Poverty in the Mid-Sixteenth Century (AQA A-Level History): Revision Notes
Poverty in the Mid-Sixteenth Century
Understanding poverty in Tudor England
Tudor governments gradually recognised that England faced mounting social problems during the mid-sixteenth century. Roaming unemployed men, commonly termed vagabonds (unemployed men who travelled from place to place), represented a visible challenge to public order. Alongside vagrancy, authorities confronted an escalation of petty crime, sustained inflation, population increase, debasement of the coinage, bad harvests, and the consequences of the dissolution of the monasteries on lay workers who had previously depended on monastic employment and charity.
Traditionally, the Church, monasteries, families and charitable houses had been considered sufficient to address poverty. This longstanding system of charitable support was fundamentally disrupted by Henry VIII's dissolution of the monasteries in the 1530s, removing a major source of both employment and charitable assistance for the poor.
When the government felt compelled to take action, measures were piecemeal and poorly thought through, reflecting the fact that poverty relief was not an established field of government activity.
Economic causes of poverty
Multiple economic factors converged to worsen poverty during this period. Understanding these causes helps explain why the poor experienced such hardship.
Government spending: Henry VII spent money cautiously, but later Tudors increased spending, especially on foreign wars. This placed more money into circulation as the government bought clothing, provisions, weaponry and ships for wars against France and Scotland. However, government spending formed only a small part of national economic activity, limiting its role as a cause of widespread inflation.
Debasement of the coinage: To generate additional funds for foreign wars, Wolsey instituted the first debasement in 1526–27, lowering the coinage's value by reducing the percentage of real silver or gold it contained. Governments between 1544 and 1551 made successive devaluations. Reducing the silver content forced people to ask for more money to yield the same metal value. The 'Great Debasement' coincided with the steeper price rises of the 1540s, though the reminting of coins in the early years of Elizabeth's reign undermines this factor's importance in explaining later periods of inflation, especially the 1590s.
The Spanish Silver Discovery
The Spanish Empire's discovery of the largest deposit of silver in the Americas came in 1545, leading to an influx of precious metals into Europe from the mid-sixteenth century. This new quantity of silver did not remain in Spain but was used to pay troops in Italy and the Netherlands, to repay debts to bankers in Germany, and by merchants buying items in Spain.
Increases in the circulation of bullion within Europe: The greater quantity of money in circulation meant that prices could rise as there was surplus purchasing power. Although large-scale importing did not occur immediately, the timing of this factor does not easily explain why inflation began in England as early as the 1520s. The greater circulation of silver was more likely to affect merchants importing luxury items, such as European wines or fine cloths, but it was the price of domestically produced grain that concerned the poor most acutely.
Bad harvests: Crop failures decreased the amount of available food, forcing prices to increase. Bad harvests caused temporary shortages of foodstuffs, but this does not easily explain the continuous price increases of the sixteenth century or why inflation affected industry as well as agriculture.
Land sales: More land came onto the open market for sale after the 1530s following the dissolution of the monasteries. The ensuing scramble to buy among the nobility, gentry and wealthy merchants forced up land prices. The timing of the opening up of a Tudor land rush fits the beginnings of inflation and would have had an effect on rents, but land sales only affected the privileged few and cannot easily explain inflation in a wide range of commodity prices.
Population Growth: The Primary Driver
Modern economic historians favour an explanation that emphasises population growth as the primary driver of inflation. However, this does not explain the marked rises in particular decades, nor does it explain why marked population rises in other centuries did not lead to comparable price rises. Farmers in the 1520s appeared to be concentrating more on wool production rather than responding to the needs of food for the growing numbers of people.
A combination of circumstances led to inflation under the Tudors, with the poor being hit the hardest by rising prices.
Categories of the poor
In the mid-sixteenth century, authorities drew only a basic distinction between categories of poor people. The division was between the impotent poor (people unable to work because they were too young, too old or had a disability) and the idle poor (those fit to work but not working and seen as undeserving). There was no distinction made between the lazy and those who were genuinely seeking work.
The severity of the problem varied from one decade to another, in relation to the peaks of inflation and population growth, but the principle of government intervention had been accepted by mid-century.
Contemporary Perspectives on Poverty
Contemporary observer William Harrison, writing in 1586, described how Tudor society categorised the poor:
- The poor by impotency: the fatherless child, the aged, the blind and lame, and the diseased person judged to be incurable
- The poor by casualty: the wounded soldier, the decayed householder, and the sick person visited with grievous and painful disease
- The thriftless poor: the rioter who had consumed all, the vagabond who would abide nowhere but ran from place to place, and the rogue and the strumpet
This source reveals contemporary attitudes that distinguished between those deemed deserving of help and those considered morally deficient.
Early legislative responses (1495–1563)
Tudor governments responded slowly to poverty, developing legislation gradually over several decades. The measures reveal changing attitudes and growing recognition of the complexity of the poverty problem.
In 1495, all beggars were punished by being placed in stocks, then whipped and returned to their parish of origin. This harsh approach made no distinction between different types of poor people.
By 1531, authorities allowed people to beg in their parish if they obtained a licence. If they begged without a licence, they would be whipped and returned to their parish of origin, then fined if they begged again without permission.
In 1536, money was to be raised through voluntary contributions to assist the impotent poor. Those who begged without a licence would be whipped and returned to their parish of origin, and children found begging would be taken from parents and put to work.
The Harsh 1547 Law
The 1547 law took a notably severe approach:
- Anyone unemployed for more than three days was classed as vagrant
- If convicted of begging, they would be branded and given to the informant as a slave for two years
- For a second conviction, further branding and lifelong slavery were imposed
- A third offence carried the death penalty
This represents the most extreme legislation against poverty in Tudor England.
In 1552, attempts were made to reduce begging by making beggars register and be given permission to beg. If they begged without a licence, they were to be whipped and returned to their parish of origin. A compulsory census and registration aimed to reduce unauthorised begging, with attempts made to allow people to make donations. Children found begging were to be taken from parents and put to work.
In 1563, another attempt was made to reduce the numbers of so-called vagabonds roaming the countryside. The Statute of Artificers (apprentices) was ambitious in its scope. It aimed to enforce potential workers to take on seven-year apprenticeships, tied to a particular place, thereby restricting freedom of movement. It also aimed to fix prices and wages. In essence, the government was accepting responsibility in principle for what had been regulated by the medieval guilds controlled by the masters of each trade or activity. Local Justices of the Peace were given responsibilities for carrying out the Act by having powers to punish and send culprits back to their original parishes. If people refused to make contributions they could be taken to court and imprisoned.
Later Elizabethan legislation (1572–1601)
When social problems again became acute in the 1590s due to inflation, poor harvests, high taxation and the effects of war against Spain, more action was taken. Governments feared riots and rebellions, as had occurred in 1549. Food riots erupted in London and the south east in 1595 and in East Anglia in 1596–97. These events spurred the Privy Council into taking further action, especially regarding the effects of continuing bad harvests which were causing greater distress.
The Turning Point of 1572
The major change came in 1572 when an Act of Parliament made a distinction between those who were genuinely unemployed and the 'idle poor'. This marked a turning point in recognising that some people were unemployed through no fault of their own.
Some local areas had already started charities to provide for the 'deserving', but in 1572 the Poor Relief Act made donations to local authorities compulsory. In 1576, Houses of Correction were set up to punish those who refused to work. Compulsory contributions to poor relief were overseen by overseers of the poor (officials appointed by the parish to help organise poor relief). Punishments for vagrancy increased: whipping and ear boring for a first offence, with criminal charges for further offences. Justices of the Peace were required to buy raw materials to provide work for those who were able.
The Poor Law Act of 1597 confirmed the compulsory poor rate (compulsory local tax for poor relief), but also required the setting up of pauper apprenticeships to train boys until 24 and girls until 21. Key provisions included:
- More houses of correction were to be built so that the able-bodied poor could be put to work
- The 'impotent poor' were to be provided for in alms houses or poorhouses
- Vagrants were still treated in the same harsh way as before
- Powers of overseers of poor were carefully defined, including finding work for able poor
- Whipping and return to parish of origin remained the punishment for those who begged without a licence
- Each county was required to have at least one house of correction to which persistent beggars could be sent
- Tools and materials were to be provided for those able to work
- Children were to be apprenticed to a trade
This 1597 Act was repeated, with slight changes, in 1601. The Poor Law Act of 1601 remained the basis of England's treatment of the poor until the nineteenth century. A clear distinction had been made between the lazy and other unemployed people, but there was no real acceptance that many were unemployed and unable to support themselves through no fault of their own.
Effectiveness of Tudor poor relief
The effects of these Elizabethan Acts of Parliament were limited. In practice, more help was provided by charitable giving for poor relief than through compulsory levies. On the other hand, there were no rebellions as serious as those in the mid-century, and food riots were limited in scale and frequency. This might suggest that some of the legislation reflected a degree of panic on the part of the Privy Council, with an exaggeration of the scale of the problem overall. Tudor society was essentially stable by the standards of the time, and Tudor rule was successfully continued by the Stuarts.
Attitudes Revealed by Legislation
Tudor legislation reveals how authorities viewed different groups of poor people:
- The impotent poor were considered deserving of charity and assistance
- The idle poor were seen as morally deficient and requiring punishment
- Only gradually did authorities recognise that genuine unemployment existed – that some people were actively seeking work but unable to find it through circumstances beyond their control
The severity of punishment for vagrancy, including whipping, branding, boring of ears, and even death, reflected fears about social disorder. Authorities worried that unemployed men roaming the countryside posed a threat to property and public order. The focus on returning vagrants to their parish of origin aimed to make each community responsible for its own poor, preventing the movement of destitute people across the country.
Key Points to Remember:
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Multiple economic factors contributed to poverty in mid-sixteenth century England, including inflation caused by debasement, bad harvests, population growth, and increased circulation of bullion, with the poor suffering most from rising prices.
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Tudor authorities categorised the poor into three groups: the impotent poor (unable to work), the idle poor (unwilling to work), and eventually the genuine unemployed (seeking work but unable to find it).
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Legislation developed gradually from purely punitive measures (1495) to more systematic poor relief, culminating in the Poor Law Acts of 1597 and 1601 which established compulsory poor rates and distinguished between different categories of poor.
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Tudor poor relief combined harsh punishment for vagrants (whipping, branding, houses of correction) with provisions for the deserving poor (alms houses, apprenticeships, work schemes).
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The effectiveness of Elizabethan poor legislation was limited in practice, with charitable giving remaining more important than compulsory levies, though social stability was maintained without major rebellions.