Homelessness in 16th Century England, Pt. 2
Two weeks ago I wrote about English homeless policy during the century before the Pilgrims voyaged to America. Here’s a little more examination of what we can learn from that period, starting in 1531 with the way Sir Thomas Elyot, an English diplomat, peered at homeless people through a coach window. Elyot reacted like some of us respond to those holding at spotlights signs requesting cash: He called them “beasts brute and savage.” Pamphleteer Philip Stubbes countered with a compassionate approach: “God commandeth in his law that there be no miserable poor man, nor begger amongest us, but that everyone be provided for and maintained of that abundance which God hath blessed us withal.” Stubbes scoffed at the stingy: “We Read More ›