Vagrancy in English Culture and Society, 1650–1750

Abstract

Dieser Beitrag kann vom Nutzer zu eigenen nicht-kommerziellen Zwecken heruntergeladen und/oder ausgedruckt werden. Darüber hinausgehende Nutzungen sind ohne weitere Genehmigung der Rechteinhaber nur im Rahmen der gesetzlichen Schrankenbestimmungen ( § § 44a-63a UrhG) zulässig.

Poverty and environment in early modern England

“…Poor children huddled together under market stalls for warmth but were chased out by constables. 49 Vagrants illicitly bedded down in London's privies, cellars, coal holes and churches, where some died and others gave birth in what little shelter they could find. 50 For the poor who avoided the 'great confinement' of workhouses and pauper 'hospitals' that developed across Europe in the seventeenth century, the urban landscape was unforgiving.…”

Introduction

“…11 Other scholars have used ballad singers' texts and performances as a tool to understand critical contemporary issues such as poverty, vagrancy, mendicancy, and inequality in early modern society. 12 Art historians have studied their presence within European iconographic tradition, examining the visual and social status of the street singer as he moves between different roles from vagabond to charlatan to poet and virtuoso. 13 Musicologists have examined the oral and aural dimension of the street singers' art, typically linked to non-written traditions and improvisational techniques.…”

The impact of military demobilisation on rising Irish migration to London, c.1750–1850

“…The vagrancy system was set up specifically to oust people likely to become a financial burden on the local parish, especially those who did not have a legal right to settlement in the area. 33 If one had not been born in a parish, settlement was determined through a range of tests, most commonly by working uninterrupted for a year within the parish, paying a hefty rental bill on your accommodation or (for women) marrying someone with a local settlement. 34 Lawson had none of these and by presenting himself to the lord mayor he knowingly declared himself ineligible for relief and, therefore, likely to be a future burden on London's taxpayers, with the knowledge that this would then trigger a system that would take him home.…”