Sturdy beggars

The poorer sort also found employment at the lower level. The most severely affected by the Dissolution were the poor, who lost the benefits of the unorganized and indiscriminate charity rendered by the monasteries. The monks had let their lands on lease and sublet. When the monastic lands were confiscated, by the Crown and resold to new owners, there was a change in the system of employment. Some retained the same laborers; others evicted the old tenants and appointed new ones. The domestic servants of the monastic households were thrown out of jobs. Though the new proprietors absorbed them into their service, a good number of them turned into ‘Sturdy beggars’.