Social,+Political,+and+Economic+History+of+London

= __ Social, Political and Economic History of London (1560-1642) __ = = = =__ Social __= = - Class system = = “We in England, divide our people commonly into four sorts, as gentlemen, citizens or burgesses, yeomen, and artificers or labourers.” = = = = “Of gentlemen the first and chief (next the king) be the prince, dukes, marquesses, earls, viscounts, and barons; and these are called gentlemen of the greater sort, or (as our common usage of speech is) lords and noblemen: and next unto them be knights, esquires, and, last of all, they that are simply called gentlemen.” = = = = “Citizens and burgesses have next place to gentlemen, who be those that are free within the cities, and are of some likely substance to b = = ear office in the same.” = = = = “In this place also are our merchants to be installed as amongst the citizens (although they often change estate with gentlemen, as gentlemen do with them, by a mutual conversion of the one into the other), whose number is so increased in these our days that their only maintenance is the cause of the exceeding prices of foreign wares, which otherwise, when every nation was permitted to bring in her own commodities, were far better, cheaper, and more plentifully to be had.” = = = = “Yeomen are those which by our law are called Legales homines, free men born English, and may dispend of their own free land in yearly revenue to the sum of forty shillings sterling, or six pounds as money goeth in our times.” = = = = “The fourth and last sort of people in England are day-labourers, poor husbandmen, and some retailers (which have no free land) copyholders, and all artificers, as tailors, shoemakers, carpenters, brickmakers, masons, etc.” = = = = - The nobility and knights were at the top of the social ladder = = - The biggest growth was in the newly formed merchant class = = - There was a concentration of urban population, due to people moving to urban areas in search of work = = - London’s population grew 400%, reaching a population of nearly 200,000 people in the city = = - The population of England also grew, due to an increase in fertility, and decrease in death rate. = = - The literacy rate was increasing = = - The world was being explored, which fed the people of London’s growing passion for new ideas = = - Wealthy men became patrons of writers, allowing literature to flourish = = = =__ Political __= = - Elizabeth I was queen of England and head of the Church of England = = - England was still in some ways a feudal society = = - A feudal society was where a lord would own an estate (a piece of land) and allow commoners to live on it. In return they would work the land and harvest the crops = = - The households of England would sometimes be treated to the honour of housing the Queen and her household. Queen Elizabeth would go on constant progresses about the country, which not only brought her in touch with her subjects, but also saved her household money by making the nobility foot the bill for her visit. = = - Within nobility, there was a divide between old and new. The old noble families were predominantly catholic, while the new noble families belonged to the Church of England. = = - The old families were exempt from the oaths of allegiance to the church, and some had their own private chaplains = = = =__ Economic __= = - There was a shift towards mercantilism = = - Markets were common = = “ There are (as I take it) few great towns in England that have not their weekly markets, one or more granted from the prince, in which all manner of provision for household is to be bought and sold, for ease and benefit of the country round about. Whereby, as it cometh to pass that no buyer shall make any great journey in the purveyance of his necessities, so no occupier shall have occasion to travel far off with his commodities, except it be to seek for the highest prices, which commonly are near unto great cities, where round1 and speediest utterrance2 is always to be had.” = = [1] Direct [2] Market = = = = - The wool trade was very prosperous, which led to a increase in building in the active wool areas = = - The amount of poverty increased during this time, partially due to the increase in population. The nation’s resources had to be shared with a greater number of people = = - Because the poor became poorer, a growing number = = of vagabonds and beggars roamed the country = = - The government created Acts which acknowledged that it was the community’s responsibility to care for the poor = = - Houses of correction were set up in London, which was notorious for its number of poor people. = = - These houses would provide useful tasks for the vagrants, thieves, and criminals in order to cure them. = = - There were many classifications of poor people = = “The several disorders and degrees amongst our idle vagabonds. = = 1. Rufflers. 2. Uprightmen. 3. Hookers or anglers. = = 4. Rogues. 5. Wild rogues. 6. Priggers or pransers. = = 7. Palliards. 8. Fraters. 9. Abrams. = = 10. Freshwater mariners or whipiacks. 11. Drummerers. = = 12. Drunken tinkers. 13. Swadders or pedlers. 14. Jarkemen or patricoes. = = Of the women kind. = = 1. Demanders for glimmar or 2. Bawdy-baskets. [fire. = = 3. Mortes. 4. Autem mortem. 5. Walking mortes. = = 6. Doxies. 7. Dells. 8. Kinching mortes. 9. Kinching cooes.” =

The passages in quotations are taken from William Harrison’s “Description of Elizabethan England, 1577” which can be seen here: [|http://www.fordham.edu/halsall/mod/1577harrison-england.asp#Chapter%20IV]

All of the above in a word document:

A presentation I found (I did not make this):