Reasons for Poverty in Elizabethan times
 
Breakdown of the Feudal System
The medieval Feudal system had broken down. The feudal system was built on a hierarchal pyramid system where everyone owed allegiance to their immediate superior and the nobles of the land and the Lords of the Manor were responsible for the peasants who lived on their land.

Dissolution of the Monasteries
The Dissolution of the Monasteries instigated by King Henry VIII between 1536 and 1540 put vast sums of money into the royal coffers and saw Monks and Nuns homeless and many poor people without a place of refuge.

Changes in Religion
The chaos wreaked by the Dissolution of the Monasteries brought about a decline in values and moral expectations. The decline in Christian values, and the examples set by the Nuns and the Monks, resulted in these charitable acts of Mercy towards the unfortunate were no longer seen as a duty nor were they undertaken. The English had firmly placed the responsibility of these people firmly on the shoulders of the Elizabethan government.

Land Enclosure
Changes in agriculture during the Elizabethan period led to people leaving the countryside and their village life to search for employment in the towns. The wool trade became increasingly popular during the Elizabethan age, which meant that land which had been farmed by peasants was now dedicated to rearing sheep and a process known as land enclosure meant that the traditional open field system ended in favour of creating larger and more profitable farming units which required fewer people to work on them. The number of jobs decreased and people were forced to leave there homes in search of employment in the towns.