GCSE History OCR B (The Elizabethans 1508 - 1603) Section 4: The class divide, family life and poverty Flashcards
How many rooms did the gentry’s houses have on average?
50
State 2 features of a gentry owned house that showed the wealth of the property owner.
1) Glazed windows
2) Finely decorated chimneys
State 2 lavish meats the gentry would eat at their feasts.
Swan and pheasant
What sweet treats would the gentry enjoy at their feasts?
Sugar and marzipan
How did the gentry generate income?
They rented out their land
State 2 features of a home owned by the middling sort.
10 or so rooms over 2 floors.
What was the differences between the windows and chimneys in a middling sort house compared to a gentry house?
They were less decorated and smaller
State 4 features of a middling sort diet.
They ate lots of meats, bread, fresh fruits and beer
State 3 ways in which the middling sort made money.
They were merchants, small business owners or independent farmers
State 4 features of a house belonging to the labouring poor.
Small house
1 room
No chimney
No glass windows
What was the stable diet of the labouring poor and what did they rely on to eat?
Bread, this relied on a good harvest.
How did the labouring poor earn money?
They travelled the country looking for seasonal work on farms
How did the gentry find marriage partners?
Their parents found a partner for them and arranged a marriage
In marriage, who should be subservient to who and why?
The wife should always obey her husband. This was because Elizabethan England was a patriarchal society.
What did the church completely forbid around marriage?
Sex was completely prohibited outside of marriage.
If your partner died, what did the church push you to do?
Remarry
What factor meant that Elizabethan families were quite small?
Infant mortality
In a gentry household, when would children start attending school?
From age 7
In lower class families, what did children do to try and help the family make more money?
They started to work on farms
At the age of 12-13, middling sort children left their homes to do what?
To work as servants (females) or apprentices (males)
State 2 reasons why kinship was not important in Elizabethan England.
Elizabethans did not have strong bonds with their extended family.
Most families did not live with their grandparents, aunts or uncles.
Many people lived away from home so they couldnt visit their extended family.
Most Elizabethans asked their neighbours for help, not their extended family.
By 1580, what percentage of the population lived in poverty?
30%
Define the term “vagrants” or “vagabonds.”
Unemployed people who roamed from town to town looking for work.
Give 2 reasons why the upper classes were concerned about Vagrancy.
1) They worried that Vagrants would commit crime
2) They worried that Vagrants would spread the plague.
At the start of Elizabeth’s reign, the population of England was approx. 2.4 million people.
How many people lived in England by the end of Elizabeth’s reign?
4.1 million people
How much did the price of wheat inflate by?
This is a % answer
250%
State 3 dates when the wheat harvest failed.
1595, 1596, 1597
3 years in a row
State 2 punishments people recieved if they were caught trying to become vagrants.
1) The person was whipped and burned through the ear with a hot iron
2) Death by hanging
What 2 categories did the 1601 Poor Law split poor people into?
The deserving poor and the undeserving poor
1601 Poor Law
Define what is meant by the “deserving poor.”
People who wanted to work but couldn’t.
This may have been because they were elderly, children or disabled
1601 Poor Law
Define what is meant by the “undeserving poor.”
People who could work but chose not to.
E.g. Criminals, lazy people
