Elizabethan England Topic Summaries

Responses to poverty

GCSE > History > Eduqas > GCSE History: Elizabethan England (1558-1603) > Elizabethan life and culture > Responses to poverty
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Key terms
  • In 1560, Elizabeth ordered a recoinage to recall old, debased coins (including much of what Henry VIII had ordered made with poorquality copper) and replace them with the proper silver standard. This helped limit inflation and restore trust in the Crown’s long-term economic management.
  • The 1570s–1590s saw growing awareness that poverty could threaten social stability. Vagrancy was associated with crime, unrest, and potential rebellion.
  • Early Tudor policy relied on charitable giving and voluntary relief, but this proved insufficient.
  • Local authorities were given greater responsibility to manage the poor. Punishments for vagrancy included whipping, branding, and imprisonment, reflecting a punitive approach to idle poverty. Before Elizabeth, beggars were whipped, burned, or, if caught repeatedly, hanged. 
  • Government action combined repression of vagrancy with support for those unable to work.
  • Some rich people set up charities to help people. For example, Archbishop Whitgift set up alms houses in Croydon for the old and ill to live in comfort. Others dismissed the idle poor, believing them to be lazy or tricksters
  • The 1601 Poor Law established a national framework for poor relief. 
    • Parishes became responsible for collecting local taxes (the ‘poor rate’) to fund assistance. 
    • Relief distinguished between the deserving poor (elderly, disabled, children) and undeserving poor (able-bodied vagrants, beggars). 
    • The law encouraged work for the able-bodied, including employment in parish-run workhouses or local projects.
    • It expanded on the 1597 Act’s outlining of the role of Overseers who collected taxes to help the poor and provide them with food, housing, and work.
    • This marked a significant development in government responsibility for social welfare. For instance, the unfortunate poor (those who couldn’t work) were given food and shelter paid for by taxing the rich.

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