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Elizabeth I - society - Coggle Diagram
Elizabeth I - society
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poverty and poor relief
government intervention
Poor Law Act of 1576 - attempted to create a national system of poor relief that should be financed and administered locally - towns should make provisions for the employment of the deserving poor
Acts of 1598 and 1601 - completed the legislative process and named the parish as the designated institution to raise rates for and administer poor relief
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undeserving poor were still treated harshly - Act of 1572 added branding to the list of punishments for the undeserving poor, 1597 vagrancy act said that first time offenders should be whipped and repeat offenders should be executed
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issues facing the poor
harvest failures - 9 out of 44 harvests in Elizabeth's reign were considered "poor", 4 successive poor harvests 1594-97, still dealing with issues of poor harvests in Mary's reign
decline of real wages - in 1596, real wages were half of what they were 9 years earlier - cost of living went up due to harvest failures
enclosure - decreased the amount of land they had to work on and increased unemployment as there was less demand for agricultural workers
population growth - population grew from 2.2 million to 4 million by the end of Elizabeth's reign - made the issue of unemployment worse as there was less demand for labour and more people
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problems in the regions
Wales
the Welsh border was rarely an issue in Elizabeth's reign - although cultural and linguistic differences remained and areas remained poor, borders were not an issue
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the Welsh language was rarely used in government but remained in religion - Book of Common Prayer and Bible
some gentry prospered but a significant number were involved in the "Essex rebellion" indicating political discontent
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Ireland
Elizabeth wanted to subject Ireland to a policy of "Englishness" - wanted to impose Protestantism and English customary laws and landownership
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Ireland was mostly Catholic, spoke Gaelic and had different laws about landownership
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third rebellion 1595 was more serious and harder to put down - Earl of Tyrone looked to be able to establish an independent Catholic state in Ireland
forced Elizabeth to send in the Earl of Essex as Lord Lieutenant in 1599 - this was an error as he disobeyed Elizabeth's orders and made a truce with Tyrone - he was replaced by Lord Mountjoy in 1601 and made peace with Tyrone in 1603
continuity and change
continuity
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poor were still treated harshly eg. acts against vagrancy with harsh punishments such as being whipped
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