Poverty 1534

Chronology of Poverty until 1534:
10th century B.C.E.: The first use of the word poverty surfaces in the biblical world, referring to landowners who forced peasants to sell land.
495–429 B.C.E.: Under the rule of Pericles, Athens undertakes large-scale public works projects as a means of providing employment for the poor.
550 C.E.: Pope Gregory I of the Roman Catholic Church establishes the world’s first orphanage in the city of Milan, Italy.
1349: King Edward III of England issues the Statute of Labourers, giving greater power to feudal lords and prohibiting begging and giving, except for senior citizens
and the physically disabled. Edward made a distinction between the “worthy poor,” which included widows, dependent children, and the disabled, and the “unworthy poor,” which included able-bodied adults.
1351: Pedro the Cruel of Castile orders all able-bodied, unemployed men in his kingdom to be flogged.
1381: Wat Tyler leads a peasant revolt against King Richard II of England. Following the invasion of the city of Canterbury, where Tyler’s mob murdered the Archbishop of Canterbury, England’s leading religious figure, King Richard was forced to abolish feudal serfdom. The decision was later reversed.
1500–1600: The population of Europe nearly doublés in size, from 30 million to 60 million people.
1526: Juan Luis Vives publishes De Subventione Pauperum, in which he provides a theoretical justification for state-run poverty relief.
1529: The city-state of Venice (Italy) enacts a law requiring impoverished people to perform community service in order to receive a license for relief.
1531: England passes a law requiring local officials to interview people to determine whether they are suitable applicants for poverty relief. Emperor Charles V bans begging in the territories of Spain, Austria, Mexico, and Peru.
1534: The French city of Lyons creates a comprehensive system of relief for the worthy poor and banning begging by those deemed unworthy.

See also: pobreza