Week One- Life in Elizabethan England.

WEEK 1 - SETTING THE SCENE – LIFE IN ELIZABETHAN ENGLAND

QUESTION: What sense do you get of what life was like in Elizabethan England? Try to include information on: The population, entertainment, religion, superstition, money, jobs, medicine, theatre.

A village of Elizabethan England 

Elizabethan England was led by Queen Elizabeth 1^st and dominated by the rich and therefore powerful, however the majority of English were not part of the rich and many were poor and faced constant hardships, the poor that lives in the country lived in dark thatched cottages that were filled with smoke from the fire as they couldn’t afford candles, they were also cramped with often 7 or 8 people residing in one cottage sleeping on the floor or if they were lucky thin straw mattresses. The rooms were cold as the windows were not glazed and ‘their flesh was eaten with vermin’. If you lived in the country you were either a yeoman ( a land owner) a husbandman or a labourer.  They spent the majority of their days outside and labours worked from dawn to sunset for four pence a day, this money could cover basic food supplies however you would not be able to pay for rent or any other nessecitys. Life was hard as a poor person in Elizabethan England, the famine of 1597 was the worst years and as such the law was passed for taxes so the poorest could feed themselves. 

In the towns there were markets that sold all the supplies to the people. There would be a market day in which the population of the town would double however at night the towns were a dangerous place to be, crimes were high with half the population under 22, people were more hot-headed due to lack of life experience.  Penalties for crime was harsh with death as the main punishment, hanging at the gallows was most common and was used for entertainment to the public.  

Death and disease was common in Elizabethan England. Most children have lost one parent by the time they are an adult and most adult’s loose half of their children. On average out of 63 babies baptised 43 will be buried. In 1563 17000 Londoners die of the plague carried by rats attracted to the poor sanitation in the city.  The plague was a death sentence in the Elizabethan era with some digging their own graves and laying in them, physicians tried to sell medicines to cure disease however most were just a mix of herbs which would do nothing to help.

To the rich however sanitation was important, they used rainwater to clean their bodies and changed their clothes daily. They kept their breath fresh with aniseed and sulphuric acid.

Elizabeth 1^st was a protestant women, there was many Catholics in England that plotted against her as they didn’t want a protestant leader, these plotters when caught could be punished by any means  but were generally hung drawn and quartered.

Queen Elizabeth 1st wearing latest fashions 

London was the main city in England and many travellers came to London. There was a shortage of space however so they had to build timber houses often 7 stories high. The main attractions were Tower Bridge and the tower of London which were impressive and grand, another attraction was the globe theatre. In 1599 a third often middle class would visit the globe to see one of Shakespeare’s plays once a month.  There was an audience of 2000 for each performance.

Fashion was also important during the Elizabethan times as it showed your status, only the rich wore colours such as red and velvets. They wore ruffs around their necks to show wealth, fashion was constantly changing with fashion dolls being sent from Europe, fashion became more lavish throughout the era which displeased puritans.

Overall you get a sense that Elizabethan England was much divided. On one hand there was the very rich and noble who could afford many new luxuries such as sugar and horse drawn carriages and then there were the poor who lived on bread and milk and walked everywhere. There was the Catholics and Protestants who disliked each other, there was also a sense of development and change in the Elizabethan era with theatre and new fashions and also danger with the plauge and so called 'witches'