The impact of economic, social and religious developments in the early years of Elizabeth's rule Flashcards
Difficult time for the English economy…
Elizabeth came to the throne at a difficult time for the English economy. The combination of bad harvests, high mortality rates, high taxation and, for many people, a significant cut in real wages meant that there was considerable fear about social instability.
The high level of mortality, which reduced the supply of labour, did, however, increase the bargaining power of survivors. It was in this context that various pieces of legislation were proposed during Elizabeth’s first parliament to deal with the range of problems, but none was passed into law.
This meant that the central government was left with two rather ineffective mechanisms for dealing with the situation: instructions issued to JPs and other officials, and royal proclamations. Often, issuing royal proclamations was effectively an admission of government impotence. This was hardly surprising. The government was dealing with problems which it only dimly understood.
Local initiatives…
Various local authorities also tried to deal with economic and social issues. Although we now know that real wages were falling, most thought that wages were too high. The Council of the North tried to get the corporations of York and Hull to enforce a schedule of wage rates which had applied in 1514, and 113 labourers were charged with unlawfully high wages.
Counties such as Northamptonshire, Buckinghamshire and Worcestershire tried to establish appropriate wage rates for various trades.
The Statute of Artificiers (1563) was a national attempt to try to sort out this problem. It established a number of rules:
> Compulsory labour, especially at harvest time
> A minimum period of one year for the hire of workmen during which they could not leave their masters or be dismissed without good cause
> A prohibition on anyone following a craft unless they had served a 7-year apprenticeship
> The setting of maximum wage rates by JPs in every country
Government lacking powers of enforcement…
However, the government lacked powers of enforcement. There was no army of bureaucrats to traverse the country investigating wage rates in every district. It was difficult even for JPs to manage this within their own counties.
Poor relief…
The problems of poverty and vagabondage remained widespread in late Tudor England. There were a number of causes of poverty. Partly as a result of of the increase in population, real wages for the labouring poor in Elizabethan England were lower than they had been a century earlier, with wage rages consistently falling behind rises in prices. Harvest failures created food shortages, especially in the mid-1550s and mid-1590s. The old and the infirm suffered particularly badly.
Despite the impact of religious changes, offerings of private benefactors continued. However, this was no longer enough. Cecil was particularly concerned that large numbers of homeless and unemployed people could present a serious threat to law and order.
Contemporaries differentiated between the ‘deserving’ and the ‘undeserving’ poor, with the former being deemed entitled to receive some form of limited assistance to alleviate their condition whereas the latter were entitled to be punished. The deserving poor included the old, widows and those whose disabilities prevented them from securing employment. Before the Reformation, the main responsibility for providing poor relief had lain with the Church. The Reformation had destroyed most such institutions offering poor relief, meaning alternative forms were necessary.
Parliament had made various stumbling attempts to deal with the problem. Acts had been passed in 1552 and 1555. The Elizabethan regime continued this process. A further ineffective Act was passed in 1563, but its impact was haphazard. National legislation continued to lag behind local provision which had been set up in a number of boroughs, most notably Norwich and Ipswich. It was not until the 1570s that parliamentary legislation began seriously to get to grips with the problem.
Stabilising the currency…
The government was more successful in restoring confidence in the currency. Both Northumberland and Mary had sought to re-stabilise the currency. However, it was Elizabeth who was able to do so. Early in the reign, a scheme was announced for the withdrawal of debased coins and their replacement by soundly minted coins. While some individuals suffered as a result of the scheme, it did ensure that only sound coins were in circulation and the government wisely did not resort again to debasement during the rest of the century. Prices still continued to rise but at least the government could no longer be held responsible for the problem.
The impact of religious developments, 1558-63
The Elizabethan settlement was undoubtedly Protestant. Many returning Protestant exiles initially saw the queen as the ‘English Deborah’, the Old Testament heroine who had protected the Israelites from their Canaanite enemies. By analogy, Elizabeth would protect the godly from what they regarded as the evils and superstitions of Catholicism.
The Protestant emphasis was reflected in the appointment of new bishops. All but one of the Marian bishops refused to continue in office. Some of the early appointments to bishoprics were of moderates, particularly the appointment of Matthew Parker as Archbishop of Canterbury. Parker had not been in exile during Mary’s reign, but was trusted by Elizabeth, having been chaplain to her mother. However, most of the new bishops were returning exiles and their appointments were part of a conscious strategy to reshape the hierarchy of the Church of England along more evangelical lines. On the other hand, Elizabeth disapproved of clergy marrying, distrusted preaching and ensured the preservation of the musical culture of the cathedrals and university colleges.
The queen’s view…
The queen’s view essentially was that the settlement was merely an act of State which defined the relationship between Crown and Church, and it established the Church’s doctrinal position conclusively. Others believed the settlement represented the starting point for a process of spiritual renewal which would bring about the establishment of a true church in England and which saw the English as God’s elect nation. This was the view held by many of the queen’s key advisers, including Cecil and Robert Dudley, and it was from this view that puritanism would emerge.
The character of the settlement was defined by two developments over the next 4 years:
1) The 1562 publication of An Apology of the Church of England by John Jewel, Bishop of Salisbury. Jewel, who had been in exile during Mary’s reign, argued that the Church of England was returning to the true position abandoned many centuries earlier by the Church of Rome.
2) The publication in 1563 of Thirty-Nine Articles of Religion. The Articles sought to define the difference between the Church of England and the Catholic Church. They were broadly supportive of reformed doctrine, especially that which was emerging out of Switzerland. However, the convocation proved to be unsuccessful in achieving the wider aims of its leading members concerning the remaining features of Catholic practice within the Church and its structures, disciplinary procedures, services and clerical dress. Their vision of reform was not shared by the Queen. Thus, the Church of England, though it was rapidly becoming Calvinist in its official doctrine was ‘but half reformed’ in its structures.
