the poor

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  • THE POOR
    • Vagabonds
      • The Clapper Dungeon: cut skin to make it bleed, hoping people would give money for medical attention
      • The Counterfeit Crank: dress in old clothes and pretend to have violent fits. **** soak to foam at mouth, people gave money out of pity
      • The Bristler: trick people out their money by betting on a dice game, dice would be weighted, always won.
    • Causes of Poverty
      • Population increase: 2.8 million to 4 million in Elizabeth's reign. London went from 60,000 to 200,000 in 1600
      • Rack renting: landlords increased prices of rent for land
      • Inflation: increase in food prices due to poor harvest
      • Enclosure: more landlords switches to pastoral farming, fewer workers - lost jobs.
      • Monasteries closing: Henry VIII closed monasteries that had provided alms for the poor.
      • Poor harvest: bad harvests between 1594-1598 led to food shortages, starvation and lost jobs
    • Mistreatment of poor
      • Puritans believed laziness was evil and good Christians worked hard. Unemployed were seen as morally wrong and evil
      • Some poor became tramps and wandered around country looking for work. Rich thought they were dangerous or thieves
      • Rich had to pay taxes for poor. Did not like paying for poor from other villages as did not know them and did not want to be held responsible.
      • Printing press invented, leaflets and newspapers spreading cruel messages about poor and vagabonds, Thomas Harman, 'warning about vagabonds' caused fear.
    • Elizabethan Poor Law 1601
      • Statute of Artificers 1563
        • workers paid max possible, apprenticeships encouraged, craftsman got 7 years free training. Prices in shops were set
      • Vagabonds Act 1572
        • Limited amount of beggars in a town. Beggars needed to apply for a license. Lawyers required to conduct regular 'views and searches' for unlicensed beggars
      • Poor Tax 1572
        • Villages had to register names of old and weak people in village. Then introduced weekly tax for people on register
      • Poor Relief Act 1576
        • System to support people struggling to find jobs. Towns constructed workhouse, raw materials provided for free then poor made into products with high prices.

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