What was England like during the Elizabethan era?
Elizabethan era. England during this period had a centralised, well-organised, and effective government, largely a result of the reforms of Henry VII and Henry VIII, as well as Elizabeth's harsh punishments for any dissenters. Economically, the country began to benefit greatly from the new era of trans-Atlantic trade,...
Why did people look forward to holidays in the Elizabethan era?
During the Elizabethan era, people looked forward to holidays because opportunities for leisure were limited, with time away from hard work being restricted to periods after church on Sundays. For the most part, leisure and festivities took place on a public church holy day. Every month had its own holiday, some of which are listed below:
How did people dress in Elizabethan era?
The Elizabethan Era is known for the elaborate outfits that men and women wore to court and elite social functions. Extremely detailed portraits of the wealthy have given us a clear idea of how they dressed. The wealthy wore furs and jewels, and the cloth of their garments featured extravagant embroidery.
What was the high culture of the Elizabethan Renaissance?
With William Shakespeare at his peak, as well as Christopher Marlowe and many other playwrights, actors and theatres constantly busy, the high culture of the Elizabethan Renaissance was best expressed in its theatre. Historical topics were especially popular, not to mention the usual comedies and tragedies.
What was the Elizabethan era?
The Elizabethan Era. The reign of Elizabeth I spanned the years 1558 to 1603. Her lengthy reign is considered by many to be a Golden Age. In the Elizabethan era, England and the wider world saw much change. Elizabeth’s England saw the Religious Settlement, challenges to it and the ongoing Protestant Reformation.
What was the impact of Elizabeth's reign on the world?
Elizabeth’s reign began at time when the population was growing. The growth of international trade saw more families moving into towns, cities and ports. With the growth of trade came the increased number of both the number of seasonal workers and the number of people with some disposable income. At the same time , the country faced a poverty issue and the growth of arts, culture, literature and interest in science.
What were the issues that Elizabeth faced?
Elizabeth and her advisors were then faced with several very large issues to contend with at the beginning of her reign. As her reign progressed, her lack of marriage and subsequent lack of a suitable heir to the throne became a more pressing issue. This mass of issues, conflicts, ideas and developments combine to make the Elizabethan Era one ...
What was the threat of conflict in Elizabeth's era?
Threat of Conflict. However, Elizabeth’s Era began with foreign affairs as a concern as well. The voyagers of discovery were exploring the new world. A variety of trades, including that of slaves, was growing in importance. These brought economic and diplomatic clashes with other leading powers.
What was Elizabeth's government?
Elizabeth inherited a government that was financially exhausted and a country torn apart by religious divides. With religion causing war overseas and plots, revolts and general disruption at home, it was clear that an early priority would be establishing a strong government and tackling religious disagreements.
Who was Elizabeth's father?
The issue of succession had posed a great deal of issues for Elizabeth’s father, Henry VIII and the legitimcacy of children had been questioned during the wars of the roses. The Privy Council and population in general were well aware of the problems that an unclear succession could bring.
Why did the Scottish lords invite English troops to Scotland?
At roughly the same time, Scottish lords who were Protestant revolted. They invited English troops to Scotland to support their claim. Scotland was at the time under the rule of Mary’s mother, Mary of Guise. The Regents untimely death brought to a settlement of sorts between the English, French and Scottish nobles.
What is the Elizabethan era?
The Elizabethan era is the epoch in the Tudor period of the history of England during the reign of Queen Elizabeth I (1558–1603) . Historians often depict it as the golden age in English history. The symbol of Britannia (a female personification of Great Britain) was first used in 1572, and often thereafter, to mark the Elizabethan age as ...
How did Elizabethan England benefit from the Spanish?
On balance, it can be said that Elizabeth provided the country with a long period of general if not total peace and generally increased prosperity due in large part to stealing from Spanish treasure ships , raiding settlements with low defenses, and selling African slaves. Having inherited a virtually bankrupt state from previous reigns, her frugal policies restored fiscal responsibility. Her fiscal restraint cleared the regime of debt by 1574, and ten years later the Crown enjoyed a surplus of £300,000. Economically, Sir Thomas Gresham 's founding of the Royal Exchange (1565), the first stock exchange in England and one of the earliest in Europe, proved to be a development of the first importance, for the economic development of England and soon for the world as a whole. With taxes lower than other European countries of the period, the economy expanded; though the wealth was distributed with wild unevenness, there was clearly more wealth to go around at the end of Elizabeth's reign than at the beginning. This general peace and prosperity allowed the attractive developments that "Golden Age" advocates have stressed.
How old were English women when they married?
Over ninety percent of English women (and adults, in general) entered marriage at the end of the 1500s and beginning of the 1600s, at an average age of about 25–26 years for the bride and 27–28 years for the groom, with the most common ages being 25-26 for grooms and 23 for brides. Among the nobility and gentry, the average was around 19-21 for brides and 24-26 for grooms. Many city and townswomen married for the first time in their thirties and forties and it was not unusual for orphaned young women to delay marriage until the late twenties or early thirties to help support their younger siblings, and roughly a quarter of all English brides were pregnant at their weddings.
What were the positive aspects of England?
England in this era had some positive aspects that set it apart from contemporaneous continental European societies. Torture was rare, since the English legal system reserved torture only for capital crimes like tre ason —though forms of corporal punishment, some of them extreme, were practised. The persecution of witches began in 1563, and hundreds were executed, although there was nothing like the frenzy on the Continent. Mary had tried her hand at an aggressive anti-Protestant Inquisition and was hated for it; it was not to be repeated. Nevertheless, more Catholics were persecuted, exiled, and burned alive than under Queen Mary.
Who were the musicians of the Elizabethan era?
Important composers included William Byrd (1543–1623), John Dowland (1563–1626) Thomas Campion (1567–1620) , and Robert Johnson (c. 1583–c. 1634).
What was the Golden Age?
This "golden age" represented the apogee of the English Renaissance and saw the flowering of poetry, music and literature. The era is most famous for its theatre, as William Shakespeare and many others composed plays that broke free of England's past style of theatre.
How long did Elizabethan people live?
The life expectancy, or average life span, of an Elizabethan was only 42 years, but it was much lower among the urban poor. English people of all classes feared the arrival of gangs of beggars and drifters in their towns and villages, bringing crime and immoral behavior into an otherwise hardworking and orderly society.
What is the Elizabethan era?
Historians studying the Elizabethan Era, the period associated with the reign of Queen Elizabeth I (1558–1603) that is often considered to be a golden age in English history, have focused mainly on the lives of the era's wealthy nobles. (Nobles were the elite men and women who held social titles.)
Why did Elizabethan students use hornbooks?
Elizabethan petty school students were usually given hornbooks to help them learn their letters. These simple textbooks consisted of a piece of paper containing text that was covered with a thin, transparent (see-through) sheet made from an animal's horn to protect the paper from wear and tear.
Why did the Elizabethans not drink water?
Elizabethans rarely drank water because it was impure and could lead to sickness. Instead, people of all ages and classes drank wine, flat beer, or weak ale, even with their morning meal. Both classes ate bread, but not the same type. The wealthy usually ate a refined white wheat bread called manchet, while the poor were more likely to eat black or brown breads made from rye or barley.
How much of the Elizabethan population was poor?
The nobles held great power and frequently lived colorful and extravagant lives, but they made up only about 3 percent of the population. Although the vast majority of the Elizabethan population was quite poor, few firsthand historical records of their daily lives have survived.
What percentage of the population of England lived in rural areas?
About 95 percent of the population of England lived in these rural districts. The peasant farmers performed almost all of the labor. They farmed the land: about one-third of the land solely for the lord; a portion to support the local church; and the rest for their own use.
How did England's farming economy change?
England's farming economy was forever changed by the outbreak of a terrible plague, or infectious disease, that arrived on the European continent in 1348, killing more than one-fourth of the population in a few years.
Why were playhouses closed in 1593?
All playhouses around London were forced to close for a year in 1593 due to a plague that hit the City. When they reopened, the first performances of Shakespeare’s Titus Andronicus and The Merchant of Venice were given at the Rose, and The Comedy of Errors at the hall of Gray’s Inn. A play performed at the Rose in 1597 was considered so seditious by the government that all playhouses were closed again for a year as punishment.
Why were playhouses allowed to operate in the city?
During the reign of James I, who succeeded Queen Elizabeth in 1603, the playhouses pressed to be allowed to operate in the City to prevent the inconvenience of theatre-goers having to cross the river. Thames watermen gained much of their income from the carrying of passengers and in 1613 petitioned against any relaxation of the regulations. Their plea was met by a more successful counter-petition from the players. Playhouses subsequently transferred across the river and away from Southwark.
Where was James Burbage's playhouse?
James Burbage’s company had been performing at the Bull Tavern, within the City on Bishopsgate but needed to look elsewhere for a venue. His brother-in-law, John Brayne, a wealthy member of the Grocers’ Company, had in 1567 built a performance venue for strolling players at the Red Lion at Whitechapel but it only functioned for a year. In 1576, together with Burbage, he erected the Theatre (from the Greek, and later Latin theatrum) at Holywell, England’s first purpose-built playhouse since Roman times. It was of timber-framed construction on a masonry plinth. Designed in a circular or octagonal fashion inspired by the inns in which plays were being performed, it established the shape of playhouses for the following 50 years or more. The Theatre probably held between six to eight hundred people in the audience, with many standing in the open central pit around which were more expensive banked seating areas. Burbage also had an interest in another London theatre, based in the former refectory of the Blackfriars monastery and leased out for use by child actors.
How many plays were performed at the Globe?
About fifteen of Shakespeare’s plays were first performed at the Globe including Romeo and Juliet, King Lear, Macbeth, Pericles, Othello and the Taming of the Shrew. Hamlet was first performed at the Globe in 1601 with Richard Burbage in the title role.
What was the most popular theatrical tradition in England during the Middle Ages?
The dominant theatrical tradition in England during the Middle Ages was ‘mystery’ plays. These were moralistic dramas based on the Bible and usually performed in churches or on temporary stages at seasonal fairs by amateur actors or members of guilds. After the Reformation they were viewed as Catholic mysticism and therefore fell out of favour. In their place came secular productions, normally performed by strolling players at inns.
Did Burbage and Brayne have censorship?
Being outside of the City’s jurisdiction, Brayne and Burbage were able to hold performances of plays at the Theatre without censorship. Nevertheless, they were the subject of occasional criticism from those who believed it attracted London’s lowlife. William Fleetwood, the Recorder of London, wrote to the Queen’s minister Lord Burghley on the subject in 1584.
How many lines did actors have to deliver in a week?
Leading actors with principle parts would have needed to deliver around 5,000 lines per week. Mornings were spent learning the lines for the afternoon performance and junior actors probably did not have the benefit of a rehearsal or even reading the entire script. If a particular play was not successful on its first night it was normally dropped from the repertoire, whereas the more successful were revived on a continual basis.
What were the jobs of the Elizabethan era?
People living in the villages, during the Elizabethan era, mostly worked as peasants and wage labourers. However, there were also other jobs that existed. Wool trade had become popular and it provided jobs to many men. People worked as salesmen or apprentices.
What was the life like in Elizabethan villages?
The village life during the Elizabethan varied depending upon the season. It was the busiest during the harvest and haymaking periods. People in the village areas resided and worked in intimate family units. Certain specific skills were passed on from father to son thereby resulting in making the village self-reliant.
What time did the Elizabethan workers work?
As per the Elizabethan Statute of Artificers, the labourers worked between 5 am to 7 or 8 pm between March to September and from dawn to dusk between Septembers to March.
What was the village life like in the Elizabethan era?
The village life during the Elizabethan era was a narrow one. Everything which a common man needed was readily available to him and hence did not require him to travel to different places to satisfy his daily needs. Since money was in shortage, usually barter exchange took place. The ‘Village Green’ was situated in the centre of the village which was a recreational centre.
What were the activities of women during the Elizabethan era?
So the various activities which women performed were looking after children, cooking, making preserves and preparing rushes for lighting. Apart from that, women were also expected to look after small animals like geese or chickens etc and were also to have knowledge about various herbs and the medicinal use of each of them.
What were the peasants in England?
The Peasants were the farmworkers who worked in the fields of the wealthy landowners. The rural areas of London contained the majority of the population of England. These rural peasants did most of the works in the farms in exchange or a meagre wage.
What is land enclosure?
Land Enclosure was a process in which the traditional open field paved the way to create larger and more profitable farming units which required lesser people to work on them. The transition from village era to the town era commenced from the Elizabethan era itself.
What was the food of the Elizabethan era?
Food and drink in the Elizabethan era was remarkably diverse with much more meat and many more varieties of it being eaten by those who could afford it than is the case today. Storage of food was still a problem and so fresh produce was grown at home or regularly acquired at local markets. Thick sauces with strong flavours were popular and made even more varied as ingredients became more readily available from Asia. Pastries, cakes, and other sweet goodies of all kinds were greatly appreciated and often eaten between the savoury courses. A healthy distrust of water meant that ale and beer were the most popular drinks, with wine a welcome addition for the better off. While some commoners struggled, as ever, to feed their families, especially in the long winters of the 16th century CE, foreign visitors did often remark on how well-fed the Elizabethan peasantry was and how overfed the rich were compared to their continental neighbours.
Why did the Elizabethans drink beer?
Elizabethans were aware that water harboured disease (typhoid, cholera, and dysentery) and for this reason drank beer or ale made from malted barley, water, and added spices.
What was the most popular food during Lent?
Meat dishes on offer for those who could afford it included beef, veal, pork, lamb, mutton, and poultry such as chicken, duck, goose and pigeon. Game meat included rabbit, venison, woodcock, and many other types of birds from pheasants to cranes. Game was often protected by forest laws with strict punishments for poachers. Not much of an animal was ever wasted as dishes were made using trotters, feet, and heads. Fish was also a common dish and eaten wholly in place of meat during Lent (Protestant Elizabethan England kept up the practice to support fishermen). Common fish included cod, mackerel, and herring, with more expensive fish being salmon, trout, and pike amongst many others. Other seafood included eels, crustaceans, and shellfish (especially mussels, crab, shrimp, and oysters). Seafood was cheap in villages and towns on the coast or near rivers but was a luxury only for the rich in inland areas.
What did the rich eat for breakfast?
The meal was not particularly different from those later in the day and might include porridge, bread, cheese, fruit and meat. The poorer classes would have just grabbed any leftovers from the night before or a chunk of bread and butter and been off to start their working day. The two main meals for everyone remained around 11 am to 12 noon and again from 6 to 9 pm. Snacks of bread, cheese, and cold food washed down with a cup of ale would have been taken any time in-between.
What was the British Museum's meal table?
The British Museum (CC BY-NC-SA) A meal table was set with a large wooden plate (trencher) which had a hollowed-out centre for the food and sometimes a little dip in the corner for placing salt, a bowl for food, a bowl for waste, and a large-bowled spoon. The diners brought their own knives.
When was potato first introduced to England?
Other common vegetables included spinach, artichokes, asparagus, carrots, and lettuce. In the 1580s CE , the potato had been introduced to England from the New World by Sir Walter Raleigh (c. 1552-1618 CE), but it remained an expensive delicacy and was yet to realise its full potential.
Did England use forks?
Advertisement. Forks were not yet used in England but they were not needed as most food was already cut up before serving. Larger households stored food in giant meal chests which were airtight and used to keep such goods as grain and preserved meat and fish.
