Tudor Poor Laws

The Tudor Poor Laws were strict laws enforced in England during the Tudor era (1485 to 1603.)

During the Tudor period it is estimated that up to one-third of the population lived in poverty. The population doubled in size between the reigns of Henry VIII and Elizabeth I. The laws were designed to stop vagrants and vagabonds; however by today's standards they were very cruel and tyrannical, with those unable to find work being tied to carts and whipped across the streets.

A later revision to the laws was made that allowed a convicted vagabond to be sold into slavery for a year, if they fled this punishment they would become a slave for life and if they fled a second time they would be executed - the revision was seen as so barbaric that very few lawmen of the time enforced it.

The Tudor Poor Laws were only the start of several other laws created in later eras, such as the Victorian workhouses and child labor - all of which are considered oppresive in the modern world.