HY4: The Elizabethan Poor Laws

the experience of a century of trial and error, a century in which men's opinions had progressively become more humane and their minds receptive to the arguments of the politicians

'An Act for the relief of the poor'- in itself contained little in the way of innovation and little that was really sweeping or bold but it did gather together....

parish- whereas the laws of henry viii presupposed that they would be relieved by voluntary alms, those of his son and eldest daughter at least prescribed persuasion

A move had been made in the direction of .......... responsibility for the poor during Elizabeth's reign.

1563, 1572, 1576, 1598 culminating in the 1601 poor law

A series of laws was introduced by the English Parliament in...

1572 ordained whipping and boring through the ear for a first offence; condemnation as a felon for a second; and the death penalty for the third

After first defining the vagrants as a group containing all masterless men and those not owning land, the act introduced into the House of Lords in....

convened in october 1597

After the appalling harvests of 1596, with crisis at height, parliament was..

cautiously groping its way towards a method that would at once remove the threat of insurrection and provide adequate care for all categories of poor

All the legislation reflects the action of a government...

the high cost of relief, leading to more selective restriction about who qualified

As urban leaders moved into forms of tax-based support they immediately encountered...

1531, supplemented in certain particulars by the laws passed during the reigns of edward vi and mary i

At the beginning of Elizabeth's reign, the main Act governing the country's actions remained that of ...

disturbances in many parts of the country and most serious of all the rebellion of the northern earl- as the norwich authorities were to discover more than one local catholic hoped to make common cause with the rebels

Both acts, reflected the continuing anxiety of the government over the whole question of vagrancy and poor relief. In the former year there were...

these laws did not force english people to extend poor relief to anyone other than members of their local communities and the details about who was to receive assistance and how it was to be administered were left entirely in the hands of individual parish officials

Criticism on the Elizabethan Poor Laws:

watershed in the poor law history of the sixteenth century; for if on the one hand it reflected the oppressive outlook of the legislator who saw nothing but evil in the vagrant, on the other it looked forward to a system which not only recognised the presence of the able-bodied man seeking work but actually sought to provide him with some means of livelihood

Despite the severity of these regulations, the Act of 1572 can properly be regarded as a....

all males between the ages of twelve and sixty were expected to become agricultural labourers, a provision which would theoretically account for all the able-bodied unemployment

Discuss the Statute of Artificers?

experimented with methods of relieving the poor

During this half-century as poverty mounted and private charity proved unable to fill the need, many English towns..

compulsory rate for the relief of the poor

Early legislation of Elizabeth government took its first positive steps in the direction of a....

increasing frequency to the prevention of food shortage and the high prices which inevitably followed - such intervention was extremely necessary

Encouraged by the success of their endeavours, the governing classes turned their attention with..

who qualified for assistance during the period when publicly supported relief for the poor was being developed

England struggled vigorously with the question of..

in the middlesex sessions between 1572-1575 forty four vagabonds were sentenced to be branded, eight to be set to service, and five to be hanged

Give an example of the 1572 act being enacted?

tried in the larger towns

Important though the Act of 1572 was, it contained nothing that had not already been...

those who begged because they were incapacitated in some way and those who did so because they found the life congenial

It was still assumed that there were only two categories of vagrant:

compulsory rates for the poor

London, Norwich and Ipswich had already taken what action at the beginning of Elizabeth's reign?

the classes that were actually vagrants-the act was more thorough than its predecessors- it finally recognised the necessity for compulsory contributions

The 1572 Act was very cautious about recognition and far more concerned to stress...

a century of experiment, ranging from the brutally repressive to the enlightened and farsighted

The Act of 1601 saw the completion of more than...

workable system of poor relief that was to endure for the next twenty years

The Acts of 1572 and 1576 between them provided a...

the first of a series of statutes was designed to deal with the professional poor- the rogues, vagabonds and sturdy beggars

The Acts of 1598 and 1601: Vagabondage was again carefully defined:

the best practices that had emerged during the past two generations within particular urban settings

The Elizabethan Poor Law of 1598, modified slightly in 1601, codified and extended throughout the country...

englands so called triumph in becoming the first european country to institute poor relief as a matter of national policy- a move often touted as one of the factors that led to england's early industrialization and its movement towards imperialism looks rather less ambitious and certainly less noble

The Poor Laws also specified the forms of punishment or coercion to be used against the idle or vagrant poor- When viewed in this light...

re-enactment of that of 1597-8 with slight alterations

The Statute of 1601 which followed it was in act a ...

the appointment of county treasurers who were to be responsible for the payment of pensions to all those wounded or maimed in the wars, the money being raised by the county rate

The Statute of 1601: In the same year the procedure for dealing with wounded soldiers was tightened up. Provision was made for...

they introduced them, and in consequence they watched the urban experiments with more than a passing interest

The Tudors wanted proof that methods were workable before...

insurrection

The governmental mind continued to be haunted by the fear of...

diminution of the numbers roaming the countryside

The knowledge that work was available it if was required must have turned many a poor man''s thoughts away from vagrancy, and this in turn led to some...

london and norwich anticipated governmental legislation in almost every respect and provided visible evidence of the success of more humane methods of poor relief

The larger towns, particularly those of ..............

deter vagrants or to relieve the poor

The laws in operation in the mid-sixteenth century did little to...

unemployed through no fault of their own and that in the future, adequate provision would have to be made for these as well as for the old, the incapacitated and the repentantly vagrant

The sheer weight of evidence had compelled the government to realise that there were many thousands of men, both in urban and rural areas who were...

ten public proclamations against talebearers and spreaders of seditious rumours and the next decade saw a whole series of letters directed to shire officers commanding them to do their utmost to suppress such people

The uprisings and other troubles in 1548 and 1549 had produced no fewer than...

serve a seven year apprenticeship

Those eligible for employment in one of the numerous industrial crafts were ordered to...

whipped until bloody and then returned to their place of origin- they were to be placed in service if able-bodied or lodged in almhouses if deemed incapacitated in anyway

Vagabondage was again carefully defined and it was ordered that any persons thus designated were to be arrested....

the able-bodied vagrant, who was to be whipped, and the impotent beggar who was to be relieved, but made no provision whatsoever for the man who desperately desired to be employed but had no job to go to

What did the Act of 1531 distinguish between?

the occupation a man could follow, the training he had to undergo and the wages he could be paid

What did the Statute of Artificers deal with?

violent uprising against monarchy

What does insurrection mean?

the central authorities tentatively followed suit in 1563

What happened once the London, Norwich and Ipswich schemes of compulsory rates for the relief of the poor were seen as successful?

the statute of artificers

What important statue was passed in 1563?

there is evidence that such penalties in the 1572 act were enacted

What was the difference between the first Edwardian statue and the 1572 act?

to maintain high standards of craftsmanship and to confine industrial activity to the guild system

What was the main objective of the Statute of Artificers?

tax based poor relief but ti was never intended to supply all the needs of the poor only to supplement other forms of voluntary charity

What was the major new development of this period?

little since the days of her father

When Elizabeth came to the throne in 1558 the parliamentary attitude to poor relief had changed...