What do you think is happening and why?

Understand the ways in which social and economic changes can effect what is considered to be a crime Explain why begging concerned wealthy and powerful people by the 16 th century.

Many people became unemployed Money did not stretch to far The poor and sick had nowhere to go Many men lost their work There was increased pressure upon food and jobs The sick and poor had to rely upon their family or the community for help (if they could/would give it) There were fewer workers needed so people lost their jobs. The poor no longer had access to common land to graze their animals or to collect fire wood

Problems in the cloth industry – Manufacture moved to the continent esp. Flanders and Artois Inflation caused prices to rise quickly Many landowners stopped growing crops and kept sheep instead The Wars of the Roses ended The population increased The monasteries were closed down by Henry VIII There was no national system to help the sick or unemployed Some land owners began enclosing land

The Bristler would use specially weighted dice (‘bristles’ were loaded or crooked dice), which would land on whichever number the Bristler chose.

Dressed in old, grubby clothes, he would pretend to have violent fits. He would often suck soap so that he frothed at the mouth! The worse he shook, the more money he hoped to attract.

He would cut his skin to make it bleed and tie dirty rags over the wounds to make it look even worse. He hoped people would feel sorry for him and give him money so he could get medical attention.

She would flash a man in the street and ask him to buy her a meal. The man, thinking he might get to have sex with the woman, would follow her to a nearby house... Where a vicious gang would be waiting to rob him!

He would pretend to be mad and follow people around. Often he would carry a stick with a piece of meat attached to the end or spend hours barking like a dog or stuffing chicken heads into his ears.

Some places, such as York, issued badges to sick or injured beggars, who were thought to deserve help (the ‘deserving poor’). This separated them from those considered lazy – called ‘sturdy beggars’.

Monarch: Henry VII Beggars to go into the stocks for three days, then sent back to their place of birth or previous residence (where they last lived).

Monarch: Henry VIII Some ‘worthy poor’, old, and sick given licence to beg. Others should be whipped and sent back to where they came from. Harsher punishments for repeat offenders.

Monarch: Edward VI Beggars whipped and branded with a V on forehead (for vagabond). Also to be made a slave for two years. If they offend again or try to escape, they will be executed (this law remained in force for three years before it was changed back to the 1531 law because it was viewed as too severe)

Monarch: Elizabeth I Local taxes should help the poor. Poor people who refuse to work should be imprisoned. Beggars will sill be whipped until they bleed and sent back to where they came from.

The BristlerThe Counterfeit Crank The Clapper DudgeonThe Baretop Trickster Tom O’Bedlam What did they do to try to get money? Why would people have given them money? Q) What was the difference between a ‘sturdy beggar’ and on of the ‘deserving poor’? How did the law treat them differently?

King or Queen What happened to beggars under this law? What was the law designed to do? Why do you think the law treated beggars like it did? How was this law different to previous laws?

Source A. A beggar is tied and whipped through the streets (1567) Source B. Vagabonds and Beggars Act (1494) ‘Vagabonds, idle and suspected persons shall be set in the stocks for three days and three nights and have none other sustenance but bread and water and then shall be put out of town. Every beggar suitable to work shall resort to the Hundred where he last dwelled, is best known, or was born and there remain.’ [Hundred – An area of administration, a little like counties today] What can you learn from Sources A and B about changes in how seriously begging was treated by the law? (4 marks) Basic 1-2 marks: The answer gives details from the sources but does not identify change Good 3-4 marks: The answer identifies change and uses information from both sources to support (identify and explain) the change.

What might the following people think about the growing number of beggars and the threat they pose to law and order? An unemployed cloth worker An Elizabethan landowner