Theme 1: Crimes and Causes : Early Modern Period (1530-1700)

Poverty caused a lot of crime in the 16th century. The main causes containing changes in the textile industry, the expensive foreign wars, rising population , inflation, bad harvest, changes in farming, dissolution of the monasteries and rural to urban migration. EXPLAIN 3 IN DETAIL.

• Inflation was a large contributing factor towards the increase in poverty due to the prices of essentials rising quicker than the wages. meaning that the poor couldn't afford food or shelter.
• A rise in the population didn't help the situation of the ratio of wealthy to poor as inflation continued within the essentials meaning that more people were left on the streets. Leading to the increase of people in poverty turning towards crime.
• Changes within agricultural England and the farming industry had a vacancy for jobs pretty slim. Walls replaced by fields and the crop by livestock such as sheep meant there was no reason for the extra hands. Again leaving many unemployed and unable to keep up with the inflation leaving them on the streets.

Poverty created VAGABONDS and the crime of VAGRANCY. Tudor JP Thomas Harrison created classes of Vagabond: EXPLAIN 3 IN DETAIL.

• Clapper Dudgeon : Puts plants and salt on the body to make sores, sticks clothing to them and pulls away the flesh. wears dirty bloody clothes to travel in markets. Makes 5 shillings a week or £6/7 if lucky.
• Doxy : Carried stolen goods on back, knitting as she went, along with feeding chickens with bread attached to a hook and thread causing the chicken to choke. She took them home.
• Counterfeit Crook…