Social and economic problems during the mid-Tudor period

Question 1

What social and economic problems affected the nation in the mid-Tudor period?

Answer 1

Population rises

inflation + rising prices

enclosure

decline in living standards

poverty + vagrancy

rising rents

poor harvests

influenza + epidemics

Question 2

What was the most important underlying issue?

Answer 2

the rise in population

population in England rising for the first time since the Black death (14th century)

reasonable to suggest that from 1525 to 1551, population rose from 2.3 million to 3 million

Question 3

What is a reasonable figure to support the rise in population?

Answer 3

from 1525 to 1551, the population rose from 2.3 million to 3 million

Question 4

What was the impact of the rise in population?

Answer 4

had far-reaching impact

agricultural productivity unable to keep pace with rise, led to rising food prices, very serious problem during bad harvests

grain prices rose faster than meat, dairy or wool prices, grain was the staple diet –> serious impact

structure also changed

Question 5

How did the structure of the population also change?

Answer 5

this was a young population, meant the dependency ratio increased, as there were a significant number of children who were consumers but didn’t contribute to the production of food

Question 6

Why was increasing agricultural activity very difficult?

Answer 6

much of the land not being farmed was usually not fertile enough

lack of scientific measures e.g. fertilisers, added to the difficulties

more incentive to turn over arable land to sheep farming as the demand for cloth grew

Question 7

Why did there being more incentive to turn over arable land to sheep farming create further problems?

Answer 7

sheep farming required fewer labourers & encouraged enclosure

Question 8

When did prices peak?

Answer 8

in the 1540s - witnessed a dramatic rise

eg prices in 1530 were 69% higher than 1508

Question 9

Why did Henry VIII and Edward VI’s governments debase the coinage?

Answer 9

to finance wars against France and Scotland

Question 10

What did Henry VIII and Edward VI’s governments do in order to finance war against France and Scotland?

Answer 10

debased the coinage

Question 11

What was the impact of debasing the coinage?

Answer 11

put more money into circulation, impacted prices as more money was available but not food
meant many of the peasantry found themselves in state of poverty as statistics suggest wages failed to keep up with price rises
led to decline in standard of living; estimates suggest that half of the population were unable to support themselves

Question 12

How was the social/economic situation made worse?

Answer 12

made worse by bad harvests, drove the price of food up even more
6 of the years in this period saw harvests that failed to provide sufficient food for a subsistence economy
Dissolution of Monasteries removed an institution that helped poor
enclosure added to problems
made worse by a depression in the cloth trade

Question 13

How did enclosure add to problems?

Answer 13

it decreased employment and the amount of arable land

Question 14

How did the depression in the cloth trade make matters worse?

Answer 14

increased unemployment and the levels of poverty

Question 15

Why did the large numbers of poor people + vagrants worry authorities?

Answer 15

authorities perceived them to be a threat to law + order

Question 16

What did many poor people turn to?

Answer 16

crime and others became beggars

Question 17

How did the government deal with the poor and vagrants?

Answer 17

lacked a police force so the gov was often forced into harsh measures to prevent such groups from becoming involved in unrest
led to 1547 Vagrancy Act

Question 18

When was the Vagrancy Act passed, and what did it do?
1547

Answer 18

condemned vagrants to slavery for two years for a first offence and life for a second

Question 19

What example supports that the government’s response to social problems was important in provoking unrest?

Answer 19

in order to finance the war against Scotland, Somerset continued the policy pf debasement
this resulted in inflation rising even faster

Question 20

What did many contemporaries believe about inflation and enclosure?

Answer 20

inflation was caused by the greed of landowners & enclosure was symptomatic of that greed

Question 21

What did Somerset do to look into the problem of enclosure?

Answer 21

established commissions in both 1548 and 1549
achievements limited as landowners blocked any attempt to legislate on the issue
forced Somerset to issue proclamations to force landowners to reverse their policy

Question 22

What was the impact of Somerset’s commissions?

Answer 22

lost him support of landowners as they believed he was too sympathetic to the lower orders
also encouraged the lower orders to see Somerset as their champion
therefore when legislation failed, they took law into their own hands + threw down what they considered to be illegal enclosures believing Somerset would support them