8-1ThePoor

How were beggars and vagrants treated in Elizabethan England? What were the Poor Laws? //Prepared by Peter Ruvalcaba// During the 16th century, the English Parliament became concerned about the growing numbers of poor and homeless people on the streets. They thought that the growing number of poor constituted a threat to both the political and social order of England. According to John A. Wagner, author of the book Historical Dictionary of the Elizabethan World: Britain, Ireland, Europe, and America, many factors caused the increased number of poor and homeless. Population growth increased the labor supply and eventually led to unemployment. Unemployment led to major problems of thievery and vagabondage. Another factor that contributed to the vast population of poor people was inflation. Inflation deepened poverty by causing prices to rise twice as fast as peoples’ wages. The reformation, England’s break with the Roman Catholic Church resulting in Queen Elizabeth’s establishment of the Anglican Church, also added to the problem because monasteries and other religious organizations that had traditionally taken care of the poor and homeless were no longer in existence. In order for the Parliament to stop this supposed threat of the lower class, they passed a series of laws or statutes designed to help control the number of poor. Sonia Benson, author of the book Elizabethan World Almanac, explains that the laws distinguished between “impotent” or “the deserving poor” such as the sick elderly and orphans, and the “sturdy” or “undeserving poor,” those who were able to work but didn't want to. These vagrancy statutes, more commonly called “poor laws” aimed to help the “deserving poor” and punish the “undeserving poor.” In 1572 under Queen Elizabeth, the Parliament passed a new law which created a national system of taxation to pay for the care of the poor. Property owners were taxed and the money was collected and sent to district parishes, which in turn supplied food, clothing, and housing, for the poor. In order to enforce the new “poor law” each parish had to keep track of the number of poor people in their community. Therefore, as stated by Denise Dersin, author of the book What Life Was Like in the Realm of Elizabeth: England AD 1533-1603, it was illegal for vagrants or homeless people, to wander from town to town without a special permit. Vagrants who broke the law were subject to public whippings and sent back to their home parishes. Some were burned on the ear for a first offense and hanged for a second offense. Under the 1572 law palm readers, wizards, unlicensed healers, and even minstrels were defined as vagrants.