Social Impact of Religious and Economic Changes Flashcards
Changes in church appearance
Many ordinary sights in churches were changed. Altars were replaced by communion tables. The clergy was not to wear vestments (their liturgical robes). All gold and silver ornaments were removed. In 1547 iconoclasm (destroying images) swept across some churches. Somerset banned images from churches. This was unsettling for the laity.
Spread of Protestantism
Under Somerset, press censorship had been relaxed. This lead to a rise in pro-Protestant pamphlets spreading the Protestant message. By 1553, the educated elites were more likely to be Protestant (but by no means all). The reach of Protestantism was still patchy. Protestant strongholds included London and the south-east of England.
Incoherent reforms
During Edward VI’s reign, religious reform was not consistent. This shows that there was still internal division amongst key Protestant reformers. This can be seen in the difference between the 1549 and 1552 Prayer Book (the latter being more aggressively Protestant). Whilst there was considerable theological change, the ordinary layman mostly noticed the visible changes to the Church.
Impact of population increase
As the population continued to grow, there was a boom in the cloth industry and the price of food rose. Pressure on land led to increased rents but wages fell.
Vagrancy
Vagrancy means being homeless without a regular source of income. Vagrancy increased in response to problems in the countryside, such as enclosure. Vagrancy was seen as a danger. People believed it was a personal failing, not society’s problem.
Somerset’s response
Somerset passed the Vagrancy Act in 1547. This stated that: Any able-bodied person out of work for more than three days was to be branded with a V and sold into slavery for two years. It was very unpopular and never put into effect.
Northumberland’s response
A new Poor Law was passed in 1552. Parishes had to raise money to look after the deserving poor (those too old, too young or too ill to work).
Definition of enclosure
Enclosure is a process where landowners put small areas of land into one big farm. Using new farming techniques, this made the farms more productive and profitable.
The problem of enclosure
Sheep farming was becoming more popular, with some wealthy landowners having flocks well over 10,000 strong. In response to higher food prices, some landowners (particularly in London, East Anglia, Kent, Surrey and Sussex) began to enclose land. This damaged the livelihood of small-scale and subsistence farmers.
Somerset’s commission
In 1548 Somerset ordered an investigation in the legality of enclosure in the Midlands and southern England.
It found that:
> Enclosed lands had led to poverty and vagabondage (having no permanent home or source of income).
> Enclosure was promoted by too much sheep farming.
Outcome of the commission
Somerset’s commission led to:
High hopes among ordinary people that the government was on their side. Fear among the landowning classes, especially the gentry, that their livelihoods were under attack. In 1548, bills to restrict animal farming and maintain the amount of land under cultivation were designed to discourage enclosure. They failed to get through parliament. New laws to tax sheep and cloth passed. But they were repealed a year later.
Northumberland’s response to enclosure
Northumberland enforced anti-enclosure legislation. The unpopular enclosure commission was ended. Acts were passed to protect arable farming.
