POOR

What is an example of the area of land under cultivation increasing?

salt marshes in Wales, and forests in Cumbria (the Lake District) being chopped down

What was published to help with farming?

six new textbooks published on agriculture

Who started to grow new foods, what food?

immigrants from the Netherlands, eg carrots and turnips through market farming

What programmes began for livestock?

very limited breeding programmes

How were meadows watered artifically?

by flooding them which made them more fertile, eg damning the river

What better fertilisers were used?

ash, lime and chalk

What happened to the fens?

it was drained and so were marshes and they were cultivated

What was the new ‘up and down husbandry’?

have animals in field one year and then crops the next - meta land recovers, fertilised and don’t need to leave it fallow and unused for a year which is a waste of land

What is an example pf industry attracting foreigners?

eg Carre (from France) who produced window glass which was very new in 1567

What was the governments role in local economy?

maintaing law and order, dealing with poverty, granting licences patents and monopolies to help new industry develop, establishing working hours, wages and conditions, regulating and controlling food supplies, regulating economic affairs usually by passing laws to discourage offences in trades etc

How much had population risen by?

400% in the 16th century

What was the population like under Liz?

4 million, compared to 2 million at the start of the 16th century

Who do contemporaries blame for inflation?

blamed enclosure and later debasements (eg Wolsey and sheep eat men)

Who do early 20th century historians blame for inflation?

debasement

What do 1950s historians blame regarding inflation?

an influx of bullion from America, more money is circulation but the number of products was the same so people put up prices (similar to modern issues such as Marshall plan)

Who do 1980s historians blame for inflation?

debasement and bullion, did help cause inflation but the main issue was the imbalance between the rising population and resources (supply couldn’t keep pace with demand)

What happened to the wages in the countryside?

failed to keep pace with the prices

How did landowners deal with with the rising prices?

put up rent, increase price of product farmed from the land, increase entry fines, buy land, enclose, farm their own land rather than renting it out so they can keep the food/sell it

How did Yeoman deal with the rising prices?

use their land to grow food for their family, sell any surplus at higher price, save and iveat money back into their own farm buildings

How did freeholders deal with rising prices?

sell surplus food at a profit

How did tenants/copyholders/ leaseholders deal with the rising prices?

sell surplus food, but may be facing increased rent or entry fines, could do extra work like spinning or weaving

How do tenants at will deal with rising prices?

feed families, sell food if they have surplus but they can be evicted at any point as they have no rights, could do extra work like spinning or weaving

How did landless labourers deal with rising prices?

could do extra work like spinning or weaving, use common land, ask for wages to be paid in food not money (food to expensive to buy) or turn to parish poor relief

How much money do people receive from poor relief?

very little

What happened to poverty after the poor law was introduced?

continued to increase and some argue it was unnecessarily harsh and focused too much on punishment rather than supporting those in need

How are rebellions evidence for good poor laws?

not a single rebellion occurred during the reign due to social unrest, social order was preserved

What did JPs have to ensure about their local area?

everyone who lived in the local area paid a poor rate to pay for measures, anyone who rrefused could be imprisoned, charitable gifts by wealthy people were encouraged

What did the poor laws make each area responsible for?

its own poor, led to argument over which areas paupers belonged to, as some areas were unwilling to provide them with poor relief, without a clear home some were sent from place to place

What was there a strong belief about surrounding paupers and mentality?

they were lazy, and much of the legislation focused on preventing lazinesses by punishing those who were able but unwilling to work

What was Elizabeth’s reign the first example of?

first time the government took direct responisbilty for the welfare of their people

What is estimated about the effectiveness of the poor laws?

in 1660 only 7% of the money given to poor relief came from taxation as a result of the poor laws

Where were those too old or sick to work taken?

to almshouses which would provide them with food, shelter, handouts of money and clothing

What was unemployment recognised as for the first time?

a genuine problem, it was not just simple laziness, helped the unemployed keep some independence and dignity

What did JPs have to appoint to each parish?

4 overseers who had to make sure that orphan children had apprenticeships, handouts of money, food and clothing

Why were stately homes built?

to display their wealth and to entertain the queen

Who were the highest nobles in the land?

the peers, notably Dukes however there were no dukes in the realm after the execution of Norfolk in 1572, there were few hereditary peers in England

What are some examples of executed Dukes?

Norfolk (1572) Somerset, Northumberland

How were nobles created?

rarely created by Henry VII, Henry VIII and Liz, viewed nobles as a threat to their power and were either born into it or given a grant from the monarch

How could a noble lose their title?

by committing a high crime like treason

who were the gentry?

those who were knights, squires, gentleman, gentlewoman whose fortunes meant they didn’t need to work with their hands for a living

What happened to the gentry under Liz?

numbers grew rapidly , most of the importation people under Liz came from this period and many became incredibly wealthy

What were JPs a part of?

the gentry and governed locally

What is an example of the gentry becoming very influential at court?

sir Christopher Hatton

What is one reaps for the growth in the number of gentry?

benefit from the dissolution of the monasteries (Ewings)

Who were cottagers?

have a very small amount of land, live off of substance farming and supplement their income through cottage industry like weaving, spinning, make cheese or beer

What are the four types of tenants?

copyholders, leaseholders, free tenants and tenants at will

Who were tenets at will?

no legal rights

Who were free tenants?

who ‘rent’ the land but this is a small token payment

Who are leaseholders?

rent the land for a fixed term and pay rent at the market price

Who were copyholders?

can inherit their tenancy, pay fixed rents (been in their decades for decades) that don’t increase with inflation and pay entry fines when they inherit their tenancy

Who were the yeomans?

the modern ‘middle class’ could live comfortably but had little savings, built everything upon but could be wrecked by one bad harvest

How did yeoman generate wealth?

used their wealth simply and instead worked to expand their land and improve it

When ddi incomes of the yeoman increase?

especially after 1570s

How did Yeomane make money?

from selling surplus crops

Who were Yeomen regarding jobs?

mostly farmers, tradesmen, craft workers, made some money

Who could landless labourers turn to for poor relief/

the parish

Who were landless labourers?

seasonal workers who are hired in return for wages, supplemented their wages through spinning and weaving, use common land, keep geese, hens or even a cow here

Who are vagabonds/vagrants?

homeless without jobs who roamed the countryside and relied ob begging/crime

Who were the idle poor?

those capable, but too lazy too work

Who were the deserving poor?

those who wanted to work but couldn’t

Who were the poor?

those at the very bottom, numbers were increasing, those who could work and didn’t were sentenced to death

what does the vagrant ‘the bristler’ do?

use a specially weighted dice when gambling

what does the vagrant ‘the clapper dungeon’ do?

cut his skin tp make it dirty, rub salt in it, cover it in bandages then beg for money for medical reasons

what does the vagrant ‘the baretop trickster’ do?

flash men to lure them away and then they will be jumped by a group of men

what does the vagrant ‘the tom o bedlam’ do?

also called the ‘Abraham man’ would printed. to be mad and often carried a stick, wanted pity

what does the vagrant ‘the counterfeit crank’ do?

would pretend to be mad and often sucked soap sp he frothed at the mouth

How did Henry VII help the poor?

1495 ordered that beggars should be put in the stocks for three days, should then be sent back to the place they once had lived

How did Henry VIII try to help the poor in 1531?

1531 (law ordering the people who were genuinely unable to work to be given a licence to work, anyone who didn't;t should be ‘tied to the end of a cart, naked and be beaten with whips till his body be bloody’)

How did Henry VIII help the poor (try to) in 1536?

asked people to give money to the church every Sunday for the poor, this was voluntary and done to prevent begging

How did Somerset try to help the poor?

1547 vagrancy act

How did Northumberland try to help the poor?

repealed the vagrancy act. but kept the provisions to look after the deserving poor and apprenticeships for the poor

How did the Black Death cause enclosurement?

reduction in population so landowners enclosed the land due to having less workers

How did cloth cause enclosurement?

cloth was more profitable so the land was converted for sheep farming

What was the benefit to enclosure regarding payment?

lower wages for patrol farming over arable land

How did the increase in demand for food cause enclosurement?

as more people had moved to urban areas, landlords could only practise intensive farming to meet those demands with enclosure

When was the statute of artificers?

1563

What did engrossing cause?

depopulation and removal of homes, unemployment, vagrancy and a general decline in law and order

What happened to those evicted from land due to encolsurement?

could look for alternative employment but if there was none thy had to leave for the towns

Who was particularly worried about enclosurement?

tenants at will and copyholders as they often faced eviction if their land was enclosed

What rights did people lose due to encoslurement?

common rights

What did the effectiveness of the statute of artificers depend on?

on the local JP as they enforced it

What was in the statute of artificers?

local people to contribute to poor rate, if they refused - could be imprisoned or fined 10 by the JP, idle poor who refused to work were whipped and sent back to parish of origins

What was the aim of the statute of artificers?

to reduce unemployment by making people take on 7 year apprenticeships in a particular place so as to stop the movement of people, aimed to fix wages and accept responsibility for issues like wages (used to be dealt with by the guild)

What wage was introduced in the 1563 statute of artificers?

a maximum wage which held the wage down, worsened poverty due to increased inflation

When was the poor relief act, what was it also known as?

1572, vagabonds act

Why was the 1572 act notable?

1st attempt at a national system

What was in the 1572 act?

distinction was made officially between the idle and deserving poor, towns and cities had to find work for the able bodied poor, JPs were to count and keep records of the number of poor in their area,

What punishment was introduced in the 1572 act?

increased, hole bored in the ear, branding and whipping for 1st offence, imprisonemnt for 2nd vagabondage, 3rd offence was execution and some classes were excluded from this (eg deserving poor)

What contributions were introduced in the 1572 act?

JPs would assess weekly people’s ability to pay, sp making it fairer whilst ensuring that there were fund for the poor

When was the poor relief act?

1576

What was in the 1576 act?

aim to distinguish between deserving and undeserving poor, Jps to provide able bodied with raw materials and wool to enable them to work, those who refused to work or use the raw material were sent to prisons called houses of correction, other term were smilier to 1572 act

When was the poor relief act and act for punishment of rogues?

1598 (2 separate acts)

What never happened in the 1598 act?

actions against enclosure

What was in the 1598 act?

confirmed the compulsory poor rate (all in parish would pay), children of poor even apprenticeships, 4 overseers appointed to envy parish, tools provided to those that were able to work, pauper apprenticeships were set up to train boys up until 24 and girls 21

What wert the houses of corrections in the 1598 act?

built so that able bodied poor could be put to work, every county to have one

When was the last poor relief act?

1601

What was in the 1601 act?

confirmed and almalgamated the previous acts with some additions (eg begging was forbidden), system of poor relief until 1834, clear distinction between the deserving and undeserving poor, but not really an acceptance by many people

When was the Oxfordshire uprising?

1596

What percentage of people were considered ‘poor’ under Liz?

over 20%

What happened to private profits in the 1590s?

it was replacing communal cooperation there was more enclosure, allegations that common lands had been fenced off, villagers denied rights of pasturage and land converted to pastures, leading cause of the 1596 uprising