the legislative process
-Parishes had to raise rates and administer poor relief
-Each parish had to appoint an overseer to the poor
-this overseer had to relieve the impotent poor and find work or apprenticeships for the abled bodied poor/children
Regions within England that faced problems during Elizabeth’s reign
Ireland, Wales and the North
State of English regions in Liz’s reign
Compared to its European counterparts, Spain and France, England was much more unified and peaceable
Only witnessed one serious rebellion (Northern Earls) which fell quickly
The fact that the gentry and nobility began to build houses for comfort instead of fortified castles suggests that the need for such defences was non-existent shows a confidence in the peaceful social order (not always though)
