Topic 2 - lifestyles of the rich and poor

Question 1

What percentage of cultivated land was owned by Lords?

Answer 1

17 percent

Question 2

How much of Elizabethan society lived on the edge of starvation?

Answer 2

Between 20 and 30 percent

Question 3

What factors pushed people into poverty?

Answer 3

Bad harvests, rising prices and seasonal employment

Question 4

How did the rich become richer in Tudor times?

Answer 4

Buying land from the dissolution of monasteries and then renting, sheeo farming, mining for metals and marrying an even richer man’s daughter

Question 5

How did the homes of the rich change in Elizabethan times?

Answer 5

Homes were made bigger, new fashions and furnishings were installed, walls were covered in paintings and tapestries

Question 6

How did new materials change the homes of the rich?

Answer 6

Glass allowed for larger windows, bricks enabled the construction of chimneys and new wood usage methods

Question 7

What were some of the most notable houses built in Elizabethan times?

Answer 7

Burghley House, Longleat House, Holdenby House and Hardwick Hall

Question 8

What languages were studied by rich students in Elizabethan times?

Answer 8

French, Latin and Greek

Question 9

What non-educational studies happened within schools for the rich?

Answer 9

Social etiquette, hunting, hawking and dancing

Question 10

How did the homes of the gentry change?

Answer 10

Ceilings were added, walls were panelled or plastered and upper floors were added

Question 11

Why was fashion important for the gentry?

Answer 11

It was seen as a demonstation of personal power, status and social standing

Question 12

What schools were frequently attended by sons of the gentry?

Answer 12

Grammar schools

Question 13

How many grammar schools were there by the end of the 16th century?

Answer 13

360

Question 14

Where would students go after grammar school?

Answer 14

Either Oxford or Cambridge university, or the Inns of Court to study law

Question 15

How did the homes of the poor differ from the homes of the rich?

Answer 15

Poor houses often only had one room, which was sometimes shared with animals, was made of wattle and mud infill on a timber frame, and had a thatched roof and mud floor

Question 16

How were some members of the poorer class educated?

Answer 16

A local parish school, learning English

Question 17

How were the poor categorised?

Answer 17

The impotent poor (often unable to work), and the able-bodied poor (capable of work, but unable to find it)

Question 18

How did attitudes toward the poor change during Elizabeth’s reign?

Answer 18

It was realised that the poor needed help, not punishment, and the current systems couldn’t cope, so various laws and support acts had to be introduced

Question 19

What were some of the causes of poverty?

Answer 19

Rising inflation and population, changes in farming and industry, dissolusion of monasteries and rack renting

Question 20

What was rack renting?

Answer 20

Sharp rent increases that meant that many tenant farmers couldn’t pay rents and were evicted

Question 21

What was a hooker/angler?

Answer 21

A vagrant who carried a long stick, knocking on house doors seeking charity in the day, and using thir stick to reach through windows and steal valuables

Question 22

What was a clapper dudgeon?

Answer 22

Someone who tied arsenic on their skin to make it bleed, hoping to attract sypathy whilst begging

Question 23

What was a doxy?

Answer 23

A female beggar who carried a large bad and knitted whilst walking around. What she really did was stole items and put them in the bag, often times a chicken

Question 24

What was the abraham man?

Answer 24

Someone who pretended to be mad, hoping that their behaviour would attract charitable donations out of pity

Question 25

What was a ruffler?

Answer 25

A former soldier, who became a vagabond and survived through robbery, threats or begging

Question 26

What was a dummerer?

Answer 26

A vagrant who pretended to be dumb in order to beg for charity from passers by

Question 27

What was a counterfeit crank?

Answer 27

A criminal dressed in tatty clother, who pretended to suffer from epilepsy, sucking on soap to fake foaming at the mouth

Question 28

How did local communities respond to vagrancy?

Answer 28

Old monasteries and other buildings would house them, whilst donations from the rich would pay to try and eradicate the issue

Question 29

When were the two main poor relief acts introduced?

Answer 29

1598 and 1601