The Golden Age of Elizabeth Flashcards
Attitudes towards education.
No national system of education.
Focused on practical skills, to help prepare you for your expected roles in life.
Could include basic literature. But only 15% of the population could read and write.
All school had fees
usually boys went to school from the upper class.
Changing influences on education.
Humanists argued education was valuable.
Protestants wanted people to be able to study scriptures.
Growth of printing, books were cheaper.
Growth of trade, needed people to undestand mathematics to record transactions.
Types of Elizabethan education.
Private tutors. nobility
Universities, ages 14/15 onwards.
Petty schools, run in homes; attended by lower classes.
grammar school, run by the church, had a fee, scholarships available for poorer families.
Parish schools, set up by the church, taught basic skills, to children of yeoman, farmers and craftsmen.
Girls education.
many girls received no formal education.
It was felt that they would not need it.
Girls from better off families could attend Dame schools, run by wealthy women in their homes.
Wealthy girls had private tutors.
Changes in education 1558-88
New grammar school, provided scholarships. And educated independently by the church.
Literacy improved.
Leisure for nobility.
hunting, fishing, real tennis, (men only) bowls, (men only) fencing. (men only)
leisure for farmers, craftsmen and the lower classes.
football (men only)
wrestling (men only)
Spectator sports
baiting = watching animals fight to the death.
Cock fighting = cockerels attacked eachother using metal spurs and their beaks.
Theatres.
entry fees were cheap, many different people could go and watch a play.
Mystery plays replaced with non religious plays.
Comedies were often very popular and funded by wealthy noblemen, including the queen.
Music and dancing.
many played instruments.
musical performances popular.
wealthy families employed musicians.
paid to play at events.
music was written to accompany theatre plays.
dancing brought together men and women.
Yet upper and lower classes did not dance together.
What are vagrants?
A person who has no settled home
no work
has to beg.
What are vagabonds?
wandering beggars
often turned to crime
seen as a threat to society
treated harshly
What types of people were poor?
Widows/abandoned women
sick/elderly
orphaned children
people on low wages
vagrants/vagabonds
Reasons for poverty
Population growth, increased demand for land.
Growth of towns
bad harvests, food supply decreased.
Sheep farming, growth of wool trade instead of food, led to enclosure of land
enclosure, land was divided and given to farmers, no longer land that anyone could use. small farms were merged, and many people evicted off land.
changing attitudes towards the poor
fear of poverty, may lead to a rebellion.
cost of dealing with the poor.
poor were an increasingly visible presence, due to population changes and enclosure.
changing economic circumstances, eg harvests, wool trade.
Elizabethans and poverty
the deserving poor, and the idle poor
felt that the poor should be given opportunities, if they refused they should be punished.
vagabonds who threatened the public were punished, eg imprisoned
statute of Artificers 1563
those refusing to pay poor rates could be imprisoned.
Officials who failed to organise poor relief could pay a penalty up to £20
Vagabonds Act 1572
deterred vagrancy
harsh punishments
repressive change, doing anything they can think of.
whipped
hole drilled through each ear
imprisoned
death penalty for third offence
Poor relief act 1576
helped find the able bodied poor work.
JP’s (Justices of Peace) gave the poor wool/raw materials to sell
Those who refused to work were sent to a prison called the house of correction.
what is the poor rate?
a local tax
organised by Justices of the Peace (JP’s)
proceeds spent on improving the poors lives
poor were given money, or things to make and sell.
