The poor

Question 1

How did failures in agriculture lead to poverty?

Answer 1

1. England was hit by bad harvests between 1594 and 1598, which led to food shortages, and some people died from starvation.
2. A new system of farming was developing. More and more landowners began to keep sheep on their land rather than renting it out to farmers who traditionally grew crops on their land.
3. This system, known as land enclosure, meant fewer workers were needed and left many people jobless and homeless.
4. A significant number headed to the towns and cities to try to find work but there were not enough jobs to go around.

Question 1

How did an increase in population and prices lead to poverty?

Answer 1

1. During Elizabeth’s reign the population of England grew from 2.8 to 4 million. This was due to an increased birth rate and a decreasing death rate.
2. Limited places to live gave power to landlords who unfairly increased rents (rack renting).
3. The bad harvests resulted in less food, which led to price inflation.
4. A terrible outbreak of flu in 1556 had killed around 200,000, including many of the workers who were involved in producing food.
5. All of these factors contributed to creating a very poor group of people at the bottom of Elizabethan society.

Question 2

How did Henry VII’s reign lead to poverty?

Answer 2

1. Elizabeth’s grandfather, Henry VII, wanted to limit the threat of uprising among his nobles so he limited their rights to have their own retinues.
2. This left many soldiers without work.

Question 3

How did Henry VIII’s reign lead to poverty?

Answer 3

1. One of the most significant changes was the reformation during Henry VIII’s reign.
2. Between 1536 and 1540, Henry closed all of the monasteries in England and many people who had worked for the church were evicted.
3. In addition to unemployment, there was a huge impact on those who were poor. Before the reformation, monks and nuns had played a vital role in looking after the sick and poorest in society, giving them charity and caring for them.
4. The evicted workers had nowhere to go and this was still the case when Elizabeth came to the throne.
5. As Henry VIII’s reign went on, economic problems increased and the cost of war was great. In order to save money, form 1542 he began to debase coins so they could be produced more cheaply.
6. The problem with this was that foreign traders expected more coins for their goods. This damaged trade and jobs, and the cloth trade collapsed completely during Edward VI’s reign.
7. Elizabeth inherited a country that was in an economic mess. Unemployment and poverty were high, and this would continue to get worse.

Question 4

Why were the rich originally afraid of the poor?

Answer 4

1. They were afraid that the poor would rise up and rebel against them.

Question 5

What was the sympathetic approach to poverty?

Answer 5

1. The great chain of being made it clear to people where they were in society. The rich were simply “better” than the poor.
2. Just as God looked after his people, the wealthy were expected to offer some help to those below them.
3. In the beginning, this just meant making the odd charitable donation, but this was not big enough to solve the problem.
4. Before Elizabeth, attitudes to the poor were largely unsympathetic. It was widely accepted by the wealthy that while some people were poor because of their circumstances and so it was seen as right for charities to help them, th majority of the poor could easily find work if they wanted to.
5. However, as unemployment and poverty grew under Elizabeth, there was a change in attitude. People began to recognise that many paupers simply could not find work. They wanted to improve their situation, but were not able to. These were seen as the deserving poor.