Content area
Abstract
This thesis explores the application of Tudor poor laws in Essex as they were influenced by theology. With the Reformation, good works became a byproduct of one's love for God, not a necessity to achieve salvation. As the benefactors, freed from obligatory charity, exercised more choice in the recipients of their aid, a heavy tone of social control crept into charity. The poor were divided into categories of worthiness.
In order to contextualize the experiences of the poor in Essex, this thesis begins with an explanation of the medieval system of charity, then moves to the Tudor national statutes passed by Parliament, and concludes with the social repercussions experienced by the Essex indigent. By including wills, churchwarden accounts, sermons, and Quarter Sessions Records, a holistic image of their experience is presented. Neither limited to social nor theological perspectives, this thesis presents the reality lived by paupers in Reformation Essex.
