M&D & R&G & that double gallows

[alice wellintown]

Land Monopoly
Upon this fair scene came the new land monopolist who was soon to grind down
the old tenants into industrial slavery. Outhwaite continues the picture: “Those
from whose bondage the serfs had escaped, the feudal holders of one-third of
English soil, determined to re-establish serfdom. The free land they saw was the
basis of freedom, and this they proceeded to add to their estates. Rapidly the
transformation of the Golden Age took place as the great estates grew. The
peasants rose in rebellion, but were crushed by the nobles, aided by foreign
mercenaries of despotic kings. To these estates in the time of Henry VIII were
added the monastery lands, held largely in trust for the people. The guilds were
broken up, and the unemployed man appeared. Slavery with all its pains and
penalties, the branding iron and the gallows, was established, and in
the course of
50 years the Golden Age had passed away. Soon after, in the reign of Elizabeth,
the first Poor Law was placed on the statute book.” The same consequences
followed in other lands.


http://www.strobertbellarmine.net/books/Harrington--Cath_Cap_Comm.pdf