Society in Elizabethan England

• English society was still under aristocratic domination - the feudal system was still in place and England was largely controlled by the nobility.
• There were few hereditary peers i.e. duke, marquess, earl, viscount and baron - Elizabeth kept her nobility close and gave out few titles. The highest peerage title, duke, had shown to cause problems in her predecessors’ reigns (e.g. Somerset, Northumberland). Dukes had too much power so she was careful not to create anymore. The nobility had become more peaceable than in earlier times and they were less concerned about defence. Below, dukes, the other four peerage titles wanted to enhance their prestige through massive building projects e.g. houses like Burghley and Wilton in Wiltshire.
• Below the peerage came the gentry which contained a wide social range from knights and figures of national importance to modest local landowners. The gentry increased in size during Elizabeth’s reign and the number who were very wealthy rose.
• The other layers of society didn’t change much from how they were at the start of the century. But, in Elizabeth’s reign, the gap between rich and poor widened. The poorer sectors of society were vulnerable to enclosure and the decline in real wages. The majority of landowners turned to sheep farming rather than having land labourers because it was more profitable (sheep could produce wool and meat). So, the previous yeomen and tenant farmers became vagabonds.
• By the end of Elizabeth’s reign, the population was about 4 million and the majority still lived in the countryside. Therefore, if many landowners turned to sheep farming, they would have less work and would become vagabonds.

• Elizabethans had a very clear idea of where everyone belonged in society - people couldn’t move from where they were in society and it was a way of keeping track of where people were to ensure law and order.
• In rural areas, your influence was based on how much land you had, whereas in towns and cities this was based on your occupation and wealth.
• A key thing about society: obedience - you had to show obedience to respect to those that were above you. In turn, those who were above had a duty of care to those below them.
• The main threat to Elizabethan society and to social harmony came from vagabonds and vagrants. They could move around and didn’t belong to anyone, so in terms of law and order, they were difficult to keep track of. They could step outside this very clear social structure. Another reason they were a problem is that there were increasing levels of poverty so as Elizabeth’s reign went on, more people were pushed into the vagabond bracket. Vagabonds weren’t always ensured work where they went so they would often turn to stealing or crime to survive. They had no fixed abode and so were not answerable to anyone, meaning that they were outside the realm of law and order. If they committed a crime, they could move on to somewhere else.

The impotent and able-bodied poor

• There was some financial help available for the poor: poor relief. But, the poor were split into two categories:
  • The impotent ‘deserving’ poor
  • The able-bodied ‘undeserving’ poor
• The only category who could get poor relief were the impotent who couldn’t work.
• Poor relief was collected through a special local tax collected by the JPs.
• Alongside poor relief, they could receive help from the Church but only if they fell into the category of ‘deserving’ poor.
• Vagrants were classed as the worst kind of ‘undeserving’ poor and if they were caught, they faced severe punishment e.g. whipping and imprisonment.
• Shows the great divide in Elizabethan England between those they felt deserved help and those who didn’t.

• The majority of poor relief was a local government issue. However, Elizabeth’s government also adopted a more national approach, unlike previous Tudor monarchs.
• Elizabeth gave local officials more power to collect poor rates, as necessary in their area.
• The main reason Elizabeth wanted to do more to help the ‘deserving’ poor was due to the fear of vagrancy and social discontent. She was deliberately creating and widening the divide between ‘deserving’ and ‘undeserving’ poor. 

Several laws were passed to do this:

• 1563 Statute of Artificers aimed to ensure poor relief was collected. Anyone who refused to pay poor rates could be imprisoned and officials who failed to organise poor relief could be fined up to £20.
• 1572 Vagabonds Act aimed to deter vagrancy. It stated that vagrants were to be whipped and a hole drilled through each ear. Vagrants were to be imprisoned if arrested a second time and given the death penalty for the third. It established the national poor rate for the first time which helped the impotent. JPs were to keep a register of the poor. Towns and cities were given the responsibility to find work for the able-bodied poor.
• 1576 Poor Relief Act aimed to distinguish between the able-bodied and impotent poor and to help the able-bodied find work. JPs provided the able-bodied poor with wool and raw materials so they could make things to sell. Those who refused work when they were given help were to be sent to a special prison funded by poor rates, known as the house of correction.

• Although there were some changes for the better, poverty continued to be a problem throughout Elizabeth’s reign. This was partly because of the war with Spain and the interruption of trade with the Netherlands which caused there to be a lack of jobs.
• The important change to the Poor Laws was the recognition of unemployment as a genuine problem - not just laziness.

• England was much more unified than France or Spain and it was also much more peaceable. 
• In Elizabeth's reign, there was only one serious rebellion - the Northern Rebellion of 1569 which collapsed pretty quickly. 
• During this period, the aristocracy and greater gentry tended to move from their fortified castles to newly built and indefensible country homes, suggesting there was more confidence in social order. This is surprising considering the lack of limited resources of the State. 
• But, the country was not always peaceable - there were problems with England, Wales and the north of England.

• Elizabethans believed that the Irish should become more 'English' in religious and secular matters. In 1560, Elizabeth was proclaimed Supreme Governor of the Church of Ireland, but she lacked the power to impose Protestantism on a largely Catholic population.
• John Guy depicts Ireland as a 'breeding ground for fortune hunters', as some English often used martial law to gain money. This led to bad relations with the Gaelic Irish and the Old English who had settled in Ireland in the 11th century. Thus, rebellions broke out in the south from 1569 to 1573 and 1579 to 1582. Lord Grey of Wilton, the Lord Deputy of Ireland's brutal response to this latter rebellion further worsened Anglo-Irish relations. 
• The third rebellion of the period was much more difficult and expensive to suppress. It was in Ulster and was led by Hugh O'Neill, created the Earl of Tyrone by Elizabeth in 1585.

• The Welsh border was no longer a problem by Elizabeth's reign - the integration of England and Wales had continued. 
• Much of Wales were relatively poor and there were still cultural and linguistic differences, but border issues were rarely an issue. 
• The structures of administration were still being used e.g. the Council of Wales and the Marches.
• The Welsh language disappeared in government but remained religion (both the Book of Common Prayer and the Bible were translated into Welsh). 
• Poverty remained in Wales. Many welsh gentry prospered under Elizabeth but many were involved in the Essex coup, suggesting that towards the end of Elizabeth's reign, there was discontent with her reign amongst these gentry.

• There was still the possibility of border conflict - Scotland was still a separate and independent state.
• There was a lawless subculture on the borders (there was casual violence and sheep and cattle were stolen); this created problems for both countries' authorities. In England, border administration was with the wardens of the three border marches. Normally, wardens were from the great northern families, but Henry VIII had started appointing southerners instead and Elizabeth continued this strategy. A problem with this was that these nobles didn't have a landed base in the borders to control the northern aristocratic families or the border clans. 

• Mostly, her reign was a time of order and peace.
• The one rebellion was the Northern Rebellion of 1569 - it had little to do with social and economic problems for the poor. Even in the mid-1590s, when there were harvest failures, rising prices and the plague, England remained relatively socially stable. 
• The government was worried about vagabondage. The punitive and heavy-handed response of the government to the 'Oxfordshire rising' of 1596 (comprised of four men who were desperate due to their poverty and decided to seize weapons and march on London) showed that the authorities feared a social disorder which did not reflect reality. 

• Took place in Durham and the North Riding of Yorkshire and was linked to a rising in Cumberland in 1570. Led by northern nobility, e.g. the earls of Northumberland and Westmorland.
• In part, they were motivated by religious fervour but they also had political motives: they were unhappy about having been displaced from their traditional role of controlling northern government.
• Also, it has been argued it was linked with a conspiracy at court - it was suggested that Westmorland's brother in law, the Duke of Norfolk should marry Mary, Queen of Scots and she would be restored to the throne. 
• 9th November - the rebellion began. 
• 14th November - the rebels marched on Durham and seized the city. They heard Mass in the cathedral, showing their Catholic motives behind the rebellion. 
• The rebels marched on York, but they made no attempt to capture it or move southwards to pressurise the government. Instead, they went back towards Durham and besieged Barnard Castle, the Crown's stronghold. It fell to the rebels on 14th December. When the rebels heard that a Crown force was on its ways north, the earls disbanded their forces and fled over the Scottish border. 
• The month after Leonard Dacre restarted the rebellion in Cumberland - his force were defeated at Naworth near Carlisle by a royal force commanded by the Queen's cousin. 

• The rebellion failed because:The Queen's servants worked effectively and faithfully for the Queen - Cecil worked hard in studying a map of Durham to decide how to act. But, the rebellion showed the London government's lack of understanding of the differences between the north and the south, the problems managing localities and the difficulty in raising forces to deal with the rebellion. It showed the ruthlessness of Elizabeth's government - mass executions of rebels were ordered. 
  • It was very disorganised and it wasn't clear what the rebels' objectives were.
  • It had poor leadership.
  • It had a lack of expected foreign support.
  • The authorities acted decisively.
• The rebellion was geographically limited - the earls gained no support from the other conservative nobility of other areas of the north and there didn't seem to be much enthusiasm to get rid of Elizabeth. This doesn't mean there was widespread enthusiasm for Elizabethan government but many didn't agree with what might replace it. 
• The Crown wanted to regain control over the north through re-establishing the Council of the North in 1572. It would be controlled by the Earl of Huntingdon - an outsider to the north, a relative of the Queen and a strong Puritan. This would be a useful quality to have in the north where Catholics were seen as possible enemies of the Crown.