Why was poverty growing?

The Tudors – Poverty, 1485-1603

In this course, Dr Brodie Waddell (Birbeck University of London) looks at poverty during the Tudor period, 1485-1603. In the first module, we look at the reasons for why poverty was growing during this period. In the second module, we turn to consider perceptions of the poor and how these changed over the course of the period. In the third and fourth modules, we look at responses to poverty, in the former looking at the responses of the central authorities and in the latter looking at the responses of the general population. In the fifth and final module, we consider the legacies that the Tudor response to poverty left behind, and the extent to which it survived in the following centuries.

Why was poverty growing?

In this lecture, we think about what was causing poverty to grow under the Tudors, focusing in particular on: (i) the impact of population growth on poverty; (ii) the impact of the commercialisation of agriculture and and the development of agrarian capitalism upon the growth of poverty; and (iii) the impact of the growth of urban areas and changes in urban society upon the growth of poverty.