Poor Relief in England, 1350–1600

Marjorie Keniston McIntosh

• Publisher: Cambridge University Press
• Year: 2011
• Print ISBN:
  9781107015081
• eBook ISBN:
  9781139200554
• Topic: History
• Subtopic: British History
• Index: History

Between the mid-fourteenth century and the Poor Laws of 1598 and 1601, English poor relief moved toward a more coherent and comprehensive network of support. Marjorie McIntosh's study, the first to trace developments across that time span, focuses on three types of assistance: licensed begging and the solicitation of charitable alms; hospitals and almshouses for the bedridden and elderly; and the aid given by parishes. It explores changing conceptions of poverty and charity and altered roles for the church, state and private organizations in the provision of relief. The study highlights the creativity of local people in responding to poverty, cooperation between national levels of government, the problems of fraud and negligence, and mounting concern with proper supervision and accounting. This ground-breaking work challenges existing accounts of the Poor Laws, showing that they addressed problems with forms of aid already in use rather than creating a new system of relief.

Table of contents

• Cover
• Poor Relief in England, 1350–1600
• Title
• Copyright
• Contents
• Acknowledgements
• Notes on conventions and online resources
• Abbreviations
• 1 Introduction
• Part I Late medieval and early Tudor patterns
• Part II Profound change during the early Reformation period
• Part III Intensified problems and altered approaches in the later sixteenth century
• Part IV Responding to the problems
• Appendices included in the printed volume
• References
• Index
• CUP Online Appendix 1: Explanation of methodology used to enter information into an SPSS database of hospitals and almshouses and to create the graphs and other appendices
• CUP Online Appendix 2: Number of institutions founded, closed, and in existence per decade, including ascribed numbers
• CUP Online Appendix 3: Region and type of community, by date of founding and type of institution
• CUP Online Appendix 4: Sex and religious status of residents, by date of founding
• CUP Online Appendix 5: Number of intended inmates at time of founding
• CUP Online Appendix 6: Actual number of residents per house, 1500–1549 and 1550–1599
• CUP Online Appendix 7: Total estimated number of places in these institutions in the sixteenth century
• CUP Online Appendix 8: Analysis of a sample of Sussex wills that left bequests to the poor, 1500–1560
• CUP Online Appendix 9: Distribution of parishes active in poor relief or with Collectors for the Poor, 1404–1598
• CUP Online Appendix 10: Number of parishes for which Collectors or assessments for the poor were mentioned, 1552–1598