The Social and Economic Reasons for Rebellion

Question 1

What was enclosure blamed for by contemporaries?

Answer 1

The growth of poverty and vagrancy in Tudor society

Question 2

Why was the practice of enclosure common in the South East and the Midlands?

Answer 2

Because it could be used for arable or sheep farming

Question 3

What was the common land used for?

Answer 3

It was shared by all for the growth of crops and the grazing of animals

Question 4

What did the practice of enclosure aim to do?

Answer 4

To create larger profits from the land, rearing sheep for the cloth trade could bring financial opportunities made necessary by rising inflation

Question 5

Why was sheep farming attractive?

Answer 5

It needed little man power and could bring large profits an lead to large scale enterprises

Question 6

How did enclosure affect commoners?

Answer 6

They were reliant on the land for their animals and their crops and could no longer grow enough food to survive

Question 7

What was engrossing?

Answer 7

Merging two or more farms together

Question 8

What was rack renting?

Answer 8

Where landlords rapidly increased rents so that tenants were unable to pay in order to evict them

Question 9

Who was most vulnerable to enclosure?

Answer 9

Copy hold tenants - leases open to challenge and the landless who needed the land to survive

Question 10

What legislation was put in place in 1489 to counter enclosure?

Answer 10

1489 - Act of Parliament to regulate enclosure

Question 11

What did Thomas Wolsey do in 1517 concerning enclosure?

Answer 11

Issued a commission of inquiry into illegal enclosures

Question 12

What did the 1533 Sheep Farms Act do?

Answer 12

Tried to restrict the number of sheep kept per farmer to 2400, engrossing was allowed but only of 2 farms

Question 13

What was introduced in 1549 to further regulate sheep farming?

Answer 13

A tax on sheep to restrict the size of flocks and discourage landlords from turning to sheep farming

Question 14

What were entry fines?

Answer 14

Placed economic pressure on tenants, improved landlord profit margins

Question 15

Were these economic concerns new?

Answer 15

No, rebels in the Pilgrimage of Grace had complained about enclosure, rack renting and entry fines

Question 16

Could enclosure be beneficial for tenants?

Answer 16

Yes, dependend on the region’s rural economy, East Anglia was dominated by sheep farming meaning it negatively impacted commoners

Question 17

Why was enclosure a benefit in the East and North West of Suffolk and the North of Norfolk?

Answer 17

Sheep farming provided the necessary manure for crops to be fertilised with as the soil was light meaning plants struggled to grow

Question 18

Why did foldcourse make the situation more complex in the East and North West of Suffolk and the North of Norfolk?

Answer 18

Tensions arose when landlords challenged their tenants rights to enclose as landlords used foldcourse to graze their sheep on the tenants’ land

Question 19

How did concerns differ in Central Suffolk and South East of Norfolk?

Answer 19

The area was more densely wooded and the soil was heavier making it hard to find suitable areas to grow crops - enclosure seen as a nuisance

Question 20

Why did the commonwealth men criticise enclosure and who were they?

Answer 20

Politicans, clergymen and intellectuals - strong reformer faith - saw enclosure as a public nuisance and a fundamental source of poverty

Question 21

How did the commonwealth men express their dislike for enclosure?

Answer 21

Gov official John Hales, writer Robert Crowley and Hugh Latimer - Bishop of Worcester preached about the need for social reform and the need to control enclosure

Question 22

How did the commonwealth men influence the Duke of Somerset?

Answer 22

He introduced commissions of illegal enquiry

Question 23

How did the commonwealth men influence commoners?

Answer 23

They could hear about and understand the idea about the need for a more just society and the greed of landlords; influenced rebel aims and actions in 1549

Question 24

Why were the commonwealth incorrect about the real causes of poverty?

Answer 24

Population growth - pressure on the job market, wages fell and prices rose, as demand and inflation increased, enclosure made it worse but wasn’t the cause

Question 25

What economic crises did England face in the 1540s?

Answer 25

1525-1551 population grew from 2.3 million to 3 million - became harder to ensure an adequate food supply = high prices = hit poorest = pressure on land = enclosure

Question 26

What did a larger population mean in terms of unemployment?

Answer 26

Increased competition for jobs and increased unemployment, led to vagrancy and begging

Question 27

What exacerbated these problems in the 1540s?

Answer 27

Poor harvests in 1545 and 1549 made food shortages worse

Question 28

What did the Duke of Somerset do?

Answer 28

He was the protector and passed a private parliamentary bill to protect copyholders on his own estates from enclsoure

Question 29

Who did Somerset appoint and why?

Answer 29

John Hales to oversee gov reform of socila and economic problems

Question 30

What did Hales do?

Answer 30

Tried to introduce a series of bills encouraging social and economic reform - all failed because parliament represented the interests of the landed elites

Question 31

What did Hales and Somerset do together?

Answer 31

Introduced a series of commissions that were to inquire into illegal enclosures and report the evidence back to the government

Question 32

What was a weakness of Hales and Somerset’s commissions?

Answer 32

They did not have the power to order illegal enclosures to be taken down or to punish those found to be in breach of the law

Question 33

How did the 1548 failure of the commissions not deter Somerset from taking action?

Answer 33

They took direct action against illegal enclosures by ordering the ploughing up of the land e.g Thomas Howard, Duke of Norfolk’s land and a park belonging to the Earl of Warwick, John Dudley

Question 34

What did Somerset introduce in 1549?

Answer 34

New enclosure commissions where they were told that illegal enclosures could be destroyed but this was illegal

Question 35

What consequences did the enclosure commissions have?

Answer 35

It alienated the landed gentry and nobility who were the targets and meant that they wouldn’t support Somerset in a rebellion but it got the commons on Somerset’s side

Question 36

What suggests that enclosure wasn’t actually to blame?

Answer 36

Only a 2% increase in 1500-1600, by Elizabeth’s reign, only 9% of land was enclosed