[CHARLES I, POOR LAW]
C17 SOCIAL RELIEF
Orders and directions, Together with a commission or the better Administration of Justice … the reliefe of the Poore, the well ordering and training up of youth in Trades ..
London, Robert Barker and the Assignes of John Bill, 1630£1,250.00
FIRST EDITION. 4to. pp. [iv], 33, [23];A-G4, H2. Roman and Italic letter. Initial blank signed “A” within floriated woodcut border, variant with “Commaund” in line 1 of D3r, woodcut initials, head and tail-pieces, typographical ornaments, large woodcut royal arms on verso of title. Very light water stain at head of gutter of some ll., the odd marginal ink mark. A very good, clean copy, with excellent wide margins in modern half brown morocco over cloth boards, by the National Library of Wales bindery, t.e.g.
First edition of this landmark in Poor Law Reform; a very good wide-margined copy. This is one of three variants issued the same year, and the only one to list the Privy Counsellors and their responsibilities. ESTC cites 4 UK copies of this variant (not in the British Library) and 3 more in America. A special body of ‘Commissioners for the Poor’ was set up in June 1630, the first recorded Poor Law Commissioners. This “Book of Orders” was the medium for the promulgation of the rules and procedures for the regulation of the Poor. It was distributed to Justices of the Peace by King Charles I on 31 January 1631, having been drafted by the Lord Chief Justice; the work has been regarded as the “centre-piece of Charles I’s policies towards his subjects during his personal rule”, which lasted from 1629 until 1640. The purpose of The Book was to ensure “better administration of justice … relief of the poor and … reformation of disorders”, greatly increasing the control of Charles’ government over what had until then been largely local affairs handled by the local gentry. The ‘Book of Orders’ demanded more from the aristocratic elite and was one of the grievances which contributed to Charles’ ‘Personal Rule’ coming to an end.
“In 1629 and 1630 there were two consecutive poor harvests, the latter being 50% deficient across England. This had devastating effects on the poor, whose diet contained large quantities of bread. The King, Charles I, who was ruling without parliament, having dismissed it in 1629, resurrected the Jacobean device of the Book of Orders. These were instructions, issued to all local magistrates, on how to cope with bread shortages and mass poverty. They involved the local JPs, in their divisions of the shire, controlling local markets, trying to provide a variety of bread grains at an affordable price to the poor, and raising poor rates to provide a local subsidy. They were then required to report back to the King’s Privy Council, the main executive arm of government, hopefully once a month, on a variety of issues associated with poverty and law and order. All 17th century governments feared revolution from below, notably when hunger drove the poor to desperate measures. The Book of Orders was therefore just as much about controlling the poor as feeding them. The device laid down by Charles I and his ministers for achieving these aims was the monthly meeting of magistrates in their divisions.” Alan Thomson “Caring for the poor in East Hertfordshire in the early 1630’s.
The book’s aims included “the charitable reliefe of aged and impotent poore people,” “the setting to work of idle persons,” “the punishment of sundry Rogues and Vagabonds”, “the suppressing of that odious and loathesome sinne of Drunkennesse”, and “the training up of youth”. A most interesting work providing much insight into the social history of Charles I’s reign.
STC 9252.2. Goldsmiths 613.In stock
