the rich and poor in Elizabethan England

Question 1

what were the three groups of wealth within Elizabethan ere

Answer 1

the gentry, the middling sort and the poor

Question 2

During which decade of Elizabeth’s reign were harvests particularly bad?

Answer 2

the 1590s

Question 3

Poverty was caused because some farmers enclosed their fields and instead of growing crops looked after which animals?

Answer 3

sheep

Question 4

Which local government officials looked after poverty related issues?

Answer 4

Justices of the Peace (JPs) were appointed by the queen and looked after the poor. Constables were lesser officials who helped keep law and order and followed JPs instructions.

Question 5

The 1572 Vagabonds Act punished vagrants. What happened to someone who was caught begging three times?

Answer 5

Vagrants caught begging for a third time were put to death. For a first offence they were whipped.

Question 6

The 1601 Poor Law set up places for genuinely deserving cases to live in. What were they called?

Answer 6

The 1601 Poor Law set up almshouses. Alms are charitable items given to the poor.

Question 7

Where did the wealth of the Elizabethan gentry come from?

Answer 7

Land. The Elizabethan gentry gained their wealth through land.

Question 8

Who were the ‘middling sort’?

Answer 8

Independent craftsmen and tradesmen in the towns. Yeomen and husbandmen in the countryside.

Question 9

What was the main food of the labouring poor?

Answer 9

Bread was the main food. Meat was a treat for the labouring poor. It was the gentry that ate meat every day.

Question 10

When was the Elizabethan Poor Law passed?

Answer 10

1601

Question 11

Where were nearly all of the richest towns?

Answer 11

Nearly all of the richest towns were in the South. Closest to the capital and trading links with the continent.

Question 12

who were the gentry

Answer 12

they were the most rich and had multiple storied housing with lots of glass windows, the had lavish food like fine meats like venison and swan and they owned most of the land and made their wealth renting it

Question 13

who were the middling sorry

Answer 13

in the town the ‘middling sort’ was made up by the tradesmen and craftsmen who ran their own businesses. In the countryside the ‘middling sort’ was the yeoman and the husbandmen who farmed some land of their own. Although they did not have the vast amounts of money of the gentry they lived a more comfortable existence than the labouring poor..they had two storied housing with some glass windows, they had simple meats like pork and beef and beer and they owned a fair bit of the land but not as much as the gentry

Question 14

who were the labouring poor

Answer 14

most of the labouring poor worked in the countryside on the farms of yeomen and husbandmen. Few labourers worked on the same farm throughout the year and most went from farm to farm looking for work. Although farmers needed lots of labour at harvest time for the rest of the year labourers could struggle to find work. They often found it difficult to pay their rent and buy food or fuel..they were the poorest people and they lived in one story building with no glass, they ate pottage soup and bread and they were lucky to have an acre or two of land

Question 15

why was land ownership after 16th century seen as even more prosperous

Answer 15

Trade developed due to exploration and population growth.
Production of woollen cloth created wealth.
Rising food prices helped landowners and farmers make bigger profits.
Merchants made money by travelling and exploring new worldwide markets.
Elizabeth supported entrepreneurs and gave the East India Company a monopoly on trade in the Indian Ocean region.

Question 16

what was the main occupation at this time

Answer 16

farming

Question 17

which area were the richest towns

Answer 17

the south

Question 18

when marriage occurred at this time were was it recorded

Answer 18

in the parish register of the church where the marriage took place

Question 19

how were woman treated at this time

Answer 19

Despite being ruled by a queen Elizabethan England was a patriarchal society which meant that men were in control. However this did not mean that women were second-class citizens. Many women had some freedoms and certainly those from the ‘middling’ sort helped run farms and workshops. Although domestic violence did occur it was punished harshly. Wife beating was disapproved off and equally a nagging housewife could be accused of being a scold.

Question 20

what were families in the gentry like

Answer 20

The nobility and the gentry could afford to have large families and although poorer families may have had a number of children there was high infant mortality. In fact, around one quarter of children died before they were ten. Most Elizabethan women looked after their children and it was only in the wealthiest families that people used wet nurses

Question 21

what were families like in the poor

Answer 21

Children whose parents had money might be sent to school from the age of seven. In poorer families, children would work at home or on the farm from the age of seven. At the age of twelve or thirteen boys would leave home to become apprentices or to work as farm servants. Girls often left to become servants at the same age. Most young people lived with another family to learn the skills they would need in adult life.

Physical punishment was used more readily, particularly in the grammar schools. At home there does not seem to be a great deal of evidence that Elizabethan parents were violent towards their children.

Question 22

why was there an increase in poverty

Answer 22

rising population, inflation, cloth trade collapse, wars, bad harvests and changing in farming

Question 23

how was poverty seen at this time

Answer 23

Poverty was mostly considered to be your own fault in Elizabethan times, but attitudes started to change towards the end of Elizabeth’s reign and the government decided to take action. This was because of:

fears that the ‘social order’ might be threatened if the growing number of poor people ganged together and started a rebellion
the risk that vagabonds and beggars might turn to crime
fears that the poor might spread disease
landowners giving more to the poor

Question 24

what actions occurred for the poor at a local level

Answer 24

Unpaid local officials (called Justices of the Peace) were made responsible for poverty related issues in their parish. They were allowed to collect taxes in order to help the poor and unemployed. For much of the century the authorities grouped people into three groups:

Question 25

what were the impotent poor

Answer 25

people unable to work due to age, disability or other infirmity. Limited relief was provided by the community in which they lived.

Question 26

who were the able-bodied poor

Answer 26

these were people who were physically able to work but were often unemployed. The Poor Law provided no relief for these people except employment in the workhouse.

Question 27

who were the vagabonds

Answer 27

it was thought vagabonds were lazy, idle and threatened the established social order. The 1572 Vagabonds Act took severe action against vagrants who could be whipped, bored through the ear and put to death if caught begging for a third time. Anyone over 18 who became a vagrant having been caught before could be hanged. In 1589 the government went so far as to ban individuals from sheltering people in their own homes.

Question 28

what was the poor law and when was it put into effect

Answer 28

1601 saw the formalisation of earlier acts and laws of poor relief. Poor Laws were key pieces of legislation:

they brought in a compulsory nationwide Poor Rate system
everyone had to contribute and those who refused would go to jail
begging was banned and anyone caught was whipped and sent back to their place of birth
almshouses were established for people in genuine need to live in

Question 29

Did Elizabeth successfully look after the welfare of the people?

Answer 29

The first 30 years of Elizabeth’s reign saw stability and prosperity, but a rising population led to growing poverty and problems, especially in towns. By the end of Elizabeth’s reign wide-ranging laws were passed to support the poor, which remained in place for the next 200 years. They played an important role in supporting the poor and signalled the first move into welfare from the state, but they did not end poverty and in fact more relief money still came from private charity.

Question 30

how old were people when they married

Answer 30

men were usually in their late twenties and woman in their mid twenties when they married however in noble and gentry families couples did not need to save so they often married much younger

Question 31

were people free to choose who they married

Answer 31

in gentry families where property and status mattered marriage was too important to be left to the young people themselves. wealthy parents would expect to have a say in their child’s choice of marriage partner although it rarely went as far as arranging a marriage. middling parents sometimes gave land, money and furniture to their children when they married so parental approval could be important. overall most young people from middling and labouring families were free to marry who they wanted

Question 32

how equal were husbands and wives

Answer 32

Elizabethan wives were expected to obey their husbands at all times but at the same time husbands were advised to respect their wives and to seek their advice. woman from the middling sort often helped to run family farms and workshops. wives were certainly not afraid to quarrel with their husbands and of scolding, domineering wives and the ideal was to avoid both of these extremes in a marriage

Question 33

did marriages last

Answer 33

when marriages broke down there was little chance of a divorce in Elizabethan Englands. the breakdown of marriage could lead to informal separations but a divorce required a private act of parliament. on the other hand broken families were very common because of the early death of a husband or wife and when this occurred people usually remarried quite quickly so many children in Elizabethan England were brought up by step-parents

Question 34

were large families common

Answer 34

it was usually only the nobility and gentry who had large families but most Elizabethan families were quite small. however people gave birth too lots of children but these children’s lives were very short because of hygiene, safety and medical treatment. around a quarter of children died before the age of ten

Question 35

how did parents treat their young children

Answer 35

some gentry families used ‘wet nurses’ to care for and breastfeed their infants but most Elizabethan woman looked after their own children. most Elizabethan parents formed strong emotional bonds with their children and parents showed concern when children were ill and they felt grief when a child died and pride over a child’s achievements

Question 36

what was family life like for older children

Answer 36

from about the age of 7, parents with enough money sent their sons to school. in poorer families children started to do some work at home or on the farm and they might be expected to gather wood, scare birds, mind babies or help at harvest time. at the age of 12 or 13 most boys left home to become apprentices or to work as farm servants and girl too left their family homes to work as servants in the houses of other families. most young people lived with someone else’s family, gaining skills which would prepare them for adult life

Question 37

were Elizabethan parents strict

Answer 37

Elizabethan children were expected to obey their parents but this did not always happen. arguments between fathers and sons seem to have been quite common. physical punishment was much more widespread in Elizabethan England than today and beating was common in grammer schools however at home there was little evidence of harsh discipline and physical punishment

Question 38

did people live with their wider family

Answer 38

households rarely included other kin outside the nuclear family of parents and children. the big houses of the gentry sometimes contained wider family members but most people did not have members of their extended family living with them. when wider family members did live together in one house it was usually the result of taking in someone who could not care for themselves e.g. elderly parents or an orphaned child

Question 39

did the wider family matter to people

Answer 39

the gentry often showed a strong interest in their wider family and some middling families also had close links with their wider kins. in general kinship was not particularly strong in Elizabethan England . when people wrote their wills they focused on their own immediate family rather than their more distant relatives. in peoples daily lives it was neighbours who mattered more than kind or if they need to borrow money they were just as likely to turn to a neighbour as to a distant relative

Question 40

who were the settled poor

Answer 40

many of the settled poor were children below the age of 16 and their chance of surviving into adulthood were slim because poor children did not have enough to eat and often suffered from illness and they stood little chance of becoming an apprentice or a servant. another large group among the settled poor were woman who had been abandoned by their husbands. by far the largest group among the settled poor were the elderly, particularly widows and these woman oftern tried to make a little money by spinning yarns, washing clothes or by begging on the streets and at the times of the plague they sometimes even risked taking a job as a carer for the sick and dying

Question 41

who were the vagrant poor

Answer 41

vagrants wandered from place to place looking for work and they were usually young unmarried men and women travelling alone or in twos and threes and sometimes whole families could be seen on the road. if they were lucky vagrants might find some seasonal work but more often they were hustled on their way by fearful and suspicious villagers. vagrants who were reluctant to move on were whipped out of parishes by local constables. all too often on winter mornings the bodies of vagrants who had died of cold and hunger were found in barns and under hedges

Question 42

who were the impotent poor

Answer 42

they were people who were physically unable to work through age or illness

Question 43

who were the able bodied poor

Answer 43

these were the people who wanted work but could not find it

Question 44

who were the vagabonds

Answer 44

these were people who chose to avoid work