Life in C17th Flashcards
Where did the vast majority of the population live?
the countryside
Why were merchants in ‘outports’ concerned about London?
London was eating up the trade of the whole kingdom
Why do you think the average age of death was 30 for the poorest sections of society?
- poor diet + living conditions
- poor hygiene
- child deaths were very high
- if you lived until age 14, then you had a chance of living until age 40
What was the main export of England in the 1600’s?
cloth
Why was the cloth trade based on agriculture?
it was based on the grazing of sheep
Why were bad harvests significant?
lead to starvation the following year
Why did demand for produce increase in the 1600’s?
large growth in population, the English population was believed to be around 4 million by the start of the 1600’s
What product was sent from England to the Netherlands?
What happened to it in the Netherlands?
unfinished cloth
it was dyed and dressed
Why was the cloth industry so important in England?
lots of people depended on it, for example: shepherds, farmers, weavers, cloth buyers and merchants
What were guilds?
rules for each trade
Describe 3 problems of the militia
- only military force in England
- not a formal standing army
- not well trained or well equipped
Create a hierarchy of the social class in the 1600’s
- Aristocracy
- Gentry (greater and lesser gentry)
- Lawyers + Merchants
- Yeoman farmers
- Rural poor
Why were the gentry so important to the running of the country?
The gentry served as Justices of the Peace (JP’s). They tried criminal cases and kept law and order.
What were the monarch’s powers called?
royal prerogatives
What did the monarch control?
- the political system
- the armed forces
- Head of the Church
