Poor Laws

• Elizabeth poor laws were passed in

  1563, 1572, 1576
• Poor were illiterate

  • spent 80% of their income on food and drink
• Henry VIII made inflation worse by reducing the value of the coinage in the 1540s to pay for war
• 1550- 1600 population rose by about 43%

  • huge pressure on good resources because of inflation
  • wars led to increased taxation
  • soldiers and sailors were unemployed when war ended
  • poor harvests in 1550s and 1590s
• Poor Groups:

  1. able-bodied poor (1597) unable to find work
  2. impotent poor- unable to work and support themselves
  3. idle poor- dishonest and vagabonds (sinful)
• 1567- Thomas Harman wrote a book identifying various tricks used by beggars to gain money
• • Anglers would steal washing at night
  • Clapperdudgeons pretended to be badly wounded by making their skin bleed using arsenic
  • Counterfeit crank would bite on soap so that he frothed at the mouth
• Monasteries closure

  • monasteries were a key source of charity for the poor
  • provided food, shelter and medical care
  • 1530s- Henry VIII dissolved the monasteries and the poor fled to towns
  • towns couldn't cope with the numbers and caused poverty
• 1563- the Statute of Artificers was introduced

  • attempted to counter inflation by limiting wages of skilled labourers
• 1601- poor law insisted everyone with money contributed to a local poor rate

  • almhouses provided for the poor
  • those able and willing to work were provided with materials with which to work
  • begging was forbidden