Transcript of
Great Easton Parish Book - Vagabonds in 1597
The prescribed
punishment for vagabonds, that is for idle persons who were able to
work, but who appeared to have chosen not to work, was to be 'stripped
naked from the middle upward and to be openly whipped until his or her
body be bloody'.
Such correction
of the idle poor was meant to deter others. There was nothing intrinsically
wrong with genuine 'scholars', 'seafaring men' or 'patent gatherers,'
but it was those who claimed to be such and who begged illegally for
funds that were proscribed.
[The statute of
39 Eliz. cap.IV 'An Act for punishment of rogues, vagabonds and sturdy
beggars'].
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Great
Easton Parish Book
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Transcript
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