It's the 21st December on Monday, the date of the feast day of St Thomas the Apostle in Tudor times, and during my research on that and the traditions associated with it, like collecting alms, my mind turned to poverty in Tudor times and how it was dealt with.
Further Reading
- Edith Burrows, Poor Relief in Tudor England, Honors thesis, University of Richmond, 1966 - https://scholarship.richmond.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=2066&context=honors-theses
- Anne Boleyn and Charity - https://www.theanneboleynfiles.com/anne-boleyn-and-charity/
- Neil S Rushton, Monastic charitable provision in Tudor England: quantifying and qualifying
poor relief in the early sixteenth century - http://www.northcravenheritage.org.uk/NCHT/RoyPriceArchive/DISSOLUTIONandPofG/pdfsPilgrimageofGrace&Dissolution/tudormonasticcharities.pdf - Paul Slack, The English Poor Law 1531-1782
- Sidney & Beatrice Webb, English Local Government: English Poor Law History Part 1
- Gareth Jones, History of the Law of Charity 1532-1827
- Peter D Riley, Rich and Poor in Tudor Times
- Tim Lambert, “LIFE FOR POOR PEOPLE IN TUDOR ENGLAND” - http://www.localhistories.org/poortudors.html
- Crime, Poverty and the Common Man - https://www.history.org.uk/student/module/4536/overview-of-elizabeth-i/4542/crime-poverty-and-the-common-man
- Key dates in Poor Law and Relief Great Britain 1300 – 1899 - http://www.thepotteries.org/dates/poor.htm
- Act for the Relief of the Poor 1601 - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Act_for_the_Relief_of_the_Poor_1601#Main_points_of_the_1601_Act
- Text of the Poor Law 1601 - https://www.sochealth.co.uk/national-health-service/health-law/poor-law-1601/
- Poverty in Tudor Times - https://spartacus-educational.com/TUDpoverty.htm
- Tudor Poor Laws - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tudor_Poor_Laws
- Life in Elizabethan England, BBC Bitesize - https://www.bbc.co.uk/bitesize/guides/z3nqsg8/revision/3
- Causes of Poverty in Tudor England - https://www.tutor2u.net/history/reference/causes-of-poverty-in-elizabethan-england
- People - http://elizabethanmuseum.weebly.com/people.html
- Poor Tudors - http://www.primaryhomeworkhelp.co.uk/tudors/poor.htm
The “Poor Laws” appear to be a precedent for our current welfare system in the US. We are taxed and a chunk of those federal and state taxes go to welfare, housing subsidies, food stamps, and medical care (state Medicaid programs). The difference is the amount of force and punishment involved to get the “able-bodied” to work. We don’t punish the homeless “vagabonds”, many of whom are mentally ill or addicted. People try to help, for the most part, but we are not winning in the fight over the opiod epidemic, which has started to skyrocket since the COVID-19 pandemic. Solving the ills of the society is like untangling the Gordian knot. Alexander the Great supposedly cut it, but I believe if we use swords, we’ll die by them too.