How To Respond To The Poor Dbq

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Recommended: Economics in a feudal society

During the 15th through 17th century, there is no major advancement for the peasants or poor in most of Europe. There are nobles who do not pay taxes, so the peasants are taxed very heavily and lack rights in anything political. Because Europe was very populated by the poor, they were still a major part of the society and many different social classes interacted with them. While religious concerns caused people to respond to the issues of poverty in the period 1450-1700, the responses were mainly shaped by a desire for political and social order by the government, the nobility and wealthy ,and the citizens. The government used regulating the poor as a way to acquire order in their society. In response to poverty, the nobility and wealthy felt …show more content…

The wealthy had a very shortsighted opinion on the poor and saw none of their problems in the peasantry. They saw the peasants as living a life of no problems and a carefree life.(Doc 7) Jean Maillefer is a self made man so to him the peasants are simply people who don’t try to improve their circumstance. Instead they simple beg and make their livelihood off of others labor. They did not particularly enjoy these habits of the peasantry. They believed that the poor are a threat to the social order and refrained from providing necessary help.The German Peasants revolt builds the powerful opinion of Nobility, when it came to helping the peasantry. The Noble response to the poor can be considered to be heavily reminiscent of this revolt. The German princes knew that idle men can be very dangerous so often anyone left without work could be employed to make sure everyone was too busy to think about their plight. In order to maintain their social status, and political ideas the nobles continuously stopped the peasants from gaining power, and having them stay …show more content…

The general consensus among people was that the poor are dangerous as they could be forced to commit crimes to stay alive. Despite the fact that many people knew of their duty to the poor, they helped the mostly out of a fear that the poor might steal from them or their families.(Doc 2) Although the communal understanding was to help the poor, some still did in secretive manners as to not attract large amounts of poor people to beg at his doorstep. Rembrandt van Rijn, depicts a man trying give alms to the poor, in a quiet setting.(Doc 6) Although Rembrandt intended to promote the giving of alms, the amount of detail put into the privacy of this event is detrimental. He helps the poor when able but does it privately to not attract the attention of other people that may see him as a target to rob. The citizens tried to keep the crime down, which would help maintain social order throughout much of

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