Reassessing 27 Henry VIII, c.25 and Tudor Welfare: Changes and Continuities in Context

The English Parish Rate for the relief of the poor was first instituted by statute in 1536. Scholars of English welfare have seen in this a great discontinuity with the statute of 1531, and have suggested the 1536 Act was the product of humanist thinking about the nature of poverty. Humanist features have long been attributed, in particular, to a draft bill of 1535, seemingly bolstering this argument. The bill was seen as ahead of its time, explaining the Act’s apparent failure. This article revises these interpretations of the 1530s legislation, seeking to align scholarly understanding of the 1530s legislation with continental scholarship of welfare reforms, scholarship of English humanism, and the growing body of research that shows continuities in local practices and attitudes from the late medieval period regarding poverty and the poor. It does this through a revision of the broader legislative context, and through situating the 1535 draft in closer relationship to the legislation passed and contemporary repair works underway at Dover harbour.