9th Parliament of Elizabeth I

[1] The first day of Parliament, 5 November, was opened by Sir Francis Bacon, MP for Ipswich, with a motion regarding farming, the raising of livestock, and depopulation.

He introduced two bills to reduce enclosed pasture land in favour of arable food-producing land, which were debated and eventually passed in a heavily redrafted form, as the Houses of Husbandry Act 1597 and the Tillage Act 1597.

Other bills designed to keep down the price of corn and to restrict the wearing of elaborate clothing were rejected.

[1] Sir Henry Finch, MP for Canterbury, opened a discussion about the "miserable estate" of the poor in the country, along with the increase in vagrancy.

[1] Taxation bills to support the war against Spain at home and on the continent and to deal with chronic unrest in Ireland were approved.