WEBVTT

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Prof: Okay.

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Well last time I was presenting
a kind of panorama of economic

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expansion;
on the whole,

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a very upbeat story.

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It helps to explain how the
long population growth of the

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late sixteenth and early
seventeenth centuries was able

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to be sustained.

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And yet, as the final table on
last-time's handout showed,

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there's also reason to doubt
whether the expansion was

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sufficient,
or whether the new wealth that

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was being created was well
enough distributed in society,

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to avoid some real problems.

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Especially, real wages
continued to fall and there were

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complaints of a growing problem
of poverty and vagrancy.

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So there are paradoxes in the
situation.

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And to get the economic
expansion into perspective,

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we have to look a little more
closely at how it actually

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impacted on people from
different social groups.

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Inevitably that involves a
certain amount of generalization

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but I'll also try to give you
examples of people from

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different groups which will help
to give it something of a human

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face.

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So, let's start by looking,
as usual, at the top and at

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what was happening to the
landlords, the gentry,

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the nobility.

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It's really one of the striking
features of English society in

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this period that many of the
nobility and gentry identified

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themselves very closely with
economic innovations.

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Their imperative was to
maintain and,

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if possible,
expand their estate incomes and

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in doing so they became very
deeply involved in the

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commercial restructuring of the
country's economy.

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That's rather unusual for a
traditional ruling class.

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On the whole,
such people tend to rely more

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upon their social privileges
than upon trying to improve

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their competitiveness.

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But, certainly,
the gentry and the aristocracy,

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or many of them,
did make real efforts of that

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kind.

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And you get,
basically, an acceleration of

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the trends which had already
become visible in the

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mid-sixteenth century:
a lot more careful management

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of their estates in order to
produce more from their home

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farms for the market and in
order to get a greater rental

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income.

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That often involved extending
the use of leasehold tenure,

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tenure of land just like a
modern lease;

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and wiping away the old,
rather inflexible,

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customary tenures so that they
had a more flexible management

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of their rental income.

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There was also something I
touched on last time:

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a good deal of reorganizing
their estates into enclosed

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farms, for which they could get
better rents.

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And in general,
every effort being made to edge

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rents upwards when opportunity
arose.

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And in general,
the landlord class did pretty

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well.

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Of course a lot depended upon
the fortunes of particular

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individuals and their personal
quirks and characteristics.

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To take, for example,
the Verney family,

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who had substantial estates in
Buckinghamshire,

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just to the north-west of
London: Sir Edmund Verney,

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who lived in the late sixteenth
and early seventeenth centuries,

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was a man who was principally
interested in forging a

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political career at court.

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That was very expensive.

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He had to sink a lot of his
income into fortifying his

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position at the centre and as a
result he incurred pretty

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considerable debts.

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He succeeded quite well;
he became King Charles I's

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Standard Bearer.

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In fact, he died in one of the
earliest battles of the English

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Civil War bearing the King's
Standard.

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But his son,
Sir Ralph, was of a rather

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different nature;
he actually took a different

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side in the English Civil War.

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And when the War was over he
devoted himself assiduously to

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restoring and improving the
rather depleted inheritance he'd

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received from his father;
involved in all the kinds of

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measures of estate management
that I've briefly mentioned.

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Indeed, Sir Ralph was so keen
to rebuild the family's fortunes

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that when his first wife died he
remained celibate;

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he didn't remarry.

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He didn't want any more
children.

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He didn't want the risk of the
estate having to be divided

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amongst more children,
since he already had a number

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who had survived infancy.

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So, different personalities,
different outcomes;

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but all part of the same
process.

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In general, the income of the
gentry and the nobility was

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expanding.

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And much of it was spent,
not only upon extending and

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improving their estates,
but upon various kinds of

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conspicuous consumption.

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It's a great age for the
rebuilding of the manor house's

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of the gentry.

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Many of the lovely country
houses which still survive were

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built in this period,
or rebuilt, as well as some of

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the great 'prodigy houses' of
the age.

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The great mansions:
Burghley House near Stamford

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which is up here in East Anglia;
or Kirkby Hall in

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Northamptonshire,
it's another very good example,

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that's over here,
the splendid mansion from this

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period which survives.

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They went in for more elaborate
furnishing and lifestyles and,

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in addition,
this was a period when many of

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the gentry and nobility,
the wealthier ones,

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began to spend part of the year
in London.

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It sees the beginnings of the
development of what became known

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as the 'London Season':
the habit of spending the

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winter in town and being absent
from their estates,

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which were run by stewards for
long periods of the year.

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This resulted in something of
an urbanization of gentry

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culture,
something which has been,

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recently,
very well studied by Julia

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Merritt in a book on the
emerging West End of London;

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the elite aristocratic enclaves
around the royal palaces.

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To give you an idea of the kind
of proportion of these people

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who might be in town,
in 1632 King Charles I,

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in the circumstances of a
harvest emergency,

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ordered the gentry to return to
their estates to keep order and

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to see to the needs of local
people.

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He had to fine 250 members of
the nobility and gentry who were

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resident in London and didn't go
home when they were ordered to

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do so.

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Given that the great gentry and
nobility numbered,

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perhaps, 2,000 families,
that's a very significant

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proportion of them who were
resident in London and were

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fined for failing to go home.

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Well, if this was a good time
on the whole,

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for landlords,
if they used the opportunity

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sensibly,
if we turn to their tenantry,

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to the yeomen and husbandman,
one finds a more checkered

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picture.

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Opportunities to improve
incomes were also common amongst

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the more substantial farmers.

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Those who had a big farm with a
substantial surplus to market,

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were actually very well placed
to benefit from rising prices

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and for the growth of the market
for their products,

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be it food-stuff or
agricultural raw materials.

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Many of these yeomen were
extremely commercially astute.

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A very good example is a man
called Robert Loder,

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here's his name,
whose farm accounts survive

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from the 1610s.

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He lived just to the west of
London in the county of

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Berkshire.

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Robert Loder calculated every
year exactly how much money he

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was making from different crops.

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He took decisions about how to
vary his cropping pattern in

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accordance with price trends,
especially the prices which he

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could get in London,
and so forth.

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He even went so far,
at one point,

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as to actually calculate the
value of the dung that his

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pigeons deposited in his pigeon
loft.

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He figured it out,
what it was worth to him if he

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used it as fertilizer in his
gardens.

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This is commercial rationality
of a high order.

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He also calculated how much
money his horses made for him

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over and above what he had to
feed them.

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He then proceeded to do the
same calculation for his

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servants.

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Well, Robert Loder had nothing
to learn about economic

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rationality and his basic
attitudes are not untypical of

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this kind of substantial yeomen
farmer.

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Many such people were willing
to expand their operations if

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they got the opportunity;
if land came available on the

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local land market they would
snap it up.

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They were able to pay higher
rents.

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They were in an excellent
competitive position and as a

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result, you get a general shift
in lowland England towards the

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building up of larger farms.

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In the county of Essex,
for example,

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here to the east of London,
it was very commercially

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oriented.

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By the early seventeenth
century, nine percent,

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approximately,
of the tenants held sixty-one

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percent of the land,
built up in these large yeomen

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holdings.

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And there's abundant evidence
of the prosperity of the

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yeomanry.

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It was a great age for them.

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This period has been described
by historians of housing as the

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age of the 'Great Rebuilding'.

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And by that they mean not only
the houses of the gentry,

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which I've already mentioned,
but the houses of the yeomanry.

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It was a period when many of
the farm houses inherited from

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the late medieval period were
being remodeled.

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It was very common,
for example,

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they tended in the late
medieval period to be what was

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known as a 'hall house',
which was basically one large

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room with some partitions and a
fireplace,

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the smoke from which would just
be emitted through a whole in

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the roof.

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This is a period when you see
people building great,

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central chimney stacks,
so that they could have

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fireplaces and get rid of the
smoke,

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making the whole of the
interior more comfortable.

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They tended to divide off the
top of the house and to make

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separate,
private chambers above,

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and frequently they would add
staircases,

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of course, to get up there.

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They might extend their homes
in all kinds of ways.

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Many of these houses,
the great yeomen houses of this

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period, survive to this day.

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When you look at the
inventories of these people,

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which were taken when they
died, they also reveal a marked

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increase in the value of their
household goods and in the

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elaboration of the types of
goods that people possessed.

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William Harrison,
a clergyman who described all

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of this happening in the later
years of Elizabeth's reign,

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said that despite the fact that
higher rents were being paid,

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many of the villagers in his
area--the yeomen farmers are the

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ones he was thinking of--
were able, he said "yet to

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find the means to obtain and
achieve such furniture as

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heretofore hath been
unpossible."

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And he went on to specify what
that involved:

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joined furniture made by
joiners, proper joined chairs

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rather than stools;
nice tables;

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bedsteads;
soft furnishings.

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There's a proliferation in
inventories of cushions and of

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carpet cloths.

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Carpets were--these were
oriental carpets being imported

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by the Levant Company.

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They were put on tables,
you didn't put a carpet on the

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floor;
it was far too valuable for

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that.

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You put it on the table,
to decorate the table.

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Some representations of
interior scenes in this period

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show that: the carpet across the
table.

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And you find them also having
more elaborate table-wear and

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more elaborate kitchen-wear,
all sorts of odd products

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turning up in their inventories:
apple toasters,

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for example.

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An apple toaster,
something Crate and Barrel

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should perhaps try to imitate,
to hold in the fire with an

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apple in it, and so on;
all kinds of things.

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It's been described by one
historian of material culture as

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"a new household
culture"

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with much greater comfort,
much greater convenience,

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being enjoyed by these people.

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They could also put their money
into other things:

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bigger dowries for their
daughters so they could marry

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well.

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A study of Kent shows that in
the reign of Elizabeth,

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the dowries being paid by
yeomen with their daughters rose

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six-fold in the course of her
reign.

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And they could also spend the
money to have their sons

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apprenticed into trade,
into professions,

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sent to school,
in some cases even to the

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universities,
something that I'll return to

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on another occasion.

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Well, the yeomanry were the big
fish of village society.

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Things were a little more
difficult for the little

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minnows--the smaller guys,
the family-farming husbandman.

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Some of them did fine.

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If they lived near a city they
might have good marketing

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opportunities,
they could specialize in

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producing fruit or
market-gardening or dairying and

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could do pretty well.

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You also get a lot of
husbandman diversifying their

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activities into part-time
industrial activity.

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Over in the West Midlands,
in the metal working districts,

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the inventories of scythe
makers, for example,

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can be quite interesting,
indicating that these people

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were engaged in farming,
but also in producing scythe

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blades on the side;
they had forges.

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Generally, they would work at
that in the slack periods of the

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agricultural year.

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But for many of these small
guys, the period was fraught

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with risk.

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The crucial issue was whether
they could sustain their small

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farming economy under changing
conditions.

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These were the people who would
have most difficulty meeting

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higher rents.

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They might have a poor
competitive position.

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One agricultural writer
described them as "weak and

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un-stocked husbandmen."

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They lacked capital;
they produced smaller crops;

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they made smaller profits;
they had fewer livestock.

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They couldn't really,
seriously contemplate indulging

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in expensive or risky
innovations.

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And they were also very
vulnerable to temporary crises

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like those produced by bad
harvests,

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which could wipe out their
surplus and force them into

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debt.

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Some of these people became
vulnerable and were driven to

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the wall and their land was
taken up by more ambitious

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neighbors.

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And, in general,
there's a diminution in the

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numbers of these small farmers.

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As the big farms are growing,
many of the small ones are

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disappearing.

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A whittling away of small
tenancies, which,

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in turn, made it rather
difficult for the young to get

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onto the land to establish a
foothold.

14:54.620 --> 14:58.490
More of the young people from
rural families,

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after their period as servants
in the households of larger

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farmers,
were more likely to spend their

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lives as agricultural wage
laborers than getting land of

15:08.330 --> 15:09.300
their own.

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So, the fortunes of different
groups in rural society varied.

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They're broadly fairly clear.

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One can generalize with some
confidence.

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In the towns the picture's a
little less clear.

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Clearly there was a lot of
commercial development and

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business opportunity,
but this was a period when

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business was fraught with risk.

15:33.149 --> 15:36.309
Finding the capital to set up
could be difficult.

15:36.308 --> 15:40.868
Keeping businesses going could
be difficult in a period when

15:40.874 --> 15:43.664
cash flow could be hard to
manage.

15:43.658 --> 15:46.418
People had to keep a good
balance between their debts and

15:46.417 --> 15:48.527
credits;
that could be very difficult.

15:48.529 --> 15:51.809
Accumulation of wealth was
often very slow.

15:51.808 --> 15:55.598
And even the successful could
be wiped out by temporary

15:55.596 --> 15:57.656
economic crises;
by fraud;

15:57.658 --> 16:00.058
by fire--there's no fire
insurance;

16:00.058 --> 16:03.378
by shipwreck--there's no marine
insurance;

16:03.379 --> 16:06.619
and so forth.

16:06.620 --> 16:10.760
It was to try to counter some
of these insecurities that some

16:10.759 --> 16:14.899
of the principal merchants of
England's cities preferred,

16:14.899 --> 16:17.509
if possible,
to be members of chartered

16:17.514 --> 16:18.894
trading companies.

16:18.889 --> 16:22.269
Those companies which had a
monopoly of particular branches

16:22.269 --> 16:24.989
of trade,
the ones I mentioned last time,

16:24.990 --> 16:28.640
and which laid down rules for
the conduct of the trade;

16:28.639 --> 16:32.609
rules which were generally
aimed at securing stable profits

16:32.607 --> 16:35.137
for all the members of the
company.

16:35.139 --> 16:40.449
And to restrict the numbers of
people who were involved in

16:40.447 --> 16:42.307
particular trades.

16:42.308 --> 16:45.598
It's true that no trading
monopoly could protect a

16:45.604 --> 16:50.304
merchant from shipwreck,
or piracy, or the collapse of

16:50.303 --> 16:52.503
demand,
but, nonetheless,

16:52.499 --> 16:55.249
one can generalize to some
degree,

16:55.250 --> 16:58.180
about the way in which they
fared.

16:58.178 --> 17:00.988
For some, who were members of
established companies,

17:00.988 --> 17:02.638
things could go pretty well.

17:02.639 --> 17:05.799
Take, for example,
the Levant Company.

17:05.798 --> 17:09.238
The Levant Company traded to
the Mediterranean,

17:09.236 --> 17:12.146
especially the eastern
Mediterranean.

17:12.150 --> 17:15.130
In 1570 it was founded.

17:15.130 --> 17:17.940
By the early seventeenth
century to become a member of

17:17.941 --> 17:21.281
the Levant Company meant laying
down two to three hundred pounds

17:21.282 --> 17:24.242
as membership fee;
quite a substantial sum of

17:24.238 --> 17:24.718
money.

17:24.720 --> 17:26.930
By the early seventeenth
century also,

17:26.930 --> 17:28.900
this company has been described
as,

17:28.900 --> 17:31.850
I'm quoting,
"a highly ramified network

17:31.851 --> 17:34.941
of interconnecting family
relationships,"

17:34.939 --> 17:38.849
the members of which were often
related to one another and

17:38.851 --> 17:41.941
controlling a great share of the
trade.

17:41.940 --> 17:46.630
One contemporary described them
as "born rich and adding

17:46.632 --> 17:51.562
wealth to wealth by trading in a
beaten road to wealth."

17:51.558 --> 17:56.078
In 1627 there were only
twenty-four men who controlled

17:56.076 --> 17:59.566
fifty-four percent of the Levant
trade.

17:59.568 --> 18:01.888
So, members of the great
companies,

18:01.890 --> 18:06.740
having established the trade,
could restrict it in various

18:06.737 --> 18:11.327
ways in order to ensure some
stability in their trading

18:11.328 --> 18:12.178
lives.

18:12.180 --> 18:15.920
It was members of that company
who were later to go on to found

18:15.921 --> 18:17.431
the East India Company.

18:17.430 --> 18:20.440
Well, in addition,
though, there were certain

18:20.441 --> 18:22.291
additional opportunities.

18:22.288 --> 18:26.138
Another way to prosper,
if you had the nerve and would

18:26.136 --> 18:28.816
take the risks,
was to get involved in

18:28.823 --> 18:31.513
pioneering altogether new
trades.

18:31.509 --> 18:34.999
And the most significant of
those were the American trades.

18:35.000 --> 18:39.130
With the early establishment of
colonies in America,

18:39.130 --> 18:43.530
the initial opportunities were
not obviously good and many

18:43.529 --> 18:47.929
members of established trading
companies were reluctant to

18:47.930 --> 18:48.780
invest.

18:48.779 --> 18:51.759
That left the path open for
those who were prepared to take

18:51.759 --> 18:53.969
the risks of involvement and
very often,

18:53.970 --> 18:56.810
those who got involved in the
American trades were men of

18:56.810 --> 19:00.060
lesser standing in the merchant
community: smaller merchants,

19:00.058 --> 19:01.868
even shopkeepers,
ships captains,

19:01.873 --> 19:04.823
people like that who were
willing to get involved;

19:04.819 --> 19:08.169
new men, you could say.

19:08.170 --> 19:10.060
They built up,
as you know,

19:10.057 --> 19:14.557
a very substantial trade in the
course of the early seventeenth

19:14.557 --> 19:15.427
century.

19:15.430 --> 19:18.050
To just give you an example of
one of these people,

19:18.045 --> 19:19.715
a man called Maurice Thompson.

19:19.720 --> 19:23.240
Maurice Thompson was the
younger son of a gentry family.

19:23.240 --> 19:25.690
He got a little bit of capital
from his family but not much

19:25.692 --> 19:27.452
more;
he didn't inherit the family

19:27.452 --> 19:27.872
estate.

19:27.868 --> 19:31.708
He came from Hertfordshire,
just to the north of London.

19:31.710 --> 19:34.710
How he came to go to Virginia
is uncertain,

19:34.710 --> 19:38.280
but he was there by the time he
was in his mid-teens and he got

19:38.278 --> 19:41.438
involved on the ground floor
with the development of the

19:41.442 --> 19:42.482
tobacco trade.

19:42.480 --> 19:45.260
Pretty soon he owned land,
he owned a ship,

19:45.263 --> 19:49.383
he became involved in the trade
in tobacco and in the supply of

19:49.375 --> 19:51.625
goods needed by the colonists.

19:51.630 --> 19:54.560
He expanded his operations;
he married well;

19:54.558 --> 19:57.528
he became a significant figure
amongst the leaders of the

19:57.529 --> 19:59.599
Virginia colony as quite a young
man.

19:59.598 --> 20:03.638
By the time he was in his early
thirties he was back in London,

20:03.643 --> 20:07.493
managing much of the--a good
part of the Virginia trade from

20:07.490 --> 20:08.730
his base there.

20:08.730 --> 20:11.070
And, indeed,
he went on to expand his

20:11.066 --> 20:15.026
operations to become involved in
the Indian Ocean and in other

20:15.026 --> 20:15.866
ventures.

20:15.868 --> 20:18.868
If you're interested in that
kind of person and that kind of

20:18.866 --> 20:20.706
development,
Robert Brenner's book,

20:20.710 --> 20:22.380
Merchants and
Revolution,

20:22.380 --> 20:28.050
the first section is a splendid
depiction of these shifts and

20:28.048 --> 20:33.908
developments in the last years
of Elizabeth and under the early

20:33.905 --> 20:35.035
Stuarts.

20:35.038 --> 20:38.458
At lower levels in the urban
hierarchy, the capital that

20:38.463 --> 20:42.203
people needed to set up in
business was gradually growing.

20:42.200 --> 20:45.590
That made it a little more
difficult to establish yourself

20:45.590 --> 20:48.980
as an independent master and a
great many people had to be

20:48.981 --> 20:52.911
content with serving as skilled
craftsmen working for others,

20:52.910 --> 20:56.470
whereas previously they might
have hoped to become independent

20:56.474 --> 20:57.064
masters.

20:57.058 --> 21:01.478
Even skilled employees were
often forced to work longer and

21:01.476 --> 21:04.746
more intensively,
if the work was available,

21:04.750 --> 21:08.330
in order to sustain their
living standards.

21:08.328 --> 21:12.258
To give you a specific example
of this, I've got some figures

21:12.258 --> 21:15.988
here relating to building
craftsmen from the town of Hull,

21:15.989 --> 21:17.429
on the east coast.

21:17.430 --> 21:20.700
Donald Woodward,
in a very imaginative piece of

21:20.699 --> 21:24.039
research, worked out the price
of foodstuffs;

21:24.038 --> 21:28.498
found the wages being paid to
craftsmen of different kinds;

21:28.500 --> 21:31.520
and then figured out how many
days you would need to work to

21:31.515 --> 21:33.555
feed husband,
wife and three children.

21:33.558 --> 21:35.408
So, here are some of his
figures.

21:35.410 --> 21:38.330
The best paid men in the 1560s
could have fed their families

21:38.330 --> 21:40.460
with a hundred and fifty-three
days work.

21:40.460 --> 21:42.800
By the 1630s,
with rising prices,

21:42.801 --> 21:46.901
and wages not rising so fast,
two hundred and twenty-nine

21:46.901 --> 21:47.561
days.

21:47.558 --> 21:51.248
The worst paid,
a hundred and ninety-two days

21:51.246 --> 21:54.676
in the 1560s,
three hundred and six by the

21:54.682 --> 21:55.522
1630s.

21:55.519 --> 22:00.979
So, this was the experience of
some of the craftsmen of the

22:00.977 --> 22:01.727
towns.

22:01.730 --> 22:04.180
In short then,
urban manufactures and the

22:04.184 --> 22:07.994
urban manufacturing system was
becoming less small master-based

22:07.990 --> 22:11.000
and rather more capitalistically
structured,

22:11.000 --> 22:15.280
with a larger proportion of
urban craftsmen having to cope

22:15.277 --> 22:18.797
with the difficulties and
uncertainties of their

22:18.803 --> 22:21.133
dependence upon wage labor.

22:21.130 --> 22:26.230
Well, much of the same was true
of the industries of the

22:26.230 --> 22:27.530
countryside.

22:27.528 --> 22:30.008
In Somersetshire,
in the West Country,

22:30.009 --> 22:34.059
where the cloth industry was
the major industry in the 1620s,

22:34.058 --> 22:36.808
one contemporary described the
"multitudes of poor

22:36.813 --> 22:39.013
cottages"
which were to be found in the

22:39.006 --> 22:40.226
cloth-weaving areas.

22:40.230 --> 22:43.930
And he continued they are
"stuffed with poor people

22:43.932 --> 22:47.032
which get most of their living
by spinning,

22:47.029 --> 22:50.669
by carding, and such
employments about wool and

22:50.671 --> 22:51.781
cloth."

22:51.779 --> 22:55.909
And they gained their living
most of the time,

22:55.909 --> 23:01.419
but he added that when trade
was dead "they know not how

23:01.415 --> 23:05.155
to live,"
In town and country alike,

23:05.155 --> 23:09.455
then, what contemporaries
described as the "laboring

23:09.457 --> 23:12.527
poor" was emerging as a
larger,

23:12.528 --> 23:15.448
more wage-dependent population
emerged;

23:15.450 --> 23:20.120
probably half the population by
the mid-seventeenth century,

23:20.119 --> 23:23.049
to judge by surviving tax
listings.

23:23.048 --> 23:27.308
Agricultural intensification
and a diversification of

23:27.308 --> 23:32.138
industry and urban growth all
meant that there was more work

23:32.141 --> 23:33.781
for such people.

23:33.779 --> 23:38.559
But the work was often seasonal;
it was often insecure;

23:38.558 --> 23:40.598
there was a lot of
under-employment,

23:40.601 --> 23:43.111
difficulty finding five days
work a week;

23:43.109 --> 23:45.419
and so forth.

23:45.420 --> 23:49.520
And there was the constant
pressure of greater numbers of

23:49.523 --> 23:51.653
people on the labor market.

23:51.650 --> 23:54.440
And it was this,
really, that issued in what's

23:54.435 --> 23:58.085
sometimes described as a problem
of 'structural poverty'.

23:58.088 --> 24:03.808
A large number of people whose
very way of life on a day to day

24:03.808 --> 24:09.158
basis meant periodic hardship
was almost inevitable some of

24:09.160 --> 24:12.540
the time;
people who faced a situation in

24:12.536 --> 24:16.466
which the rate of pay for their
labor was such as to mean

24:16.467 --> 24:20.677
declining capacity to meet the
needs of their households.

24:20.680 --> 24:24.410
And that produced a distinct
life cycle amongst the laboring

24:24.406 --> 24:24.846
poor.

24:24.848 --> 24:27.848
They could manage pretty well
until they had,

24:27.854 --> 24:29.634
say, two children or so.

24:29.630 --> 24:32.800
They might even have a little
bit of disposable income to

24:32.803 --> 24:36.163
spend on manufactured goods,
but once they had too many

24:36.162 --> 24:39.452
mouths to feed,
or if the chief breadwinners

24:39.450 --> 24:42.460
fell sick or injured,
or if there was a trading

24:42.461 --> 24:44.751
depression,
they could be plunged

24:44.750 --> 24:47.310
immediately into real hardship.

24:47.308 --> 24:50.808
And in old age,
if they reached old age,

24:50.810 --> 24:55.930
they almost inevitably would be
dependent upon charity.

24:55.930 --> 24:58.970
Many of these people survived
by what's been described as

24:58.972 --> 25:00.932
"an economy of
makeshifts,"

25:00.929 --> 25:02.939
it's a phrase of Olwen
Hufton's,

25:02.940 --> 25:04.740
"an economy of
makeshifts."

25:04.740 --> 25:08.150
You get by as best you can,
doing what you can.

25:08.150 --> 25:12.120
Cottaging where they could;
using the commons if they were

25:12.115 --> 25:14.605
available;
gleaning the fields after the

25:14.606 --> 25:18.196
harvest, the poor were allowed
to glean for grains of corn in

25:18.202 --> 25:21.322
the fields after harvest;
and finding various kinds of

25:21.320 --> 25:24.000
assistance from their family,
from their neighbors;

25:24.000 --> 25:28.820
moving around when there seemed
to be better opportunities to

25:28.819 --> 25:30.909
piece together a living.

25:30.910 --> 25:33.410
And for that reason,
they tended to become

25:33.407 --> 25:36.697
concentrated in certain areas
where those opportunities

25:36.698 --> 25:37.428
existed.

25:37.430 --> 25:41.310
It was a rather unsettled life
for many of them.

25:41.308 --> 25:44.388
I'll give you a couple of
examples of these people:

25:44.391 --> 25:47.601
Margaret Knowsley she came from
Nantwich in Cheshire,

25:47.595 --> 25:48.885
there's her name.

25:48.890 --> 25:54.910
She's visible in the records
between 1613 and 1629.

25:54.910 --> 25:57.330
She was married to a laborer.

25:57.328 --> 26:02.078
We know that she had ten
children between 1613 and 1629.

26:02.078 --> 26:05.678
Five of her children died in
infancy.

26:05.680 --> 26:10.450
Something of her working life
survives in various records.

26:10.450 --> 26:16.330
She worked as an ale wife,
making and selling ale;

26:16.328 --> 26:20.398
she worked as an agricultural
laborer during the appropriate

26:20.400 --> 26:23.370
seasons;
she did some stocking knitting;

26:23.368 --> 26:26.998
she acted as a cleaner for the
minister of the parish;

26:27.000 --> 26:31.270
she's thought to have practiced
some forms of medical skills,

26:31.270 --> 26:34.330
she had some skills in aspects
of midwifery,

26:34.332 --> 26:35.402
apparently.

26:35.400 --> 26:37.950
She was alleged also,
from time to time,

26:37.948 --> 26:40.168
to have solicited men for
money.

26:40.170 --> 26:43.570
So, that's "an economy of
makeshifts"

26:43.574 --> 26:44.244
indeed.

26:44.240 --> 26:47.140
Or, another such person,
Henry Savery,

26:47.144 --> 26:51.234
he's visible in the records
between 1629 and 1636.

26:51.230 --> 26:56.440
He came from Stow Bardolph in
the county of Suffolk.

26:56.440 --> 26:57.790
We know a little bit about
Henry.

26:57.789 --> 27:01.939
In 1629 he was a servant.

27:01.940 --> 27:05.600
He left service and instead of
engaging himself to a new

27:05.597 --> 27:07.857
master, decided to go to London.

27:07.858 --> 27:11.508
Once he got to London he found
it difficult to find regular

27:11.511 --> 27:14.221
work so he signed-on for a
voyage on a ship,

27:14.220 --> 27:16.550
but he wasn't a very good
sailor.

27:16.548 --> 27:20.078
By the time the ship had got
out into the Thames estuary he

27:20.083 --> 27:23.433
was suffering from chronic
seasickness and his legs were

27:23.434 --> 27:24.414
swelling up.

27:24.410 --> 27:28.870
So, finding him no use to him,
the shipmaster put him to shore

27:28.865 --> 27:31.855
and just landed him and
discharged him.

27:31.859 --> 27:34.999
He went back to London.

27:35.000 --> 27:39.530
There, he was taken by the
constables as a vagrant and sent

27:39.532 --> 27:41.412
home to Stow Bardolph.

27:41.410 --> 27:45.020
In 1635 he decided to try at
his fortunes again.

27:45.019 --> 27:48.469
He left Stow Bardolph after
haymaking where he'd earned a

27:48.473 --> 27:51.953
total of seven shillings;
he had seven shillings in his

27:51.952 --> 27:52.392
purse.

27:52.390 --> 27:55.270
He went to the county of
Suffolk--further into the County

27:55.269 --> 27:58.149
of Suffolk--
and worked in various farms

27:58.153 --> 28:03.043
there for three months and then
he went off to London again.

28:03.038 --> 28:05.248
Once again, he found it
difficult to find regular work

28:05.252 --> 28:07.552
so he began working "up and
down the country,"

28:07.548 --> 28:08.508
as he described it.

28:08.509 --> 28:13.099
He got as far north as York and
then made his way back again.

28:13.098 --> 28:16.688
Back in London,
he found himself once again

28:16.685 --> 28:20.865
arrested as a vagrant and sent
home to Norfolk.

28:20.868 --> 28:23.358
And there we lose track of
Henry Savery;

28:23.359 --> 28:27.459
he vanishes from the records.

28:27.460 --> 28:30.210
That's exactly the kind of
person,

28:30.210 --> 28:32.500
moving around,
trying to earn a living where

28:32.500 --> 28:35.050
he could,
who might have been the sort of

28:35.053 --> 28:38.703
person who would've signed-on
with a shipmaster in London to

28:38.695 --> 28:42.585
become an indentured servant in
the new colonies in Virginia and

28:42.585 --> 28:43.445
Maryland.

28:43.450 --> 28:46.790
And indeed, many people who
found their way to London but

28:46.787 --> 28:49.407
couldn't find a place there did
just that.

28:49.410 --> 28:54.200
In London, there was an
institution charged with the

28:54.202 --> 28:58.622
oversight of the vagrant poor,
the Bridewell.

28:58.618 --> 29:03.098
And the governors of the
Bridewell actually dispatched

29:03.102 --> 29:08.262
over 1,100 people to Virginia
and the West Indies between 1618

29:08.259 --> 29:09.359
and 1658.

29:09.358 --> 29:13.218
At first they were mostly men,
about ninety percent men,

29:13.218 --> 29:17.358
but by the 1630s about a third
of them, or close to a third,

29:17.356 --> 29:18.406
were women.

29:18.410 --> 29:22.700
Two thirds of these people who
were sent had been taken by the

29:22.698 --> 29:25.228
officers on the streets of
London.

29:25.230 --> 29:28.230
Some of them were accused of
crime, they might have been

29:28.229 --> 29:30.519
accused of being pickpockets or
thieves;

29:30.519 --> 29:32.859
but most of them were simply
out on the streets.

29:32.858 --> 29:35.608
They were described as
"out after curfew"

29:35.605 --> 29:38.685
or "nightwalkers"--
that was just loitering

29:38.685 --> 29:40.955
suspiciously on the streets at
night.

29:40.960 --> 29:44.870
Some of them were former
servants who had no place and

29:44.865 --> 29:48.175
were on the streets,
and they were sent by the

29:48.182 --> 29:50.692
Bridewell to the new colonies.

29:50.690 --> 29:54.720
One of those who was sent gave
his occupation as "Ballad

29:54.723 --> 29:58.633
Singer" which makes me
wonder if that's the origins of

29:58.625 --> 30:01.445
country music
>

30:01.450 --> 30:04.110
I'm serious
>

30:04.108 --> 30:08.668
In the early twentieth century,
songs collected by folklorists

30:08.670 --> 30:11.650
in the Appalachians,
many of those songs can

30:11.646 --> 30:14.756
actually be traced back to
printed ballads which are known

30:14.763 --> 30:18.053
to be sung on the streets of
London in the late sixteenth and

30:18.045 --> 30:19.845
early seventeenth centuries.

30:19.848 --> 30:25.988
They passed into the oral
culture of the Appalachian area.

30:25.990 --> 30:28.870
Well, one can go on about these
people.

30:28.868 --> 30:31.698
There's a wonderful recent book
by Paul Griffiths called Lost

30:31.703 --> 30:34.453
Londons which looks closely
at them through the records of

30:34.450 --> 30:35.260
the Bridewell.

30:35.259 --> 30:37.239
The Bridewell kept excellent
records;

30:37.240 --> 30:40.360
they even kept physical
descriptions of some of the

30:40.362 --> 30:43.922
people they dealt with so they
could identify them if they

30:43.921 --> 30:45.171
turned up again.

30:45.170 --> 30:47.870
And so, we have descriptions
of, you know,

30:47.871 --> 30:50.311
their stature:
"slender;"

30:50.309 --> 30:52.719
"well-set;"
"thick-set;"

30:52.720 --> 30:56.550
one was described as
"great-gutted."

30:56.548 --> 30:58.668
Their complexion:
"sallow;"

30:58.670 --> 31:01.160
"high-colored;"
"bright;"

31:01.160 --> 31:04.940
"sad,"
a sad complexion was described.

31:04.940 --> 31:06.930
Their hair color:
"flaxen;"

31:06.930 --> 31:09.520
"dark brown;"
"betwixt auburn and

31:09.515 --> 31:10.255
flaxen."

31:10.259 --> 31:11.939
All of these descriptions are
entered in the books.

31:11.940 --> 31:15.290
Their clothing:
a woman found on the streets

31:15.288 --> 31:19.258
wearing a red petticoat and a
white upper-bodice;

31:19.259 --> 31:22.339
so, poor but colorfully dressed.

31:22.338 --> 31:24.488
Some, of course,
were beggars who were

31:24.492 --> 31:25.252
near-naked.

31:25.250 --> 31:28.060
You get descriptions also of
their medical condition:

31:28.057 --> 31:30.107
"pock-marked in his
face";

31:30.108 --> 31:32.088
"a small scar upon his
forehead;"

31:32.088 --> 31:36.028
"burned in the hand,"
that means someone had been

31:36.030 --> 31:39.090
found guilty of a crime and
branded for future

31:39.087 --> 31:40.377
identification.

31:40.380 --> 31:44.210
And sometimes they were
suffering from disease:

31:44.208 --> 31:47.798
"palsied;"
"scurvy;"

31:47.798 --> 31:49.928
"scalded-headed,"
that was very common.

31:49.930 --> 31:52.880
It meant a kind of scalp
condition.

31:52.880 --> 31:55.560
One man, well,
a boy actually,

31:55.558 --> 32:00.548
described as "his toes
almost rotted off."

32:00.548 --> 32:04.308
Others were mentally ill:
"crack-brained;"

32:04.309 --> 32:06.339
"silly;"
"simple."

32:06.339 --> 32:08.369
That's how they're described.

32:08.368 --> 32:12.308
One description that arrested
me when reading this was:

32:12.305 --> 32:15.215
"a Northern man by his
speech,"

32:15.221 --> 32:19.161
"high-colored,"
"beard close-cut mingled

32:19.155 --> 32:23.525
with white hair,"
"in a manner crazed."

32:23.528 --> 32:27.788
And then you get those people
on the streets of London who had

32:27.788 --> 32:30.858
no known identity,
they turn up in the parish

32:30.862 --> 32:31.702
records.

32:31.700 --> 32:33.970
The parish of Saint
Bartholomew's,

32:33.973 --> 32:36.943
for example,
gave assistance to a beggar who

32:36.936 --> 32:39.966
turned up at the church who had
no name.

32:39.970 --> 32:43.490
They put him down in their
account books as money given to

32:43.487 --> 32:45.397
"Bartholomew Need."

32:45.400 --> 32:48.190
"Bartholomew Need"
because he came to Saint

32:48.186 --> 32:49.416
Bartholomew's church.

32:49.420 --> 32:51.800
And you find the children who
were left on the streets.

32:51.798 --> 32:55.708
Often when they were taken in
by parish authorities,

32:55.710 --> 33:00.080
they would give them a name:
"Michael Found;"

33:00.078 --> 33:03.588
"Joan Foundbasket"
(a baby found in a

33:03.588 --> 33:06.568
basket);"
"Porch Wall,"

33:06.573 --> 33:11.023
she was found in porch of the
church of Saint Andrew by the

33:11.019 --> 33:13.349
Wall,
so they baptized her

33:13.349 --> 33:16.919
"Porch Wall";
and so one could go on,

33:16.919 --> 33:18.449
"Joan Mad."

33:18.450 --> 33:21.460
Or those who were sometimes
buried in the parishes,

33:21.459 --> 33:24.709
found dead on the streets:
"John No Name";

33:24.710 --> 33:32.050
"Jane Nobody."

33:32.048 --> 33:39.108
So, England's increasing income
was very unevenly distributed.

33:39.108 --> 33:43.468
It was an expanding economy but
one with an expanding problem of

33:43.467 --> 33:44.917
structural poverty.

33:44.920 --> 33:48.310
It was a commercializing
society in which there were

33:48.309 --> 33:51.789
great opportunities,
but many of those who had

33:51.790 --> 33:56.240
nothing to sell but their labor
were in a poor competitive

33:56.240 --> 34:00.300
position and in an exceedingly
risky environment.

34:00.298 --> 34:03.028
Of course, some aspects of
those insecurities were

34:03.025 --> 34:06.525
perennial, but at times they
could become particularly acute.

34:06.528 --> 34:09.498
And the times that stand out
are the 1590s,

34:09.500 --> 34:13.130
which was a time when the
harvest failed four years in a

34:13.128 --> 34:15.038
row,
food prices rocketed,

34:15.041 --> 34:18.221
the weaknesses in the economy
were revealed,

34:18.219 --> 34:20.069
and there was widespread misery.

34:20.070 --> 34:24.550
Indeed, in the years 1596 to
1598 there was actual famine in

34:24.545 --> 34:28.255
the most vulnerable areas;
parts of the far north,

34:28.264 --> 34:31.944
north-west in particular,
and parts of the far west.

34:31.940 --> 34:35.340
There's evidence of actual
death from starvation.

34:35.340 --> 34:40.130
The 1620s was another decade
when there were bad harvests,

34:40.132 --> 34:44.842
combined, in this case,
with an industrial depression.

34:44.840 --> 34:47.730
War in Europe had dislocated
the markets for some of the

34:47.733 --> 34:50.313
goods that England exported,
leading to industrial

34:50.309 --> 34:51.099
depression.

34:51.099 --> 34:54.979
There was widespread
unemployment and poverty in many

34:54.981 --> 34:56.701
of the weaving areas.

34:56.699 --> 35:00.929
And again, some sinister
evidence of actual famine in

35:00.932 --> 35:03.622
some of the most exposed areas.

35:03.619 --> 35:06.759
These were the hardest years.

35:06.760 --> 35:09.780
Really acute crises of that
kind, of course,

35:09.784 --> 35:12.464
were exceptional,
but they revealed the

35:12.456 --> 35:15.336
weaknesses within society as a
whole.

35:15.340 --> 35:18.470
So, how to conceptualize all of
this?

35:18.469 --> 35:21.429
Very often historians talk
about these decades,

35:21.429 --> 35:24.349
these generations at the turn
of the sixteenth and early

35:24.351 --> 35:27.541
seventeenth centuries,
as witnessing a process of

35:27.536 --> 35:31.886
"social polarization"
and there's some obvious truth

35:31.893 --> 35:32.683
in that.

35:32.679 --> 35:37.249
There's a real divergence going
on in living standards and in

35:37.246 --> 35:40.976
life chances in a more
competitive, commercialized

35:40.976 --> 35:41.886
economy.

35:41.889 --> 35:43.719
But it's also,
in some ways,

35:43.719 --> 35:47.379
more complex than simply the
notion of polarization.

35:47.380 --> 35:50.350
In many ways,
the social structure was

35:50.351 --> 35:54.371
rearticulating into a,
sort of, three-part form.

35:54.369 --> 35:56.659
There were greater
opportunities,

35:56.657 --> 35:59.867
on the one hand,
to acquire and to consolidate

35:59.873 --> 36:00.663
wealth.

36:00.659 --> 36:04.229
There was a greater population
of laboring poor on the other

36:04.230 --> 36:06.530
hand, both of which we've looked
at.

36:06.530 --> 36:08.970
But there was also the
elaboration of what

36:08.971 --> 36:12.551
contemporaries were beginning to
describe as the "middle

36:12.545 --> 36:15.335
sort of people,"
between the gentry and the

36:15.344 --> 36:16.004
poor.

36:16.000 --> 36:18.280
Successful manufacturers and
tradesman,

36:18.280 --> 36:21.780
substantial yeomen farmers,
increasing numbers of people

36:21.784 --> 36:25.364
involved in professions like the
law and medicine and the

36:25.355 --> 36:28.665
offering of services of other
kinds: surveyors,

36:28.670 --> 36:32.140
clerks, land agents and so
forth.

36:32.139 --> 36:36.649
So, it all depends on how one
looks at it.

36:36.650 --> 36:40.950
You can focus your attention
upon the real polarization;

36:40.949 --> 36:44.329
you can also take account of
these middling groups who are

36:44.331 --> 36:45.461
doing quite well.

36:45.460 --> 36:48.320
But, whichever way one looks at
it,

36:48.320 --> 36:51.580
it's clear that the old
medieval conception of a

36:51.577 --> 36:54.617
society,
simply describable in terms of

36:54.621 --> 36:58.261
three estates,
had gradually decomposed under

36:58.260 --> 37:01.890
the pressure of economic and
social change,

37:01.889 --> 37:05.489
and society was gradually
recomposing itself;

37:05.489 --> 37:11.489
adopting a new shape under the
pressure of various economic

37:11.487 --> 37:13.347
fields of force.

37:13.349 --> 37:18.869
And that transition involved
not only shifts in the structure

37:18.871 --> 37:24.671
of society, but also shifts in
peoples' attitudes and values.

37:24.670 --> 37:28.620
By the early seventeenth
century, decades of cumulative

37:28.621 --> 37:33.231
economic and social change meant
that economic relationships and

37:33.231 --> 37:37.181
forms of behavior which had
previously appeared new and

37:37.181 --> 37:41.281
rather threatening were becoming
more normalized,

37:41.280 --> 37:44.160
more taken for granted.

37:44.159 --> 37:47.869
And some traditional values
were losing some of their older

37:47.871 --> 37:51.201
moral force and you can see that
in various ways,

37:51.199 --> 37:54.889
but a good example is to look
very briefly at the problem of

37:54.887 --> 37:58.467
enclosure,
the classic issue of great

37:58.465 --> 38:03.035
symbolic significance in
agrarian society.

38:03.039 --> 38:04.829
As you know,
in the mid-sixteenth century,

38:04.829 --> 38:08.859
enclosure had been demonized as
something which was damaging to

38:08.862 --> 38:13.432
the well-being of the ploughman,
to the strength of the nation,

38:13.425 --> 38:17.305
destructive of households and
of the Commonwealth.

38:17.309 --> 38:19.509
And throughout the later
sixteenth and early seventeenth

38:19.510 --> 38:22.110
centuries,
actual enclosure schemes were

38:22.106 --> 38:26.406
very often opposed by coalitions
of tenants and commoners who

38:26.405 --> 38:30.845
tried to defend their customary
ways against the initiatives of

38:30.846 --> 38:34.846
landlords and others,
and we look at that again when

38:34.847 --> 38:36.707
I look at popular protest.

38:36.710 --> 38:40.050
But, meanwhile,
the debate over enclosure was

38:40.054 --> 38:41.654
gradually shifting.

38:41.650 --> 38:44.090
You get that shift reflected in
Parliament.

38:44.090 --> 38:48.250
In 1601 there was a debate on
the enclosure laws and whether

38:48.248 --> 38:49.938
or not to repeal them.

38:49.940 --> 38:52.790
Sir Robert Cecil,
son of William Cecil,

38:52.789 --> 38:56.999
Elizabeth's chief minister,
speaking on behalf of the privy

38:56.998 --> 38:59.968
council said,
"I think that whosoever

38:59.972 --> 39:03.582
doth not maintain the plough,
destroyeth this kingdom.;"

39:03.579 --> 39:06.049
very much the traditional
attitude towards enclosure.

39:06.050 --> 39:08.180
He was opposed by Sir Walter
Raleigh,

39:08.179 --> 39:09.989
yes, the Sir Walter
Raleigh,

39:09.989 --> 39:17.279
who said he agreed that there
was a situation which must be

39:17.277 --> 39:22.177
faced regarding agricultural
change,

39:22.179 --> 39:25.179
but he argued that there were
lots of countries in Europe

39:25.184 --> 39:28.354
which could produce corn cheaper
than England could and,

39:28.349 --> 39:31.959
therefore, it should be
imported rather than insisting

39:31.963 --> 39:34.763
upon maintaining land under the
plough.

39:34.760 --> 39:38.380
He argued that every man should
use his land to its best

39:38.375 --> 39:41.395
advantage and should be at
liberty to do so.

39:41.400 --> 39:43.540
"Leave every man
free," he said,

39:43.536 --> 39:45.306
to pursue his economic
interest.

39:45.309 --> 39:50.029
So we have the voice of
economic individualism opposing

39:50.030 --> 39:50.730
Cecil.

39:50.730 --> 39:54.040
Debates like that in Parliament
reveal a gradual process of

39:54.039 --> 39:58.089
transition in attitudes,
tensions and shifts between

39:58.092 --> 40:03.052
older and newer attitudes,
and that tension was resolved

40:03.052 --> 40:06.462
in various ways:
sometimes by authoritative

40:06.460 --> 40:09.390
adjudication,
by government decisions in

40:09.391 --> 40:13.681
Parliament or the privy council;
often by sheer expediency,

40:13.677 --> 40:18.577
by people gradually adjusting
themselves, voluntarily or

40:18.581 --> 40:23.131
reluctantly, to the demands of a
changing world.

40:23.130 --> 40:26.390
In the case of enclosure,
gradually most of the gentry

40:26.393 --> 40:30.523
and many leading tenant farmers
came to accept its desirability,

40:30.518 --> 40:35.618
and the laws against it were in
fact repealed in 1624,

40:35.619 --> 40:38.939
leaving people free to use
their land as they saw best,

40:38.940 --> 40:43.160
as Raleigh had argued.

40:43.159 --> 40:48.359
Well, the attempts to stabilize
and channel change by the use of

40:48.358 --> 40:53.388
the law gave way gradually to
attempts simply to alleviate the

40:53.393 --> 40:58.513
worst manifestations of change
where it had led to major social

40:58.509 --> 41:02.159
distress,
and the greatest monument to

41:02.159 --> 41:05.569
efforts of that kind were the
Poor Laws.

41:05.570 --> 41:09.610
The crisis years of the 1590s
led to the overhaul and

41:09.606 --> 41:14.266
consolidation and extension by
Parliament of earlier measures

41:14.266 --> 41:17.446
which had been taken in poor
relief,

41:17.449 --> 41:24.159
resulting in great consolidated
statutes of 1598 and 1601.

41:24.159 --> 41:28.449
Under those statues,
a full national system of poor

41:28.451 --> 41:32.331
relief was created,
based upon compulsory local

41:32.333 --> 41:35.143
taxation at the level of the
parish,

41:35.139 --> 41:40.509
administered by officers to be
appointed in every parish.

41:40.510 --> 41:44.290
Under the laws,
vagrants were to be punished

41:44.286 --> 41:46.856
and restrained;
those who were deemed the

41:46.860 --> 41:49.410
"impotent poor"--
the aged, the sick,

41:49.405 --> 41:53.125
the orphaned--were to be
relieved by being paid weekly

41:53.130 --> 41:55.800
pensions in their parishes;
and finally,

41:55.795 --> 41:59.005
the "laboring poor"--
those who could get by most of

41:59.014 --> 42:01.334
the time but needed occasional
relief--

42:01.329 --> 42:04.849
were to be periodically
relieved by the parish to enable

42:04.853 --> 42:07.933
their families to get through
hard times and,

42:07.929 --> 42:12.089
where possible,
work was to be created for

42:12.088 --> 42:12.798
them.

42:12.800 --> 42:18.320
So what you have in the Poor
Laws is a mixture of charity and

42:18.315 --> 42:19.505
discipline.

42:19.510 --> 42:22.330
In some ways,
the system was quite well

42:22.329 --> 42:26.259
devised to deal with the
periodic life-cycle crises of

42:26.262 --> 42:30.272
the laboring population,
though rarely generously.

42:30.268 --> 42:34.698
It was a system which in many
ways demonstrated England's

42:34.704 --> 42:36.134
relative wealth.

42:36.130 --> 42:38.610
There was a tax base there to
pay for it.

42:38.610 --> 42:41.150
But it was one,
of course, which also

42:41.152 --> 42:45.182
demonstrated how unequally
distributed that wealth was.

42:45.179 --> 42:46.639
In one parish,
for example,

42:46.639 --> 42:48.659
the parish of Cawston in
Norfolk,

42:48.659 --> 42:51.959
where the laws were put into
operation very early,

42:51.960 --> 42:56.060
there were sixty-eight people
in the parish out of one hundred

42:56.057 --> 42:59.947
and sixty households who were
able to pay the poor rates to

42:59.954 --> 43:01.504
support the system.

43:01.500 --> 43:05.960
At the other end of the scale
there were twenty households who

43:05.963 --> 43:07.943
received weekly pensions.

43:07.940 --> 43:10.890
So, sixty-eight are paying,
twenty are receiving pensions,

43:10.889 --> 43:14.309
all the ones in between are
neither paying nor in receipt of

43:14.309 --> 43:17.769
relief,
though in bad times some of

43:17.766 --> 43:22.666
those families might receive
occasional help.

43:22.670 --> 43:27.610
So, the Poor Laws,
in a way, are both a response

43:27.606 --> 43:33.796
to and enshrine some of the
changes which had taken place in

43:33.802 --> 43:37.062
society at the local level.

43:37.059 --> 43:39.549
I've surveyed,
then, a process of

43:39.547 --> 43:44.367
redistribution of wealth in a
changing economic environment.

43:44.369 --> 43:47.139
Economic development had
enabled the population of

43:47.139 --> 43:50.799
England to grow faster,
for longer than was usually the

43:50.802 --> 43:54.132
case in other European countries
at this time.

43:54.130 --> 44:02.300
But the benefits of economic
growth were poorly distributed

44:02.295 --> 44:04.825
and that showed.

44:04.829 --> 44:09.029
Population, at last,
began to stabilize in the third

44:09.034 --> 44:13.574
decade of the seventeenth
century and that began to slow

44:13.567 --> 44:17.027
down this long-term process of
change.

44:17.030 --> 44:19.730
The reasons for that
stabilization were,

44:19.730 --> 44:23.270
partly, shifts in
mortality--the evidence is that

44:23.268 --> 44:27.328
life expectation at birth was
deteriorating in the early

44:27.326 --> 44:31.386
seventeenth century--
but it was restrained even more

44:31.387 --> 44:34.747
by shifts that were taking place
in fertility;

44:34.750 --> 44:37.090
quite significant shifts.

44:37.090 --> 44:40.950
In the early seventeenth
century, the rates of fertility

44:40.952 --> 44:45.102
that can be calculated from the
parish registers of parishes

44:45.096 --> 44:49.166
show that marital fertility was
falling quite sharply.

44:49.170 --> 44:52.040
That was produced,
in part, by a rising age at

44:52.041 --> 44:56.191
marriage, people were marrying
later and having fewer children.

44:56.190 --> 45:01.010
But it was also produced by a
larger proportion of the

45:01.014 --> 45:04.204
population never marrying at
all.

45:04.199 --> 45:07.159
It was startling when
historical demographers

45:07.157 --> 45:10.517
discovered that of the people
who were coming up to

45:10.519 --> 45:14.769
marriageable age,
from the 1620s through to the

45:14.773 --> 45:18.313
1650s,
people who'd been born around

45:18.307 --> 45:21.147
1600 to 1610,
or thereabouts,

45:21.152 --> 45:26.312
as many as twenty percent,
or sometimes even more,

45:26.313 --> 45:27.963
never married.

45:27.960 --> 45:29.890
It's a quite extraordinary
figure;

45:29.889 --> 45:34.379
a very large proportion of the
population remaining unmarried.

45:34.380 --> 45:37.940
What we seem to have here is
evidence of a situation in

45:37.936 --> 45:40.956
which,
for those who were doing least

45:40.960 --> 45:44.200
well in the circumstances of the
time,

45:44.199 --> 45:47.939
life was too insecure,
or living standards were too

45:47.940 --> 45:50.950
marginal,
for them to be able to marry

45:50.954 --> 45:54.814
and establish independent
households of their own.

45:54.809 --> 46:01.329
As a result, fertility declined;
population gradually stabilized.

46:01.329 --> 46:06.659
As population stabilized,
so did prices.

46:06.659 --> 46:12.809
The great underlying dynamic of
change from the second quarter

46:12.813 --> 46:19.073
of the sixteenth century through
to the mid-seventeenth century

46:19.068 --> 46:20.378
was over.

46:20.380 --> 46:22.660
But that long dynamic of
population growth,

46:22.659 --> 46:26.549
inflation and its many
consequences in economy and

46:26.554 --> 46:30.094
society,
had unleashed economic changes

46:30.085 --> 46:34.775
which would not be reversed and
they had significantly

46:34.779 --> 46:39.829
reconfigured the structure of
society and the relationship

46:39.826 --> 46:42.036
between its members.

46:42.039 --> 46:45.349
So, with that,
I've tried to briefly set the

46:45.351 --> 46:48.851
scene for you,
and now we can go on to look at

46:48.847 --> 46:52.447
a number of other aspects of
society and culture,

46:52.449 --> 46:58.419
starting next week with the
issues of witchcraft and popular

46:58.422 --> 47:00.552
literacy and crime.

47:00.550 --> 47:06.000