Society

• How much did debasement bring in?

  • £537,000

  • Made inflation worse
• Chantries Act


  • 1547

  • Sold chantries for finances

  • Ended around 2,400 chantries
• Vagrancy Act


  • 1547

  • Ordered the Church to provide relief for the incapable poor

  • Idle poor unemployed for more than three days were to be considered a vagrant and sold into slavery, or put to death

  • Never implemented/enforced due to popularity
• Court of Requests


  • Established to hear cases of poor against the wealthy

  • Continued on from both reigns before him
• When was the worst harvest?

  • 1548
• Statutes against Enclosure


  • 1548

  • Proclamation enforcing all previous statutes against enclosure

  • Made Somerset a 'friend to the poor'

  • Furthered up by a commission to investigate cases of enclosure in the Midlands
• Sheep Tax


  • 1549

  • Imposed a 5% tax on personal property and sheep

  • Repealed in 1550 due to unpopularity
• What % of silver coins were copper?

  • By 1551, 75%.
• Increase in Unemployment


  • 1551

  • Linked to the collapse of the cloth trade
• Reminting of the Coinage


  • 1552

  • Put out first at 1527 levels to tackle inflation
• New Poor Law


  • 1552

  • Gave parishes a responsibility to collect funds for the incapable poor
• Cabot and the American Continent


  • 1551

  • Trade company set up to find a passage to America
• How much £ did the selling of crown lands gain?

  • 1553

  • £140,000