Why Were the Poor Considered a Problem for Elizabeth I? (Edexcel GCSE History)

The Impact of Poverty on Elizabethan England - Summary

Between 1558 and 1588, England experienced significant problems with the economy. In 1563, Philip II of Spain implemented a ban on English cloth in the Spanish Netherlands. Cloth was one of England's main exports. The resulting trade embargo between England and the Spanish Netherlands impacted both countries so significantly that the embargo only lasted a year. Further conflict with Spain from 1577 to 1588 damaged England's economy. Farmers could not sell their raw materials to merchants. As a result, many merchants and farmers' businesses failed. 

Due to this situation, poverty increased in Elizabethan England. The unemployed and the landless found life in Elizabethan England challenging. The attitudes that many Elizabethans held meant that the unemployed received limited help. This led to a lack of food, government punishment and death in the most extreme cases. Poverty became a problem that needed Elizabeth's government to develop better solutions.

Who was Classified as Poor?

• People in Elizabethan times could become poor for many reasons, such as:

  • Unemployment

  • Illness

  • Homelessness

• Elizabethans had strong beliefs about the different 'types' of poor in their society

  • They classified the poor into the 'Deserving' Poor and the 'Idle' Poor

• Historians deem those in poverty in Elizabethan times as people who spent over 80% of their income on food

• A survey in Norwich in 1570 showed

  • Up to 40% of those in poverty were under the age of 16

  • Women-led households were more likely to be poor

    • Businesses paid women less

    • Many female-led households were a result of abandonment or death of a husband

  • Roughly 25% of those in poverty were over the age of 60

• The poor concerned many in Elizabethan England

  • The poor required financial help

    • Poor relief was the responsibility of Justices of the Peace 

    • The Church provided charity for the poor in the form of alms

  • The poor could cause issues with law and order

    • Itinerants travelled from town to town in search of work

    • Vagrants would beg and steal for money in order to survive

Why did Poverty Increase Between 1558 and 1588?

Changes in harvests

• As a rural economy, Elizabethan England relied upon a good harvest to:

  • Feed the population of England

  • Export raw materials to trade with other countries

• The key findings from the bar chart are:

  • In 1556, just before Elizabeth became queen, England experienced a terrible harvest

  • By 1558, the year of Elizabeth's accession, England had an excellent harvest

  • England experienced two bad harvests in Elizabeth's early reign

    • These were in 1562 and 1586

  • Harvests were unpredictable

• Poor harvests increased poverty because:

  • Rising prices for food meant that many labourers increased their charges to farm the land

  • Many landowners did not want to pay an increase in wages

  • Landowners turned to other farming, which needed fewer workers

    • Growing crops was labour-intensive whereas livestock did not require as many workers

      • It caused food shortages of essential products such as bread

      • It increased the prices for these items, which many poorer people could not afford

An increasing population

• The population in England increased by 35% because:

  • The understanding of medicine improved people's life expectancy

  • More children were surviving into adulthood

    • This increased the amount and the sizes of towns in England

• London became a large city

  • It had a population of 150,000 people

  • This was ten times the size of Norwich, England's second-largest city

• A growing urban population caused an increase in poverty 

  • Food was grown in the countryside and sold in towns and cities

    • If too many people lived in towns and cities, there would not be enough people to grow the crops needed to feed the population

  • An increase in demand caused food prices to rise

    • Poorer people in Elizabethan towns and cities could not afford the price of bread

The difference between prices and wages

• An increase in population caused a higher demand for food

  • England struggled to grow enough food to meet this demand

• As a result, inflation increased
  

  • This meant the price of food began to rise

• Whilst inflation in an economy is normal, wages in Elizabethan times did not match price rises

• Prices being above the value of wages caused poverty because:

  • After 1570, many on lower wages could not afford basic necessities

    • Food prices, in particular, rose sharply after 1570

  • Many people fell into poverty even if they had employment
    

    • Workers asked for a higher payment. Employers often refused to increase wages. A request for an increase in wages could result in the employer firing the worker

    • This increased the levels of the 'Idle' Poor in towns and cities

Sheep Farming

• England relied on its cloth trade

  • Woollen cloth accounted for 81.6% of England's exports in Elizabethan times

  • There was high demand for English wool across Europe 

• Many farmers in Elizabeth's reign swapped from crop farming to sheep farming

  • Farmers could earn higher profits on sheep farming

  • Elizabethan sheep farming required fewer workers, which reduced the costs of wages

• Sheep farming increased poverty because:

  • Successful sheep farming needed large amounts of land. This took away common land, which all villagers previously had access to. This reduced people's ability to forage or grow food for their families

  • Farmers did not hire as many workers. This increased unemployment in the countryside

  • The sheep ate crops. There was already a shortage of crops across England. The sheep were eating crops that could have fed those who could not afford bread. This angered many villagers

The Issue of Enclosure

• The process of enclosure caused further issues for people living in the countryside

What does enclosure mean?

• Medieval villagers used to share the land around the village called common land

  • Villagers could grow, scavenge and access large open fields, woodlands and water meadows

  • If a farmer owned an individual piece of land, they would grant the villagers access to it

• Enclosure refers to the practice of placing fences around all the fields in the village

  • After enclosure, individual farmers owned portions of the village

  • The farmers refused the villagers access to their enclosed land

Why did farmers enclose their land in Elizabethan times?

How did enclosure increase poverty?

• Enclosure caused a lot of anger in the countryside

  • Landowners increased rents for profitable land

    • Smaller farmers could not afford high rents. Landowners forced small farmers to leave their land. The empty land was often enclosed by larger farmers

  • Enclosing common land had devastating impacts

    • People lost their ancient rights to use the land for grazing animals, foraging and collecting wood

    • Subsistence farmers could no longer survive

• An increasing population made the process of enclosure worse

  • The country needed more crops

    • The villagers used common land to grow crops

    • The countryside became angry at yeomen and larger landowners. The villagers saw them as greedy by taking common land for their sheep

  • There was not enough work for the population

    • Enclosure meant there was a lower demand for workers

    • An increase in the population meant there was an excess of workers

    • Farmers could reduce wages as people became desperate for work

    • Unemployment increased in the countryside 

The Threat of Vagabondage

• Vagabonds, or vagrants, frightened Elizabethans

  • Vagabonds lived outside of the hierarchy of Elizabethan England

    • They had no employer, which meant they were not a worker

    • They did not own land or a business, which meant they were not a yeoman or a craftsman

  • Vagabonds did not live by the laws of England

    • They did not settle in one place

    • They often stole or committed other crimes 

• The issues in England's countryside made vagabondage worse

  • Many rural workers moved to the towns and cities in order to find work

  • Towns and cities suffered from unemployment, especially if Anglo-Spanish relations were poor

  • If these rural workers could not find work, they turned to a life of begging and vagabondage

• Vagabondage caused issues in Elizabethan towns and cities

  • The poor built makeshift houses outside of the city walls

    • Local government officials could not do anything about these makeshift houses as they existed outside the city

    • Within these areas, there were high levels of crime

  • Local officials did not know what to do about vagrants

    • Society saw vagabonds as lazy. They did not want to help them

    • Elizabeth's government began to recognise that unemployment was a real problem

Attitudes Towards 'Deserving' and 'Idle' Poor