been prepared some years before by the Spanish humanist Luis Vives whose On the Relief of the Poor was written in 1526 while the author was living at the court of Henry VIII. When the dissolution of the monasteries added the sick and the destitute from the monastic hospitalsto those already impoverished by enclosures, and sent them out on the roads, new relief for the poor was urgently needed. In 1536 the principles of Vives, which had already been tried at Ypres in Flanders, were incorporated into English legislation.
Vives had proposed quite simply that begging should be made illegal; that all vagabonds and beggars who could work should be made to work; and that all those who could not work should be placed in hospitals and almshouses. It was a simple matter to prohibit begging, but the other aims of the Act were harder to bring about. ‘Valiant beggars’—those who could work—were to be whipped for the first offence, have an ear clipped for the second, and be put to death for the third; but no suggestion was made as to what work the able-bodied should do and how they should find it. The Act of 1536 and subsequent laws were more successful in providing for those who could not work. In 1547 local authorities were ordered to find houses to lodge the sick, old and useless. But as these houses depended on charity, they were not easily found. Finally, in 1572 the justices were allowed to impose a tax for these lodgings, and to appoint overseers who took the relief of the poor out of the hands of the parish priest.
Poor Kett, what unfathomable affairs he meddled in. An old engraving shows a plump, beaming man of about middle height, sitting in rustic state beneath his ‘oak of reformation’ with sword at his side, dealing simple justice to his country followers. He was himself a small landowner and prosperous enough, but his modest dealings in the new economy did not blind him to the value of his countryside, its past and its people. When that avaricious fellow Serjeant Flowerdew stripped the lead from the church at Wymondham, Kett, though no supporter of the old religion, was distressed for his community to whom the church meant much. When his fellow countrymen rose up against the evil of enclosures, Kett willingly tore down his own hedges and led the good fight against the oppression of the gentry. He was not the first simple soul to be trodden down by the indifferent steps of material progress.
1 ‘Serjeant’ was a legal title, not a military one.
4
Mary Tudor
S TRANGE AND CONTRADICTORY was the life of the Renaissance prince. In England the Tudors had advantages over all former kings. They had magnificence, authority, and control of the land as never before. The country was their estate and they the wilful farmers of it, good or bad according to their whim and judgment. So often frank and easy with their subjects, the Tudors seemed to court and win the good wishes of the populace. Monarchs danced at the maypole, strolled arm-in-arm with commoners, hunted, played, entertained in the full sight of the people. Henry VII was by nature cold and aloof, yet men of no importance easily found places at his banquets and dined with the greatest in the kingdom. His affable second son, though the proudest and most imperious of men, delighted to rub neighbourly shoulders with his subjects. Revels, pageants and progresses were for the entertainment of court and people alike; and when the crowd sometimes intervened, as they did on a famous occasion at Richmond when they broke up the pageant and stripped the King and his courtiers, the Sovereign was not offended by their rude liberties.
Powerful, brilliant and self-willed, still the Tudors were anxious rulers, oppressed by insecurity. With an uncurbed license to do as they pleased they feared that the subject would assert the right to a similar individuality, and their fears made them violent and tyrannical. They were suspicious of the people they governed with such a
Vives had proposed quite simply that begging should be made illegal; that all vagabonds and beggars who could work should be made to work; and that all those who could not work should be placed in hospitals and almshouses. It was a simple matter to prohibit begging, but the other aims of the Act were harder to bring about. ‘Valiant beggars’—those who could work—were to be whipped for the first offence, have an ear clipped for the second, and be put to death for the third; but no suggestion was made as to what work the able-bodied should do and how they should find it. The Act of 1536 and subsequent laws were more successful in providing for those who could not work. In 1547 local authorities were ordered to find houses to lodge the sick, old and useless. But as these houses depended on charity, they were not easily found. Finally, in 1572 the justices were allowed to impose a tax for these lodgings, and to appoint overseers who took the relief of the poor out of the hands of the parish priest.
Poor Kett, what unfathomable affairs he meddled in. An old engraving shows a plump, beaming man of about middle height, sitting in rustic state beneath his ‘oak of reformation’ with sword at his side, dealing simple justice to his country followers. He was himself a small landowner and prosperous enough, but his modest dealings in the new economy did not blind him to the value of his countryside, its past and its people. When that avaricious fellow Serjeant Flowerdew stripped the lead from the church at Wymondham, Kett, though no supporter of the old religion, was distressed for his community to whom the church meant much. When his fellow countrymen rose up against the evil of enclosures, Kett willingly tore down his own hedges and led the good fight against the oppression of the gentry. He was not the first simple soul to be trodden down by the indifferent steps of material progress.
1 ‘Serjeant’ was a legal title, not a military one.
4
Mary Tudor
S TRANGE AND CONTRADICTORY was the life of the Renaissance prince. In England the Tudors had advantages over all former kings. They had magnificence, authority, and control of the land as never before. The country was their estate and they the wilful farmers of it, good or bad according to their whim and judgment. So often frank and easy with their subjects, the Tudors seemed to court and win the good wishes of the populace. Monarchs danced at the maypole, strolled arm-in-arm with commoners, hunted, played, entertained in the full sight of the people. Henry VII was by nature cold and aloof, yet men of no importance easily found places at his banquets and dined with the greatest in the kingdom. His affable second son, though the proudest and most imperious of men, delighted to rub neighbourly shoulders with his subjects. Revels, pageants and progresses were for the entertainment of court and people alike; and when the crowd sometimes intervened, as they did on a famous occasion at Richmond when they broke up the pageant and stripped the King and his courtiers, the Sovereign was not offended by their rude liberties.
Powerful, brilliant and self-willed, still the Tudors were anxious rulers, oppressed by insecurity. With an uncurbed license to do as they pleased they feared that the subject would assert the right to a similar individuality, and their fears made them violent and tyrannical. They were suspicious of the people they governed with such a
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