Untitled Flashcard Set

1. Structure of Tudor Society

🏰 Hierarchy & Stability

  • Society remained largely stable, despite rebellions (e.g. 1549)

  • Clear hierarchy:

    • Monarch

    • Nobility

    • Gentry

    • Lower classes

  • Limited social mobility, especially later in the century

  • Women had very few opportunities (mainly marriage)

📈 Social Mobility

  • Possible through:

    • Land ownership

    • Professions (law, church)

    • Trade (especially merchants)

  • BUT:

    • Wealth ≠ status (e.g. merchants rich but lower status)

👑 2. Nobility and Gentry

🏰 Nobility

  • Small, powerful elite (≈ 50 peers throughout period)

  • Owned ~10% of land

  • Power maintained despite:

    • Fall of some families (no heirs / royal disfavour)

  • Henry VIII:

    • Created new nobles for political reasons

  • Elizabeth I:

    • Preferred limiting new peerages

🏡 Gentry

  • Around 1% of population (~4,500 families)

  • Increasing influence:

    • Owned land

    • Held local office

  • Growth linked to:

    • Dissolution of monasteries (land redistribution)

  • Some rivalled nobility in wealth/power

⚔ Knights & Gentlemen

  • Knights increased (300 → 600)

  • Often rewarded for military service

  • “Gentlemen” numbers rose with population

📚 Cultural Change

  • Gentry increasingly:

    • Educated

    • Influenced by printing press

    • Saw themselves as superior to “idle” nobility

👨‍🌾 3. Lower Classes

📉 Declining Living Standards

  • Population growth → pressure on resources

  • Wages did not keep up with inflation

  • ~50% lived at/near subsistence

🌾 Key Problems

  • Food shortages (especially after bad harvests)

  • Poverty worsened in 1540s–1550s

  • Suffering during crisis years (e.g. 1549)

💼 Some Opportunities

  • Growth in:

    • Mining (coal, iron)

    • Textiles (weaving)

  • Led to geographical mobility

👥 4. Population Growth

📊 Key Trends

  • 1470: ~1.5 million

  • 1520s: ~2.3 million

  • 1550s: ~3 million

  • 1603: ~4 million

📌 Causes (uncertain)

  • Fewer epidemics (temporarily)

  • Better harvests (1540s)

  • Possible increased immunity

⚠ Effects

  • Labour surplus → low wages

  • Increased food demand → higher prices

  • Pressure on land/resources

  • Urban growth (especially London)

💰 5. Inflation

📈 Scale

  • Prices rose by ~400% over the century

  • Prices doubled (1500–1550)

🔍 Causes (debated)

1. Population Growth (MAIN FACTOR)

  • More demand for food → price rises

2. Debasement of Coinage

  • Less silver in coins → prices increase

  • Major impact in 1540s

3. Bullion Influx (New World silver)

  • More money in circulation → inflation

  • BUT timing doesn’t fully match early inflation

4. Government Spending

  • War increased money circulation

  • Limited overall impact

5. Bad Harvests

  • Short-term price spikes

  • Not long-term explanation

6. Land Sales

  • Increased land prices

  • Limited to wealthy groups

✅ Key Conclusion:

  • Inflation caused by a combination of factors

  • Poor hit hardest

🚶‍♂ 6. Poverty & Social Problems

📌 Causes of Poverty

  • Population growth

  • Inflation

  • Unemployment

  • Dissolution of monasteries (loss of charity)

  • Bad harvests

👀 Visible Problems

  • Rise in:

    • Vagabondage (wandering unemployed)

    • Begging

    • Crime

📜 7. Tudor Government Response

⚠ Early Response (Weak & Punitive)

  • Governments slow to act

  • Focus on punishment not support

Examples:

  • 1552:

    • Beggars must register

    • Unlicensed begging → whipping

  • 1563: Statute of Artificers

    • Forced work/apprenticeships

    • Restricted movement

    • Attempted wage control

🧾 8. Changing Attitudes to the Poor

🧍 Categories of Poor

  1. Impotent poor – unable to work (deserving)

  2. Idle poor – able but unwilling (undeserving)

  3. Later: recognition of genuinely unemployed

🏛 9. Elizabethan Poor Laws

🔑 Key Developments

1572 Poor Relief Act

  • Compulsory local taxation for poor

  • Punished vagabonds harshly

  • First distinction: deserving vs undeserving

1576

  • Houses of Correction established

  • Work enforced

1597 & 1601 Poor Laws

  • System formalised:

    • Poor rate (tax)

    • Overseers of the poor

    • Work for able-bodied

    • Support for impotent (almshouses)

    • Apprenticeships for children

✅ Importance:

  • First national system of poor relief

  • Lasted until 19th century

⚖ 10. Overall Judgement

❗ Was there a “Mid-Tudor Crisis”?

  • Some historians: YES (rebellions, poverty, inflation)

  • Others: EXAGGERATED

✅ Reality:

  • Serious economic & social pressures

  • BUT:

    • Social structure remained stable

    • Government maintained control

    • No major long-term breakdown