Grade 9 GCSE Edexcel crime and punishment essay: Explain why the authorities took vagabondage so seriously in the period
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GCSE
Full mark (12/12) GCSE Edexcel crime and punishment essay, more specifically about why vagabondage was taken so seriously by authorities in the period . The essay was marked by an experienced GCSE history teacher. This was a practice essay done before the real exams in which I achieved a grade 9.
explain why the authorities took vagabondage so seriously in the period 1500 1700
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Explain why the authorities took vagabondage so seriously in the period 1500-1700. (12 marks)
- Printing press
- Economic change
An initial reason why the authorities took vagabondage so seriously in the period between 1500-
1700 was because they wanted the vagabond population to decrease throughout the country. Due
to technological advances in the media industry the printing press was invented in 15th century and
led to the possibility of mass distribution of information around the country and world. This widely
distributed information in the forms of newspapers, pamphlets etc could be used by the government
to portray vagabonds as dangerous, sly criminals that were a menace to law and order within
society. If they were able to portray vagabonds as these horrible people less of the population would
be likely to become one as they would be already scared of them. Furthermore, these possibly
exaggerated portrayals of them would steer people away from supporting beggars in the streets
meaning they would have to get a job to survive decreasing the vagabond population.
Another reason why authorities took vagabondage seriously in the period 1500-1700 was because of
economic changes and unemployment. Britain was in a time of economic hardship in the early
modern period due to a large amount of unemployment among the population as King Henry VII had
banned his barons from having private armies thus many ex-soldiers were now unemployed. To
further worsen the situation many large land owners started to keep sheep on their land rather than
allow tenants to hire it to grow crops; leaving many farmers and their families out of jobs. Lastly
when Henry VIII closed all the monasteries, the increasing number of poor people couldn't even go
to the local monks for their handouts, leaving people in very desperate situations. Authorities didn't
want these people turning into vagabonds hence why they made punishments if caught begging very
tough and disapproved of outsiders coming to other towns even if there was available work there.
Lastly, authorities took vagabondage seriously in the period between 1500-1700 because of rising
crime rates. The early modern period experienced an overall rise in crime rates for many reasons but
thanks to the printing press, information about vagabonds was high publicised and rumours that
were somewhat true, for example that vagabonds had a secret language only they knew, became
well known throughout society. Organised crime was on the rise and so because of these rumours
many people believed vagabonds weren't just poor out of work people or sly beggars but thieves,
assaulters and even murderers. Due to this, much of the population and eventually even the
government started to believe vagabonds were entirely to blame for the increase in crime
throughout the country leading to vagabondage being seen as a menace to respectable society
which needed getting rid of.
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