A HISTORY OF YORKSHIRE 



were laid down either by the Privy Council or Parliament ; not that either of these august 

 assemblages initiated any new or startling policy. But the most interesting and fullest account of the 

 treatment of the poor in any provincial town is contained in the twenty-one volumes of the York 

 Municipal Records.*' They cover the period from 1542 to 1688, and so extraordinarily minute and 

 circumstantial is the information given that a complete pauper directory of the i6th and 17th 

 centuries could be compiled from this source. 



In the reign of Henry VIII two statutes were passed dealing with the vagrant poor, 

 but laws of this nature depend for their efficacy rather on the administrator than the legislator. 

 It is not, however, until 38 Henry VIII that the civic authorities seem to have taken the matter 

 seriously in hand. As one of the earliest examples of how York managed its poor, the extract, 

 though long, seems sufficiently interesting to merit quotation : — 



It is agreed hy the said p(re)sence that all constables of this citie and suburbs of the same shall 

 c(er)tifie the said wardens by wrytyng at the next warde mote courtes of all common beggars that is 

 come within the said parishes and wardes within the space of thre yeres last past. All power fowkes that 

 arelymytted tobegge and hath baggs shall from nowfurth begge within the wardes which they inhabitt 

 and dwell within the said citie and in none other warde upon payne to be avoyded this city if any of 

 them do the contrary." 



None of the said power folkefrom hens furth shall tak nor receyve any strange chyldren into their 

 howses to the intent that any of them shall go aboute within this citie to begge as they have done 

 laidei to the noysaunce nppon payne to any of them that doth the contrary shall be avoyded this 

 said citie always provided that it shalbe lawful! to them for to take and releive any power chyldren 

 that was borne within this citie or suburbs. 



Every constable within this citie from now furth shall take all strange beggars vagabonds that 

 at any tj-me herafter shall rcsorte and come within their constabulary to begg or that use or comytt 

 any misdemeanor and to put them in the stokkes and to give them none other dyat but onely bredc 

 and watter according to the King's statute that is to say by the space of thre days and thre nyghts and 

 to make the said wardens privey at the resortyng of any such vagabonds."' 



The central government took special care to protect the poor people from the speculators in 

 grain ; 'corners in wheat' and the Chicago Pit are modern only in their magnitude. Men were 

 equally anxious to heap up riches in Tudor times, but the Tudor monarchs reserved to themselves 

 the right to plunder the poor ; their rivals in that field received short shrift. The Privy Council 

 in 1549 sent an urgent message to the mayor ordering him 'to punesshe suche uncharitable & 

 covetous persons as by there regulatons and gathering of corne into their hands care not so they may 

 have unreasonable gaynes though there neighbours perishe and dye by them for lak of convenyent 

 sustenaunce.' " This matter had been brought before the lord mayor a short time previous in the 

 form of a petition for ' the reformaton of dyverse wronges whiche ar used agaynst the Comon welth 

 of the said citie.' " Amongst the complaints, the reckless destruction of wood for the 

 kilns, the taking down of houses, the inclosing of common fields, the lack of pasturage 

 for the cattle of the poorer inhabitants, is dwelt on, and the lord mayor is intreated to 

 put in force the laws which a paternal government had enacted for their protection. In dealing 

 with regrators and such like offenders, the Aldermen's Court only acted as a prosecutor, who 

 brought the case before the justices of the peace. These in their turn committed the defendants 

 to prison, and reported on the case to the Lord President and Council of the North .'' 



An Act was passed in 155 1-2 which laid down definite rules as to the mode in which mean^ 

 for the maintenance of the pauper element should be collected. Fortunately the amount con- 

 tributed in the different districts was entered in the city records. The document is valuable as 

 giving authentic evidence of the relative wealth of the various parishes, apart from its immediate 

 interest in connexion with the poor rate. 



GUTHRUM WARD 



St. Michel le Belfrey "1 



every wek j ••■••••.. xs. v]ii. 



St. Elene in Stayngate "1 



every wek j 3'- "i'^d. 



St. Martyn in Counystret ) ....... v/. 



St. Olavs J xx^. 



Total ^i OS. 6 J. 



^ These volumes, which are full of the most interesting matter concerning the industrial and social life 

 of the people of York, have unfortunately never been printed, with the exception of a valuable volume of 

 extracts covering the 15 th century compiled by Davies. 



" York Munic. Rec. xviii, fol. ^8a, 13 May 1546. 



" Ibid. fol. 38*. « Ibid. SAX, fol. 93^, 11 Dec. 1549. 



* Ibid. fol. 87<», 18 Sept. 7549. « Ibid. fol. 94/j, 11 Dec. 1549. 



464 



