England, 1485–1603 – consequence in this period through the following key…

The idea

The Tudor period witnessed profound social and economic transformations, driven primarily by significant population growth and persistent inflation. The economy shifted as the lucrative wool and cloth trades expanded, leading to increased land enclosure and a transition from arable farming to pasture. These changes had severe effects on the lower classes, exacerbating poverty, vagrancy, and rural unemployment, which occasionally erupted into unrest like Kett’s Rebellion. Conversely, the gentry and merchant classes thrived, building grand prodigy houses and dominating local government. To manage these effects, the state increasingly intervened, culminating in the Elizabethan Poor Laws which formalised parish-level relief for the deserving poor.

What earns the marks

• Analyse the causes and consequences of demographic changes, particularly the sustained population growth across the sixteenth century.
• Evaluate the economic impact of enclosure and the expansion of the broadcloth industry on different social strata.
• Assess the effectiveness of government responses to social crises, including legislation against vagrancy and the development of the Poor Laws.
• Examine the changing social hierarchy, focusing on the rise of the gentry and the relative decline in the independent military power of the traditional nobility.

Common mistakes and how to put them right

• Claiming that enclosure affected the majority of English agricultural land.

  Put it right: Specify that while enclosure caused significant localised distress and unrest, it actually affected a relatively small percentage of total arable land.

• Viewing Tudor society as entirely static and feudal.

  Put it right: Highlight the increasing social mobility, particularly the growing wealth and political influence of the gentry and merchant classes.

• Assuming all poverty was treated identically by the authorities.

  Put it right: Distinguish between the Tudor government's harsh punitive measures for the 'undeserving' vagrants and their gradual provision of relief for the 'deserving' poor.

Exam tips

• Use specific legislation, such as the Statute of Artificers or the 1601 Poor Law, to demonstrate government attempts to regulate economic and social change.
• Connect economic grievances directly to political instability, showing how inflation and enclosure acted as catalysts for major rebellions.
• Avoid generalisations about 'the people'; instead, differentiate the effects of economic change on the nobility, gentry, yeomen, and landless labourers.