The Practice of Poverty Relief in Early Modern England: Central and Local Areas

The Tudor and Stuart dynasties coincided with an important stage in the development of modern England, during which the social structure changed dramatically, and the governance of the country was plagued by the problems of poverty and vagrancy, and the importance of poverty alleviation to the stability of the society is self-evident. From the central government, the Privy Council and the Parliament to the local squires, magistrates, parish officials and merchants, the practice of poverty alleviation was accomplished by the combined efforts of all social strata: the central government gave decrees and supervised and guided, while the specific practice was carried out by the local government on their own, and the practice of poverty alleviation varied greatly from one region to another, which demonstrated the autonomy of the localities. At the same time, the practice of poverty alleviation, as a successful consensus cooperation between the central government and the local government in early modern Britain, is an important revelation of the benign relationship between the central government and the local government, and the practice of poverty alleviation is a reference for the exploration of the solution to the problem of poverty.