"Addled Parliament The Addled Parliament was the second Parliament of England of the reign of James I of England (following his 1604-11 Parliament), which sat between 5 April and 7 June 1614. Its name alludes to its ineffectiveness: it lasted no more than eight weeks and failed to resolve the conflict between the King, who wished to raise money in the form of a 'Benevolence', a grant of £65,000 and the House of Commons (who were resisting further taxation). It was dissolved by the King, who observed grimly that he was ""amazed that his ancestors should have allowed such an"
"16th and 17th centuries. The scold's bridle did not see much use in the New World, though Olaudah Equiano recorded that it was commonly used to control Virginia slaves in the mid-18th century. White men and women were usually placed in the stocks as an equivalent punishment. In 1567, Bessie Tailiefeir (pron. Telfer) slandered Baillie Thomas Hunter in Edinburgh, saying that he was using false measures. She was sentenced to be ""brankit"" and fixed to the cross for one hour. Two bridles were purchased for use by the Walsall town authorities during the 17th century, but it is not clear"
"assistance, while those who were idle were not. People incapable of providing for themselves, such as young orphans, the elderly, and the mentally and physically handicapped, were seen to be deserving, whereas those who were physically able but were too lazy to work were considered as ""idle"" and were seen as of bad moral character, and thus undeserving of help. Most poor relief in the 17th century came from voluntary charity which mostly was in the form of food and clothing. Parishes distributed land and animals. Institutionalized charities offered loans to help craftsmen to alms houses and hospitals. Act for"
"consider as ""soft furnishings"", though there were simple platforms of webbing, canvas or leather for stools, chairs and elaborately decorated coverings that already demonstrated the rudimentary beginnings of upholstered furniture. By the beginning of the 17th century chair seats were being padded, but this form of upholstery was still fairly basic. All sorts of stuffings from sawdust, grass, feathers, to deer, goat or horsehair were used, although in England the Livery Company forbade the use of goat and deer hair and imposed fines for misdemeanors. The stuffing was heaped on a wooden platform and held in place with a decorative"
"1725, a period when France was unusually vulnerable to famines. Historians point out that oat and barley prices in England did not always increase following a failure of the wheat crop, but did do in France. About one-third of the population lived in poverty, with the wealthy expected to give alms to assist the impotent poor. Tudor law was harsh on the able-bodied poor i.e., those unable to find work. Those who left their parishes in order to locate work were termed vagabonds and could be subjected to punishments, including whipping and putting at the stocks. The 18th century was"
"was more likely to be called a ""bonnet"", which term was replaced by ""cap"" before about 1700, except in Scotland, where it continues to be referred to as a ""bunnet"" in Scots. A 1571 Act of the English Parliament was enacted to stimulate domestic wool consumption and general trade decreed that on Sundays and holidays, all males over 6 years of age, except for the nobility and ""persons of degree"", were to wear woollen caps or pay a fine of three farthings (3/4 penny) per day. The Bill was not repealed until 1597, though by this time, the flat cap"
"deliberately under-assessed the value of stolen goods, in order to avoid a mandatory death sentence. As the 17th century drew to a close, lawmakers sought a less harsh punishment that might still deter potential offenders; penal transportation with a term of indentured servitude became the more common punishment. This trend was continued by the Transportation Act 1717 (16 Geo. 3 c.43), which regulated and subsidised the practice, until its use was suspended by the Criminal Law Act 1776. With the American Colonies already in active rebellion, parliament claimed its continuance ""is found to be attended with various inconveniences, particularly by"
"Doily A doily (also doiley, doilie, doyly, doyley) is an ornamental mat, typically made of paper or fabric, and variously used for protecting surfaces or binding flowers, in food service presentation, or as a head covering or clothing ornamentation. It is characterized by openwork, which allows the surface of the underlying object to show through. Doiley was a 17th-century London draper, who made popular ""a woolen stuff, 'at once cheap and genteel,' introduced for summer wear in the latter part of the 17th c."" At the time, it was used as an adjective, as in ""doily stuffs"" or ""doily suit."""
"public humiliation for what the locals considered immoral behaviour, including fornication, drunkenness, wife beating, cursing and Sabbath breaking. The main focus was on the poor and the landlords (""lairds"") and gentry, and their servants, were not subject to the parish's control. The policing system weakened after 1800 and disappeared in most places by the 1850s. After the battle of Culloden the leaders were declared to be traitors, with Jacobite officers executed and many of the rebel soldiers shipped to the colonies as indentured servants. Key laws included the Dress Act 1746, the Act of Proscription 1746, and especially the Heritable"
"about mistreatment that exceeded community norms. However, a servant's contract could be sold or given away by his master. After the servant’s term was complete he became independent and was paid ""freedom dues"". These payments could take the form of land which would give the servant the opportunity to become an independent farmer or a free labourer. As free men with little money they became a political force that stood in opposition to the rich planters. Indentured servitude was a common part of the social landscape in England and Ireland during the 17th century. During the 17th century, British and"
"aged 7–14 years of age"" and ""blacking the face or using a disguise whilst committing a crime"". Many of these offences had been introduced to protect the property of the wealthy classes that emerged during the first half of the 18th century, a notable example being the Black Act of 1723, which created 50 capital offences for various acts of theft and poaching. Crimes eligible for the death penalty included shoplifting and stealing sheep, cattle, and horses, and before abolition of the death penalty for theft in 1832, ""English law was notorious for prescribing the death penalty for a vast"
"the early seventeenth century. Due to the first reformation of manners campaign, the late seventeenth century was marked by the growth in the number of houses of correction, often generically termed ""bridewells"", established and by the passage of numerous statutes prescribing houses of correction as the punishment for specific minor offences. Offenders were typically committed to houses of correction by Justices of the Peace, who used their powers of summary jurisdiction with respect to minor offences. In the Middlesex and Westminster houses of correction in the late seventeenth and early eighteenth centuries the most common charges against prisoners were prostitution,"
"public punishment of wrongdoers, and stocks and a pillory were set at a prominent position at the eastern end of the Guildhall. The stocks were used for the punishment of relatively minor offences such as breaching the regulations on the price of bread, public brawling or incivility to the Mayor; wrongdoers would on occasion also be paraded around the market wearing paper hats bearing details of their offence. The pillory was used for more serious offences such as sedition. On at least two occasions in the late 16th century people convicted of sedition were nailed to the pillory by their"
"17th century that prohibited various activities, recreational as well as commercial, on Sunday (Saturday evening through Sunday night). Sometimes the sale of certain types of merchandise was prohibited, and in some cases all retail and business activity. Contrary to popular belief, there is no evidence that blue laws were originally printed on blue paper. Rather, the word ""blue"" was used in the 17th century as a disparaging reference to rigid moral codes and those who observed them, particularly in ""blue-stocking"", a reference to Oliver Cromwell's supporters in the parliament of 1653. Moreover, although Reverend Peters claimed that the term ""blue"
"its usage would be greatly reduced in the 1850s, but continue until the last arrived in 1868. Transportation Act 1717 The Transportation Act 1717 was an Act of the Parliament of Great Britain that established a regulated, bonded system to transport criminals to colonies in North America for indentured service, as a punishment for those convicted or attained in Great Britain, excluding Scotland. The act, (4 Geo. 1 c. 11) is long titled ""An Act for the further preventing Robbery, Burglary, and other Felonies, and for the more effectual Transportation of Felons, and unlawful Exporters of Wool; and for declaring"
"term of indentured servitude within the general population of British America between the 1610s and 1776. The Transportation Act 1717 made this option available for lesser crimes, or offered it by discretion as a longer-term alternative to the death penalty, which could theoretically be imposed for the growing number of offenses. The substantial expansion of transportation was the first major innovation in eighteenth-century British penal practice. Transportation to America was abruptly suspended by the Criminal Law Act 1776 (16 Geo. 3 c.43) with the start of the American Rebellion. While sentencing to transportation continued, the act instituted a punishment policy"
"Wednesday and Thursday (1717) with a lot of the business being conducted in inns like ""The Sow and Pigs"". “Hogs are kept in considerable numbers, but chiefly by the malt-distillers, for whom they are purchased lean, at a large market, held on Finchley Common, and to which they are brought from Shropshire, and other distant counties : great numbers of fatted hogs are also bought for the hog-butcheries about London; and the bacon cured here is but little inferior to that brought from Wilts and Yorkshire.” (3) After enclosure the market continued. By the 1840s the market had decreased in"
"17th century were of timber (the commonest survival is oak) without upholstery, and when it became customary to cushion them, leather was sometimes employed; subsequently velvet and silk were extensively used, and at a later period cheaper and often more durable materials. . In Abraham Bosse's engraving (""illustration, left""), a stylish Parisian musical party of about 1630 have pulled their low chairs (called ""backstools"" in contemporary England) away from the tapestry-hung walls where they were normally lined up. The padded back panels were covered with needlework panels to suit the tapestries, or in other settings with leather, plain or tooled."
"were divided into wards, areas originally organised for military purposes, each centred on a castle. Kent and Sussex had an intermediate level between their major subdivisions and their hundreds, known as lathes in Kent and rapes in Sussex. Hundreds or their equivalents were divided into tithings and parishes (the only class of these divisions still used administratively), which in turn were divided into townships and manors. In the 17th century the Ossulstone hundred of Middlesex was further divided into four divisions, which replaced the functions of the hundred. The borough and parish were the principal providers of local services throughout"
"children. This was the only place any medical services were provided. During the eighteenth century, British justice used a wide variety of measures to punish crime, including fines, the pillory and whipping. Transportation to The United States of America was often offered, until 1776, as an alternative to the death penalty, which could be imposed for many offenses including pilfering. When they ran out of prisons in 1776 they used old sailing vessels which came to be called ""hulks"" as places of temporary confinement. The most notable reformer was John Howard who, having visited several hundred prisons across England and"
"staple for children, as well as cheap fuel for horses. Oat gruel, however, was considered inferior in quality and was thus unacceptable to share with travelers. Likewise, pulses, legumes and flours made from them were generally reserved for animal feed and for times of food scarcity. Beans, typically a food of the poorer classes, were often eaten in sweet puddings, according to recipe books of the 13th and 14th centuries. Pulses and legumes also did not grow well in wet, acidic soil, and were generally avoided as a crop, but the arrival of the Anglo-Normans, their new method of crop-rotation,"
"important innovation at the time was the Bridewell House of Corrections, located at Bridewell Palace in London, which resulted in the building of other houses of correction. These houses held mostly petty offenders, vagrants, and the disorderly local poor. In these facilities, inmates were given jobs, and through prison labor they were taught how to work for a living. By the end of the 17th century, houses of correction were absorbed into local prison facilities under the control of the local justice of the peace. England used penal transportation of convicted criminals (and others generally young and poor) for a"
"appearance. They were often narrow, with four stories, gabled and crow stepped, but often built in stone and harl. They sometimes had ground floor arcades or piazzas. Most wooden thatched houses have not survived, but stone houses of the period can be seen in Edinburgh at Lady Stair's House, Acheson House and the six-story Gladstone's Land, an early example of the tendency to build upward in the increasingly crowded towns, producing horizontally divided tenements. In the eighteenth century there was a conscious attempt to improve agriculture among the gentry and nobility. The Society of Improvers was founded in 1723, including"
"varied in size. Smaller hoops were worn in everyday settings and larger hoops for more formal occasions, which later widened to as much as three feet to either side at the French court of Marie Antoinette. The shift (chemise) or smock had full sleeves early in the period and tight, elbow-length sleeves in the 1740s as the sleeves of the gown narrowed. Some women wore drawers (underpants) in England. For instance, as early as 1676 inventory of Hillard Veren had ""3 pair of women drawers"". Although, they are not common in English or New England inventories during the 17th and"
"and the militia were not actually used. During the civil wars of the mid-17th century, the Lord Lieutenant played an even more important role in mobilising his county either for king or for Parliament. The day-to-day business of government was in the hands of several dozen justices of the peace (JP). They handled all the real routine police administrative functions, and were paid through a modest level of fees. Other local officials included constables, church-wardens, mayors, and city aldermen. The JP duties involved a great deal of paperwork – primarily in Latin – and attracted a surprisingly strong cast of"
"& Rundell as part-exchange for a new dinner service for the Duke of Norfolk in the early 19th century, and they it sold to William Lowther, 1st Earl of Lonsdale, adding his cypher ""discreetly"". The Ashmolean Museum in Oxford has two significant examples, the Acton toilet service (14 pieces, silver, London, 1699–1700), and the Treby toilet service (29 pieces, London, Paul de Lamerie, 1724–1725), for which the bill survives, giving interesting information. Toilet service A toilet service is a set of objects for use at the dressing table. The term is usually reserved for large luxury sets from the 17th"
"take the poor, crippled and dirty wretches before a magistrate, followed by half the boys and idle fellows of the town."" Some lock-ups also had stocks, ducking stools, pillories, or pinfolds alongside them and the origins of the 18th century village lock-up evolved from much earlier examples of holding cells and devices. The ""Oxford English Dictionary"", for example, refers to a round-house as a place of detention for arrested persons and dates its first written usage to 1589. The village lock-up fell out of use when the County Police Act was introduced in 1839 and local police stations were built"
"of lace and embroidery as appropriate to their station, believing that the various ranks of society were divinely ordained and should be reflected even in the most modest dress. William Perkins wrote ""...that apparel is necessary for Scholar, the Tradesman, the Countryman, the Gentleman; which serveth not only to defend their bodies from cold, but which belongs also to the place, degree, calling, and condition of them all"" (""Cases of Conscience"", 1616). Some Puritans rejected the long, curled hair as effeminate and favoured a shorter fashion which led to the nickname Roundheads for adherents of the English Parliamentary party but"
"trade (and rather less equitable piracy), the Spanish milled dollar became the most common coin within the English colonies. During the American war of independence and the Napoleonic wars, Bank of England notes were legal tender, and their value floated relative to gold. The Bank also issued silver tokens to alleviate the shortage of silver coins. In 1816, the gold standard was adopted officially, with the silver standard reduced to 66 shillings (66/-, £3 6s), rendering silver coins a ""token"" issue (i.e. not containing their value in precious metal). In 1817, the sovereign was introduced, valued at 20 shillings. Struck"
"firearms for poaching. At the time, hunting was an exclusive noble privilege with little to no legal option for participation of common folk. Despite tough sentences of 12 years of hard labor or death introduced by a 1727 enactment, poaching with use of firearms remained widespread to the point that a 1732 Royal Gamekeeping Rules noted that gamekeepers were in constant danger of being shot by poachers. A 1754 enactment introduced up to one year imprisponment for ""carrying"" of daggers and pocket pistols (""""tercerols"""") as well as tough sentencing for cases of attacking or resisting law enforcement with use of"
"uniform to its scholars. It was designed to emphasise the low status of the children, and was based on the clerical cassock and was russet in colour, but was changed after one year to be blue. Their petticoats were yellow as it was supposed to deter vermin from breeding- these were changed to whites in 1865. Breeches were not worn until 1706; when they were provided for the sick and weakly and later for all. Other children were not so lucky, village children might get a basic education in reading, writing and reckoning courtesy of their parish church school. Others"
"four parts. More tune books appeared and the repertory further expanded, although there were still fewer than in counterpart churches in England and the US. More congregations abandoned lining out. In the period 1742–45 a committee of the General Assembly worked on a series of paraphrases, borrowing from Watts, Philip Doddridge (1702–51) and other Scottish and English writers, which were published as ""Translations and Paraphrases, in verse, of several passages of Sacred Scripture"" (1725). These were never formally adopted, as the Moderates, then dominant in the church, thought they were too evangelical. A corrected version was licensed for private use"
"240. Its use in medieval England and Scotland is documented by Stevenson and Goodare, although Goodare notes that it was sometimes avoided by using numbers such as ""seven score"". The Assize of Weights and Measures, one of England's statutes of uncertain date from , shows both the short and long hundred in competing use: the hundred of kippers is formed by six score fish and the hundred of hemp canvas and linen cloth is formed by six score ells but the hundred of pounds to be used in measuring bulk goods is five times twenty and the hundred of fresh"