In Tudor England about
a third of the population lived in poverty. Their suffering always
increased after bad harvests. A shortage of food resulted in higher
prices. This meant that poorer families could not afford to buy enough
food for their needs.
Wealthy people were expected
to give help (alms) to local people suffering from poverty because
they were old, blind, crippled or sick. Some wealthy people were generous
while others were mean. This meant that poor people in some villages
were fairly well cared for while others died of starvation.
Unemployment was a major
cause of poverty. When large landowners changed from arable
to sheep farming, unemployment increased rapidly. The closing down
of the monasteries in the 1530s created even more unemployment.
As monasteries had also helped provide
food for the poor, this created further problems.
Unemployed people were
sometimes tempted to leave their villages to look for work. This was
illegal and people who did this were classified as vagabonds.
A law passed in 1536 stated
that people caught outside
their parish without work were to be punished
by being whipped through the streets.
For a second offence the vagabond was
to lose part of an ear. If a vagabond was caught
a third time he or she was executed.
In 1550 Parliament passed
a law stating that every parish had to build a workhouse for the poor.
Edward
VI set an example
by giving permission for Bridewell Palace in London
to be used as a workhouse. In exchange for food and shelter, the people
who lived in the workhouse worked without wages. If people without
work refused to go to the workhouse they were to be treated as vagabonds.
To pay for these workhouses,
vicars were given permission to ask everyone in the parish to give
money. If people refused, the vicar had to report them to his bishop.
Workhouses did not solve the problem. It has been estimated that in
1570 about 10% of the population were still wandering around the country
looking for work.
In 1576 a new Poor Law
was introduced. Each parish had to keep a store of "wool, hemp,
flax, iron or other stuff
that was to be handed out to the unemployed. In exchange for the goods
that they produced, the parish gave them money. In this way, the poor
could continue living in their own homes. This new law also introduced
fines for those who refused to pay money to help the poor.
This was followed in 1601
by another Poor Law. Workhouses now had to be provided for people
who were too old or ill to work. People who refused to contribute
money to help the poor could now be sent to prison.
Woodcut of a captured vagabond
(c. 1536)
(1)
Thomas
More, Utopia (1516)
The landowners enclose all land into pastures (for sheep)...
the peasants must depart away.... And when they have wandered... what
else can they do but steal or go about begging.
(2)
In 1566 Thomas Harman wrote a book about vagabonds.
They are punished by whippings. Yet they like this life so
much that their punishment is soon forgotten. They never think of
changing until they climb the gallows.
(3)
In 1594 William Lambarde made a speech about poverty in England.
There were always poor lepers, aged poor, sick poor, poor
widows, poor orphans, and such like, but poor soldiers were either
rarely or never heard of till now... They lead their lives in begging
and end them by hanging... They fight our wars... enduring cold and
hunger when we live at ease, lying in the open field when we are in
our beds.
(4)
Letter sent by the citizens of London to
Edward
VI (1553)
It was obvious to all men that beggars and thieves were everywhere.
And we found the cause was that they were idle; and the cure must
be to make them work... by providing work ourselves, so that the strong
and sturdy vagabond may be made to earn his living. For this we need
a house of work... And so, we ask for the king's house of Bridewell.
(5)
Law passed by Parliament in 1576.
So that
youth may be accustomed and brought up in labour and work, and so
they do not grow to be idle rogues... it is ordered... that in every
city and town within this realm a large stock of wool, hemp, flax,
iron... shall be provided.
(6)
Report on a survey carried out in Norwich
in 1571.
Many of
the citizens were annoyed that the city was so full with poor people,
both men women and children, to the number of 2,300 persons, who went
from door to door begging, pretending they wanted work, but did very
little.
(7)
Law passed by Parliament in 1597.
Every vagabond or beggar...
shall be stripped naked from the middle upwards and publicly whipped
until his or her body be bloody, and forth with sent to the parish
where he was born... If any vagabond or beggar return again, he shall
suffer death by hanging.
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