Bad harvests (common in all Tudors 2/10 harvests bad)
High mortality rate
High taxes
Poverty - may cause crime + unrest
Parliament was ineffective at passing legislation to tackle the problems faced
The government could use 2 solutions:
More instruction for JP’s
Royalproclamations
There was a lack of coherent policy - was a result of the govm’t failing to understand the issues faced
It was often down to local govm’t to deal with local economic problems.
*often problems like bad harvests was localised
The council of the North dealt with the rising wages
They encouraged the councils of York and Hull to enforce earlier Wage Rates + establish appropriate WR
Local laws were also passed in towns e.g.Cambridge
Statute of Artificers1563:
Government tried to control wages
Maximum wages for skilled workers
Compulsory labour at harvest time
1year guaranteed labour
Compulsory 7-year apprenticeship
Causes of poverty
Rise in population (43% rise between 1550-1600) put pressure on food and wages
Harvest failures
Disease - Plague + flu + smallpox - 20% of London died in 1563
Towns starting to grow due to pastoral (animal farming)
Unemployment in towns following woolembargos (1563-4, 1568-73, + 1580’s) they didn’t have other skills so didn’t get jobs.
Enclosure (not so much of a problem now)
Inflation - rising prices - lower real wages
Less money left to the poor following religious change (no monasteries etc…)
How did govm’t dealt with poverty:
Acts had been passed in 1552 + 1555 - didn’t work
1563 act passed ensured secure employment
Tried to deter the ‘undeserving poor’
Continued the whipping of beggars
Other legislation was introduced later (1572, 76, 98, 1601)
Stabilising the economy:
1560 - 1561: all debased money was returned and replaced by new coins with more silver or gold.
This limited money supply (reduced inflation)
Renewed confidence
No debasement occurred for the rest of the century.
Deborah - heroine from old testament who protects israelites
Elizabeth is compared to her
Elizabeth did not want to be seen as a religious heroine (however many on the privy council still pictured her this way)
The religious zeal wasn’t reflected in policies
Radical bishop John Jewel stated: ‘the doctrine is everywhere most pure, but as to the ceremonies and maskings there is too much foolery… the slow paced horses retard the chariot. Cecil favours out cause most ardently’
Hints that the catholic ideas that remain ‘retard’ the protestant progress in England
Cecil favours radical protestants
Religious changes
1/20 of mary’s bishops accepted the Act of Supremacy
Mathew Parker became Liz’s first Archbishop of Canterbury
He was moderate
Didn’t flee england during Mary
Had given up post under Mary due to being protestant
Had been chaplain to the radical protestant Boleyn family
Some Bishops:
Edmund Grindal in London
Richard Cox in Ely
John Jewel in Salisbury
Edwin Sandys in Worcester
Thomas Young in york
*some of these were returning exiles
She with evangelicals disagreed over:
Clerical marriage
Distrusted preaching
Wanted to preserved more ornate appearance of church (evangelical’s wanted plain)
The appearance of ministers (popish clothing was detested by evangelicals)
The need for the church to serve the needs to the state (Erastian)
Vestarian controversy highlights this issue
Views on the Religious settlement
Elizabeth:
Religious cocnerns were dealt with
No more was needed to be done
Relationship between church and state was clearly highlighted
Evangelicals + some advisers:
ERS was the firststep for further reform
Cecil and Dudley both believed more reforms would come
‘An apology of the Chruch of England” - John Jewel 1562
Argued the CofE was returning to its true position abandoned centuries earlier by the Church of Rome
The CofE was essentially a continuation of the earlier church as described in the Acts of Apostles and the beliefs of reformers
‘Thirty Nine Articles of Religion’1563
had originally been drafted by Cranmer in 1553
Sought to define the difference between the CofE and the Catholic church
Supportive of reformed doctrine (especially Swiss stuff)
Was unsuccessful in achieving wider aims concerning the rest of catholic pratice
The leader’s vision of reform was not shared by the queen
The CofE was ‘calvanist’ in its doctrine ‘but half reformed’ in its structure.