Poverty Flashcards
What was the main cause of poverty in Tudor England?
- Population growth beyond a level that could be supported
- In 1525, pop was about 2.26 million, by 1551, it was 3.01 million and by 1591 it was 3.89 million
What was the result of rapid population growth?
- rising prices, falling wages, due to supply and demand
- As the pop grew, more pressure was placed on resources
- Farmers and merchants could now charge higher prices for their goods, leading to inflation
Why was it difficult for farmers to increase food production
- they lacked the neccessary technology to turn less fertile land into ground suitable for farming
Why was this siutation made worse in some periods?
- Because the tudor GVM did not have the ability to ensure the population could always be fed
- Harvests could be affected by bad weather e.g. in 1527-29, 1549-51 and many other periods
Food and rising prices
- As foods became scarcer, prices still soared higher
- Examples include grain, butter, eggs, cheese, and wool
How did pop growth also lead to declining wages?
- As more people entered the job market, there was more competition for work
- employers did not have to pay higher wages in order to attract workers
- The cost of living rose dramatically, reaching a peak in the 1580s and 90s
Dissolution of the monasteries and poverty
- Dissolution in the 1530s may have exacerbated the spread of poverty, as monasteries were a traditional source of support and alms for the poor
- This meant unemployemnt rose, and poeple fell into poverty with little or no support
- By 1 560 the average price index of a basket of essential food was 279, whilst the purchasing power of an agrigultaral labouroer was 66
Land growth and poverty
- For those without land, or just a little, the changes were much more extreme
- The situation was made worse by ambitious landlords who enclosed common land, where the poor could graze animals
- Other issues came from landlords rack-renting and forestalling
Rack-renting
- rapidly increasing rents
- used by landlords to increase profits and force out tenants so they could enclose rheir lands
Forestalling
- process of delibraltey withholding supplies from the local market in order to push up prices
Monetrary causes of poverty - price revoluion
- The influx of gold and silver into Europe from the new world led to a Price Revolution and more inflation
- As more gold and silver was turned into currency, prices rose further
Monetary causes of poverty - debasment of coinage
- Done by the government begtween 1542- 1551
- Melting down of the coinage, which contained very valuable fold and silver, and mixing these metals with less valubale metals to get more coins
- This meant more money in circulation, which in turn led to more inflation
what did tudor monarchs think of the gap between rich and poor
- They largely did not understand
- They tended to blame the poor themselves, assuming they were too lazy to find work, and that there were actually jobs avaliable
How were vagrants and Beggars veiwed?
- Tudor authorities tended to use punishment to control the problem
- Those who wandered from place to place were treated with susipion, because this made it harder to control the population, particularly in times of unrest
- Additionally, vagrants and beggars did not have a master, which in a Tudor mind, which saw society as a hierarchy, was percieved as a threat to social order
Impotent poor Vs Able- bodied
- Until the 1570s, Tudor laws distinguished between impotent poor, and able-bodied poor
- Supported those impotent, as they had .a physical disability or ilness making it impossible to work
