Plague Vagrancy Laws Punished Idleness

The Ordinance of Laborers 1349, after the drastic reduction of the workforce in England and Wales following the Black Death, made idleness a crime designed to drive able-bodied people back into employment. Legally, a vagrant was someone who could work but refused to, having no fixed place to live or lawful means of support, and subsisting on begging. The punishment for offenders was branding or flogging. Officials distinguished them from the “impotent poor,” who could not work because of sickness or age. These men had to get beggar licenses under the Vagabonds Act 1530. The able-bodied vagrants were whipped and imprisoned.

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