In no more than 1500 words, write an essay in answer to the following question:
To what extent did the poor of early modern Europe rely on an ‘economy of makeshifts’?
:This assignment is designed to give you practice with essay writing. The question asks you to reflect upon your study of Chapter 6 and the associated material to examine how people responded to poverty. You are being asked to consider this topic in relation to Olwen Hufton’s phrase ‘an economy of makeshifts’. You should think about whether this phrase is useful for understanding the varied responses to poverty. Your essay should make a judgement about how important the ‘economy of makeshifts’ was in dealing with poverty in early modern society.
To do this, you should consider both the responses of the poor and the responses of the authorities. You should demonstrate knowledge of the diverse range of strategies employed by the poor and by institutions and authorities, such as governments, hospitals and almshouses. The ‘to what extent’ in the question is prompting you to consider both evidence for and against the view that the early modern poor relied on an ‘economy of makeshifts’. With that in mind, you might want to think about how the ‘economy of makeshifts’ related to the responses of early modern authorities, including both poor relief and punishment. It will be helpful to think about the differences between informal/unofficial responses and formal/official responses.
In looking for evidence to include in your essay, Section 6.2 of the printed chapter in Book 1, Online session 6.1 and Online session 6.2 will be very useful. You are free to choose the examples you include. You should not aim to include everything but to be selective, opting for the evidence that best supports your argument. The module considers responses to poverty across Europe in both urban and rural areas and then focusses on the Old Poor Law of England. You might want to consider the extent to which there were differences in responses to poverty across Europe. You should make sure to demonstrate awareness of the nature of poverty, as outlined in Section 6.1 of the printed chapter and in Penny Roberts’ chapter ‘Marginals and Deviants’ in the set book, Beat Kümin (ed.), The European World 1500–1800.
The use of Independent Study exercises is not required for this assignment, but you may use them if they are helpful for your argument.
As with any essay, you must include accurate references. Relevant quotations can be included as evidence to support your points but should be brief.
this info should help
The ordinances of a common chest, Leisnig, 1523
Source: Brandt, W. I. (ed.) (1962) Luther’s Works, vol. 45, Philadelphia, PA, Concordia Publishing House and Muhlenberg Press, p. 186.
No men or women beggars shall be tolerated in our parish, either in the city or in the villages, since anyone not incapacitated by reason of age or illness shall work or, with the aid of the authorities, be expelled from the parish, the city and the villages. But those among us who are impoverished by force of circumstances, or are unable to work because of old age or illness, shall be supported in suitable fashion by the ten officials out of our common chest as follows, … Those individuals in our parish and assembly who are impoverished by force of circumstances and left without assistance by their relatives, if they have any capable of helping, and those who are unable to work because of illness and old age and are so poor as to suffer real need, shall receive each week on Sunday and at other times as occasion demands, maintenance and support from our common chest through the ten directors. This is to be done out of christian love, to the honour and praise of God, so that their lives and health may be preserved from further deterioration, enfeeblement and foreshortening through lack of shelter, clothing, nourishment and care, and so that no impoverished person in our assembly need ever publicly cry out, lament, or beg for such items of daily necessity. For this reason the ten directors shall constantly make diligent enquiry and investigation in order to have complete and reliable knowledge of all these poor – as above – in the city and villages within our entire parish, and they shall confer on this matter every Sunday. The names of the poor whom they have discovered or decided to help, together with the action taken, shall be legibly entered in the minutes so that the resources of our common chest are distributed in orderly fashion.
and this also
Read Peter Solar, ‘Poor relief and English economic development before the Industrial Revolution’ (1995), from ‘English poor relief differed …’ (p. 3) to ‘… promoted economic development’ (p. 7). Solar strongly asserts the distinctiveness of the English poor relief system. For further guidance on working with PDFs see ‘Help with reading PDFs’.
Then read the following extracts from Anne Winter and Thijs Lambrecht, ‘Migration, poor relief and local autonomy’ (2013) (to find the relevant pages of this article, you need to download the PDF using the link at the bottom of the first page or to the right of the screen (‘Full Text of this Article’ or ‘Full Text (PDF)’) in order to see the page numbers):
- From ‘The main argument [dealing with the challenges of rising poverty and other social changes] …’ to ‘… migrants in practice’ (p. 94)
- From ‘[However, an] important difference was the largely self-reliant …’ (p. 105) to ‘… eighteenth century onwards’ (p. 106)
- From ‘What conclusions …’ (p. 122) to ‘… to their benefit’ (p, 123)
- From ‘At a general level …’ to ‘… encountered across the channel’ (p. 124).
These authors focus on the ‘essential similarities’ between the welfare and settlement system in the southern Low Countries (present-day Belgium) and that of England.