GCSE History OCR B (The Elizabethans 1508 - 1603) Section 4: The class divide, family life and poverty

Question 1

How many rooms did the gentry’s houses have on average?

Answer 1

50

Question 2

State 2 features of a gentry owned house that showed the wealth of the property owner.

Answer 2

1) Glazed windows
2) Finely decorated chimneys

Question 3

State 2 lavish meats the gentry would eat at their feasts.

Answer 3

Swan and pheasant

Question 4

What sweet treats would the gentry enjoy at their feasts?

Answer 4

Sugar and marzipan

Question 5

How did the gentry generate income?

Answer 5

They rented out their land

Question 6

State 2 features of a home owned by the middling sort.

Answer 6

10 or so rooms over 2 floors.

Question 7

What was the differences between the windows and chimneys in a middling sort house compared to a gentry house?

Answer 7

They were less decorated and smaller

Question 8

State 4 features of a middling sort diet.

Answer 8

They ate lots of meats, bread, fresh fruits and beer

Question 9

State 3 ways in which the middling sort made money.

Answer 9

They were merchants, small business owners or independent farmers

Question 10

State 4 features of a house belonging to the labouring poor.

Answer 10

Small house
1 room
No chimney
No glass windows

Question 11

What was the stable diet of the labouring poor and what did they rely on to eat?

Answer 11

Bread, this relied on a good harvest.

Question 12

How did the labouring poor earn money?

Answer 12

They travelled the country looking for seasonal work on farms

Question 13

How did the gentry find marriage partners?

Answer 13

Their parents found a partner for them and arranged a marriage

Question 14

In marriage, who should be subservient to who and why?

Answer 14

The wife should always obey her husband. This was because Elizabethan England was a patriarchal society.

Question 15

What did the church completely forbid around marriage?

Answer 15

Sex was completely prohibited outside of marriage.

Question 16

If your partner died, what did the church push you to do?

Answer 16

Remarry

Question 17

What factor meant that Elizabethan families were quite small?

Answer 17

Infant mortality

Question 18

In a gentry household, when would children start attending school?

Answer 18

From age 7

Question 19

In lower class families, what did children do to try and help the family make more money?

Answer 19

They started to work on farms

Question 20

At the age of 12-13, middling sort children left their homes to do what?

Answer 20

To work as servants (females) or apprentices (males)

Question 21

State 2 reasons why kinship was not important in Elizabethan England.

Answer 21

Elizabethans did not have strong bonds with their extended family.
Most families did not live with their grandparents, aunts or uncles.
Many people lived away from home so they couldnt visit their extended family.
Most Elizabethans asked their neighbours for help, not their extended family.

Question 22

By 1580, what percentage of the population lived in poverty?

Answer 22

30%

Question 23

Define the term “vagrants” or “vagabonds.”

Answer 23

Unemployed people who roamed from town to town looking for work.

Question 24

Give 2 reasons why the upper classes were concerned about Vagrancy.

Answer 24

1) They worried that Vagrants would commit crime
2) They worried that Vagrants would spread the plague.

Question 25

At the start of Elizabeth’s reign, the population of England was approx. 2.4 million people.

How many people lived in England by the end of Elizabeth’s reign?

Answer 25

4.1 million people

Question 26

How much did the price of wheat inflate by?

This is a % answer

Answer 26

250%

Question 27

State 3 dates when the wheat harvest failed.

Answer 27

1595, 1596, 1597

3 years in a row

Question 28

State 2 punishments people recieved if they were caught trying to become vagrants.

Answer 28

1) The person was whipped and burned through the ear with a hot iron
2) Death by hanging

Question 29

What 2 categories did the 1601 Poor Law split poor people into?

Answer 29

The deserving poor and the undeserving poor

Question 30

1601 Poor Law

Define what is meant by the “deserving poor.”

Answer 30

People who wanted to work but couldn’t.

This may have been because they were elderly, children or disabled

Question 31

1601 Poor Law

Define what is meant by the “undeserving poor.”

Answer 31

People who could work but chose not to.

E.g. Criminals, lazy people