The Poor

• A vagrant was a beggar that lived on the street
• Thomas Hartman wrote a book about Warning Against vagabonds
• Counterfeit Crank - Bite soap so they foam from the mouth
• Baretop Trickster - Female flash a man and take them to her house where they were robbed by a waiting gang
• Clapper Dungeon - Cut themselves and tie dirty bandages around wound for sympathy
• Tom O’Bedlam - Pretend to be mad for money eg. bark for hours
• A population increase during Elizabeths reign from 2.8-4 million (43%) led to an increase of workers so rent racking (prices raised) happened for the land
• London’s population increased from 60,000 to 2,000,000 in 1600
• Bad harvest led to less food and inflation whilst wages still fell
• Enclosure meant that farmers kept animals on land rather than having crops and paying workers as it was cheaper
• Monastries were closed under Henry VIII si many evicted and jobless
• Bad harvest between 1594 and 1598 led to food shortages and death by starvation
• The 1563 Poor Law acts categorised the poor into deserving who received aid and undeserving who for example were beaten
• 1576 Poor Law Act meant towns required to find work for the unemplowed and parish should provide raw materials for them to work with
• 1572 Poor Law Act - Everyone who owned land had to help with relief of the poor and contribute to parish. Justice of Peace collect funds and distribute funds
• 1601 Elizabethan Poor Law formalised previous acts and created a national system for dealing with the poor rather than just a local level
• If the poor did not accept a job and were able they would end up in a House of Connection which was like a prison where they would work for their food and water
• Some poor helped in aimhouses by charitable rich