Pathogenesis: A History of the World in Eight Plagues

by Jonathan Kennedy

According to the Old Poor Law, anyone in need was entitled to receive relief from the parish where they were born—of which there were about 10,000 in England and Wales. It usually took the form of food or money handouts and was paid for by a progressive tax on the value of landholdings known as the “poor rate.” This system had been formalized at the start of the seventeenth century and was a response to the breakdown in the feudal system and dissolution of the monasteries, which provided a safety net in the Middle Ages. It was not only popular among the recipients, who believed it was their birthright to receive help from more fortunate members of the community when times were hard. It was also supported by the landowning elite, who bore most of the cost and who saw it as a way of conserving the status quo amid growing calls for equality and the revolutionary chaos then engulfing France.[36]