Unit 1B - England, 1509-1603: authority, nation and religion
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A* Essay Plan - Causes of Poverty in Tudor England
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Unit 1B - England, 1509-1603: authority, nation and religion
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Detailed essay plan produced by an A* student in response to a variety of questions focused on the causes of poverty in Tudor England.
This was written as revision for topics three and four of Edexcel Tudor History A-Level, Option 1B: England 1509– 1603: authority, nation and religion, and cov...
Unit 1B - England, 1509-1603: authority, nation and religion
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How did the dissolution of the monasteries and enclosure together contribute to the problem of
poverty?
To what extent was the growth of towns the main cause of poverty in the Tudor period 1558-88?
How accurate is it to say that the most significant cause of poverty in 1509-88 was population
growth?
Reason How did this contribute to the problem of poverty?
Dissolution of the ● 7,000 ex-monks and nuns had to find a new life and way to support themselves - nuns and friars
monasteries received smaller pensions and former nuns were particularly badly hit because Henry insisted
they couldn’t break their vow of chastity - couldn’t get married and it was difficult to survive
without a husband
● Monasteries had been sources of learning, education and charity - Henry promised to fill the gap
left by monasteries but most of these promises were broken as the money was needed to fund
Henry’s wars against France and Scotland - many former monastic lands were left to decay and
schemes to fund preachers, schools, hospitals and poor relief were dropped
● In a period of increasing poverty, the dissolution led to increased hardship among those who
relied on them the most - impact was felt most in those areas that were the poorest, particularly
the north of England (Pilgrimage of Grace)
● HOWEVER, abbots and priors who didn’t resist the dissolution were either given pensions or
found another role in the Church as bishops or clergy - ordinary monks were given smaller
pensions of about £5 a year (annual wage of an unskilled worker) while the Abbot of Romsey
received a pension of £266 a year
● Although the change of land ownership from Church to lay landlords may have brought additional
hardship for the tenants and employees of the monasteries, in most cases there was continuity in
employment as the new owners needed the labour to keep the estates running
● It did has some positive impacts on society - ⅔ of monastic lands were sold off in the 1540s to
pay for Henry’s wars and the rest had been sold by the end of the Tudor period - nobility and
gentry who bought this land gained from this e.g. Russell family in the south-west and
Bedfordshire used this land to establish themselves as important landowners (Woburn Abbey
turned into family home)
Growth of towns ● Increased urbanisation in the second half of the 16th century due to growing population, the
pressure on jobs and changing in trading patterns and the result of this growth was to stimulate
migration into the towns by those looking for work
○ Towns such as York, Bristol and Exeter all benefited from the new trading routes that
were being opened up in the Baltic and Atlantic, while the cloth trades of Norwich,
Colchester, Ipswich and Canterbury were rejuvenated by the arrival of migrant Dutch
workers and the ‘new draperies’
● Towns were particularly sensitive to the social and economic crises and faced cramped, dirty
conditions meaning disease could spread quickly e.g. Norwich 18,000 to 15,000 1579 plague
● Wealth was not equally divided among the population meaning there was a large gap between
the wealthy minority and the poorer majority - many town residents owned little or no property
because they couldn’t afford it
○ Weren’t self-sufficient as couldn’t grow their own food so in times of food shortages
many inhabitants weren’t able to fend for themselves
○ There was poverty and destitution as the rural unskilled poor moved to the towns to look
for work - tax returns suggest that about 30% of the population in most towns paid no
tax, usually due to genuine poverty, and it was this group who would be reliant on poor
relief or might resort to begging and vagrancy
● 1532-42 over 1,400 apprentices migrated from the West Country into Bristol, putting pressure on
house prices - poor living conditions and lack of food led to the spread of disease and caused
high mortality rates that led to temporary labour shortages in the early years of Elizabeth’s reign
○ This drove increased demand for workers
Enclosure ● Some landlords enclosed village common lands which affected the poorest members of the
community as they were most reliant on these lands to graze their animals - could have a
knock-on effect as common grazing provided manure for the village crops and without this it
became harder to grow enough food to survive
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