Poor Law - Tudor Era

Tudor Era

In the later period of the 15th century, legal measures were put in place for poverty which focused on punishing the individual for acts such as vagabonding and begging. In 1495 during the reign of Henry VII of England, Parliament passed the Vagabond Act. This act stated that officials arrest and hold "all such vagabonds, idle and suspect persons living suspiciously and then so taken to set in stocks, there to remain three nights and to have none other sustenance but bread and water; and after the said three days and three nights, to be had out and set at large and to be commanded to avoid the town." Unfortunately, as historian Mark Rathbone discussed in his article "Vagabond!", this act had a very loose definition of vagabonds and did not make any distinctions between individuals that were unemployed and were in search of employment or the individual who freely chose to live the life of a vagabond. In addition, the act failed to recognize the impotent poor, those individuals who could not provide for themselves. These individuals included the sick, the elderly and the disabled. This neglect to define the act of vagabonding precisely would continue to hinder the effectiveness of legislative acts for years to come.