History of London:crime,unemployment

With the rise in population jobs were not always easy to find. In Tudor times there were thousands of people without jobs wandering around looking for work. There were also disabled beggars. There were also people who pretended to be mad or disabled in order to beg. Tudor governments tolerated people who were disabled begging. However they did not tolerate able-bodied people without jobs wandering around. They saw such 'sturdy vagabonds' as a threat to law and order.

Since the 14th century there had been laws against vagabonds but in 1530 a new law was passed. The old and disabled poor were to be given licences to beg. However anyone roaming without a job was tied to a cart in the nearest market town and whipped till they were bloody. They were then forced to return to the parish where they had been born or where they had lived for the last 3 years.

A law of 1536 was more severe. Vagabonds were whipped the first time. However for a second offence they part of their right ear was cut off (so they could be easily identified wherever they went). For a third offence they were hanged. However officers of the law were reluctant to carry out such draconian measures. A law of 1547 chided them for 'foolish pity and mercy'. Under this law anyone who roamed or loitered for 3 days without a job must offer to work for any employer for any wages he was willing to pay. If nobody would employ him then he must offer to work just for food and drink. If he did not do this then anyone could take him to the Justice of the Peace (local magistrate). The vagabond was then made that person's slave for 2 years. If he ran away during that time he was branded and made a slave for life. This terrible law was abolished in 1550. Once again flogging was made the punishment for vagrancy.

Furthermore every parish was commanded to build a workhouse for the old and disabled poor. They would be housed in the workhouse and made to do any work they were capable of.

However in 1572 the law was made more severe again. For a first offence a vagabond would be whipped and burned in the right ear with a red-hot iron. (Unless some kindly employer was willing to give him a job). For a second offence he would be hanged (again unless an employer gave him a job). For a third offence he would be hanged regardless.

In 1576 the law regarding the old and disabled was changed again. This time the parishes were ordered to supply them with materials like flax, hemp, wool and iron. They were to do any work they could in their own homes. Any old or disabled person who refused to work was sent to a House or Correction where conditions were very harsh.

However in 1597 the death penalty for vagrancy was abolished.

The history of poverty

TUDOR PUNISHMENTS

In the 16th century prison was seldom used as a punishment. Instead people were held in prison until trial then some physical punishment was meted out. Tudor punishments were simple but harsh. In the 16th century minor crimes were often punished by the pillory or the stocks. The pillory was a wooden frame on a pole with holes through which a person's head and hands were placed. The frame was then locked and the person was subjected to humiliation and ridicule. The stocks was a wooden frame with holes through which a person's feet were placed and they were humiliated in the same way. Other common Tudor punishments were flogging and branding with red hot irons.

More serious crimes were punished by death. Beheading was reserved for the wealthy. Ordinary people were usually hanged. (They were suspended with a rope round their neck until they were strangled to death).

In 1401 a law in England made burning the penalty for heresy. In the 16th century during the reign of Mary (1553-1558) nearly 300 Protestants were burned to death in England. Sometimes a person about to be burned was strangled with a rope first to spare them pain. In 1531 Henry VIII passed an act allowing poisoners to be boiled alive but the act was repealed after his death in 1547.

In Tudor England the punishment for treason was hanging, drawing and quartering. The person was drawn on a hurdle pulled by a horse to the place of execution. They were hanged (strangled by being suspended by a rope) but when they were still alive and sometimes conscious they were cut down. The executioner cut open their stomach and 'drew out' their entrails. Finally the person was beheaded and his body was cut into quarters.