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Originally Posted by Torchwatch
I read it on a history website while researching the origins of the Vagrancy Act in Britain. It was still the way to expel naked vagrants from cities in the reign of Elizabeth I.
In the same way that street vendors in contemporary Arab states were required to pay bribes to the police to trade, in earlier times street beggars had to pay the city watch or face being ejected from the cities. Once a person was so destitute that that had sold their clothes and could neither feed themselves nor bribe the City Watch they were out.
The peasants were tied to the land, in order to become free they had to escape and live as an outlaw for a year and a day.
The heaths represented any land outside the towns and cities and not under cultivation or control. They were inhabited by the destitute, outlaws and thieves making it dangerous to go from city to city without an escort. Think of the region entered in the movie True Grit.
Vagrancy Act 1547: https://www.intriguing-history.com/e...nst-vagabonds/
Vagrancy Act 1824: https://www.thepavement.org.uk/stories/1029
USA Vagrancy Act 1966 : https://time.com/4199924/vagrancy-law-history/ |
I was aware of vagrancy laws. The part that surprised me was the idea someone selling all of his clothing. I didn't see that in these references.