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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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