Social reforms

Question 1

What could the poor do?

Answer 1

Swell the ranks of protestors and exacerbate social and economic problems for the authorities

Question 2

What did the measures taken reflect?

Answer 2

The need to tackle a problem before it got out of hand

Question 3

Wha was the impact of the remedies?

Answer 3

Not all were successful and seemed quite inadequate

Question 4

What had Tudor society done?

Answer 4

For the first time in 300 years introduced reforms

Question 5

What did urban and rural authorities succeed in doing and despite?

Answer 5

Keeping the poor under control

Population doubling, severe trade depressions, and the closure of the monasteries

Question 6

What was the first Tudor administration to address the growing number of beggars?

Answer 6

That of Cromwells in the 1530s

Question 7

Until the 1530s what was the case?

Answer 7

Itinerant beggars were put in the stocks for three days and then returned to their previous known residence

Impotent beggars weren’t allowed to roam the countryside

Question 8

What did the depression of the 1520s lead to?

Answer 8

Large numbers of unemployed people taking to the roads which galvanised the government and some towns into action

Question 9

What happened in 1531?

Answer 9

An Act made a distinction between the impotent and idle poor; the former were licensed by JPs to beg, the latter were to be whipped

Question 10

What did London introduce in 1533 and how was this extended?

Answer 10

Voluntary alms collections in 1533

An Act of 1536 which also required parish authorities to find work for the able-bodied but lazy poor

Question 11

What was the impact of alms collections?

Answer 11

Few collections were made, village constables were given neither money nor raw materials to set the poor to work, and proved ineffectual

Question 12

What happened to vagabonds during the Edwardian government?

Answer 12

Continued to be punished, most notably between 1547 and 1549 when a proclamation sentenced them to two years’ slavery for a first offence

Question 13

What happened to the genuine poor during the Edwardian government?

Answer 13

Received dole money from church donations

Question 14

Why did the attempt in 1552 at stopping begging fail?

Answer 14

Donations remained discretionary

The threat of being admonished by the priest or bishop awaited non-contributors

Question 15

What had cities such as Norfolk and London instituted?

Answer 15

A compulsory poor rate levied by the parish

Question 16

What is clear?

Answer 16

That measures adopted by town authorities were much more effective than government legislation

Question 17

By 1533 what was the case?

Answer 17

Several hospitals in London had been founded and endowed

Bridewell housed vagabonds, Christ’s looked after 400 orphans, and St Thomas’s and St Bartholomew’s took in six people

Question 18

What happened in Elizabeth’s reign?

Answer 18

Cities like Norwich, Ipswich, and Exeter came to accept their responsibility for funding and managing the welfare of their citizens

Question 19

What did the 1572 Act recognise and require, and who was appointed?

Answer 19

That the ‘deserving poor’ were to be helped and vagabonds severely punished

JPs to assess how much was needed to keep them

Overseers to collect compulsory parish taxes

Question 20

What did parishioners develop and what they were keen to do?

Answer 20

A collective responsibility for maintaining order

Discourage begging and vagrancy

Question 21

What was a fundamental flaw in the 1572 Act and what happened?

Answer 21

It made no provision for men and women who wanted to work but were unable to find any

Rectified four years later

Question 22

What did the 1576 Act require?

Answer 22

Parishes to provide wool, flax, iron, and hemp so that all able-bodied people had to work

Question 23

What combined to alarm the government to pass a poor law in (blank)?

Answer 23

A run of five bad harvests between 1594 and 1598, large numbers of young people who were out of service, and disbanded soldiers and sailors

1598

Question 24

What did the 1598 laws do?

Answer 24

Modified and codified previous legislation

Question 25

What did the Act for the Relief of the Poor do?

Answer 25

Replaced overworked JPs with churchwardens to oversee the welfare of the genuine law and unemployed people

Question 26

What did the Act for the Punishment of Rogues and Sturdy Beggars do?

Answer 26

Separated vagabonds into two groups: dangerous vagabonds were to be rounded up and sent to the galleys or banished; other beggars were to be returned to their parishes of birth or placed in houses of correction

Question 27

What did local overseers do?

Answer 27

Administer relief that was compulsory levied on parishioners and went towards food, clothing, providing work, and treating sick and older people

Question 28

What fell to the JPs?

Answer 28

To ensure that this system of social welfare actually worked

Question 29

What was done?

Answer 29

Enough to ensure that the poor did not pose a threat to the stability of the country