Life in Shakespearean England

1
Life in Shakespearean England
2
Services and Occupations
3
Gaming

• Card games and dice games were popular and played
  at local taverns.
• A game called Tables was also popular . It was
  much like backgammon.
• Bear baiting involved tying a bear to a tree or
  pole and then allowing the village dogs to attack
  it.
• Executions were considered sporting events . They
  were held in the open. Criminals were hanged
  then pulled down and had their intestines cut
  out. They were then beheaded.

4
Money

• All coins are silver or gold, including the
  pennies.
• There is no paper money..
• The basic denominations are pounds, shillings,
  and pence.
• 12 pence make a shilling
• 20 shillings make a pound
• The Coins In Your Pocket
• A sovereign is a gold coin worth 1 pound (but try
  to think of it as 20 shillings).
• The angel is one of the most common gold coins in
  circulation. The angel is worth 10 shillings (1/2
  pound).

5
Religion

• The official religion of England is the Church of
  England. This means that the people were
  Protestants. These people were called Anglicans.
• Being a Roman Catholic was not a crime but the
  authorities made it difficult for Catholics to
  practice their religion. Priests were not allowed
  to preside over Catholic services, for example.
  In 1570 the Pope decreed that it would not be a
  sin to assassinate Queen Elizabeth because she
  was a Protestant ruler.
• Everyone was required to attend an Anglican
  prayer service once a month or pay a fine of
  approximately 12 pence.
• People used their faith to explain much of what
  they did not understand in the world.
• Anyone who disagreed with your religious beliefs
  or your God was called an atheist.

6
Betrothal Weddings

• A betrothal is an engagement to be married. Both
  people joined hands and the prospective groom
  placed a ring on the womans right hand. It was
  moved to the left hand at the actual wedding.
• The contract was sealed with a kiss.
• It was luckiest to have the wedding before noon.
• Bridesmaids made the floral decorations for the
  guests and the garland that the bride carried
  during the ceremony. After the ceremony she wore
  the garland in her hair.
• The average age of marriage was 27 for men and 24
  for women, but girls could legally marry at 12
  years of age.
• The mens family was required to pay money to the
  girls family before the wedding. This money
  would be used by the girls family to help
  support her in the event of the husbands death.

7
Children Childhood

• A little boy is dressed in skirts, pretty much
  like his sisters, until the age of six or seven,
  when he got his first pair of breeches or breech
  hose.
• This event, called breeching, is celebrated with
  a party. The boy is now said to have been
  breeched.."
• Infants are wrapped in swaddling bands for the
  first 6 to 12 months. It was considered unhealthy
  to give them the free use of their limbs.
• Bastards cannot legally own or inherit property,
  hold public office, marry, or any number of
  ordinary things.
• Hugh Rhodes's Book of Nurture (1577) provides
  lessons in the behavior expected from children
  and, presumably, from properly brought up adults.
  
• Reverence thy father and mother as Nature
  requires. .
• Rise early in the morning to be holy, healthy,
  and wealthy.
• Say your morning prayers.

8
Children Childhood Part 2

• At dinner, press not thyself too high sit in the
  place appointed thee.
• Sup not loud of thy pottage.
• Dip not thy meat in the saltcellar, but take it
  with a knife.
• Belch near no man's face with a corrupt fumosity.
  
• Eat small morsels of meat eat softly, and drink
  mannerly.
• Corrupt not thy lips with eating, as a pig doth.
  
• Scratch not thy head with thy fingers, nor spit
  you over the table.
• If your teeth be putrefied, it is not right to
  touch meat that others eat.
• Wipe thy mouth when thou shalt drink ale or wine
  on thy napkin only, not on the table cloth.
• Blow not your nose in the napkin where ye wipe
  your hand.
• Chew with your mouth closed.
• In church, kneel, sit, or stand devoutly. Do not
  cast your eyes about or chatter with women,
  priests, or clerks.

9
Food

• The Elizabethans knew very little of healthy
  eating.
• The better off classes ate huge amounts of meat
  but few fruits or vegetables. This made them
  suffer from scurvy which is a deficiency of
  Vitamin C. Tomatoes were considered to be
  poisonous.
• Poorer people relied on the rabbits and pigeons
  they could catch.
• The main source of food was bread. The wealthy
  could afford white bread while the poor bought
  brown bread baked brown barley or rye.
• Since it was not easy to keep animals over the
  winter, most had to be slaughtered in the autumn
  and the meat preserved by slating or smoking.
  Canning and refrigeration were unheard of.
• Most food was eaten with the hands.
• Beer was the most popular drink.

10
Food
Elizabethan cookery is generally sweeter than
today's meats are often cooked with fruits,
producing a mix of sweet and savory. Chocolate
has not yet come in, except for medicinal
purposes. The Swiss have not yet added milk and
sugar to it (and neither has anyone else). If you
have ever tasted chocolate (which is very
doubtful) it was a thin and bitter drink.
Almond is the most common flavoring in sweets,
followed by cinnamon, clove, and saunders
(sandalwood). Coffee and tea are period in the
strictest sense, but not in use in Europe, except
medicinally, and even then are very, very rare.
Sugar is available, but is rather more
expensive than honey, since it has to be
imported. Grown as sugar cane, it comes as a 3-
or 4-pound square or conical loaf, and has to be
grated or pounded into useful form.
Woman forced to wear a gossips girdle as
punishment.
Life Expectancy was about 48 years at birth.
11
Snack Foods

• Marzipan. Almond paste that is sweetened,
  colored, and made into shapes, often very
  elaborate ones.
• Gingerbread - Both the crisp, cookie kind and the
  cake. The familiar gingerbread men are called
  gingerbread husbands. The cake form may be
  German.
• Fruit pies, sweetened with sugar, thickened with
  almond milk. .
• Puddings - This means more than just dessert.
• Daryole (cheesecakes) and custards.
• Pretzels and bagels are popular
• .
• Sweets are commonly flavored with ginger, nutmeg,
  mace, cloves, anise, coriander, rose water,
  sherry (sack), almond and/or saffron

12
Titles and Forms of Address
Sir goes only with a given name. To address a
knight using only his surname, say Master (see
examples below). Lord implies a peerage (baron
or better). Not every knight is a lord not every
lord is a knight. It is best not to say My Lord
to anyone not so entitled. Peers sign their
names and refer to themselves and each other by
their territorial titles, such as "Henry
Southampton", "Francis Bedford", or "Thomas
Rutland." Every woman married to a knight or
better can be called my lady. . Only the eldest
son of an earl is called lord (because he takes
his father's secondary title and is one, by
courtesy) though all an earl's daughters are
styled lady. They retain this courtesy even if
they marry a commoner. Your Grace belongs
properly only to royal blood the queen, dukes,
and visiting princesses. It does not apply to
Earls or Countesses in the 16th century.
13
Science and Health
Everything in the world is composed of four
elements    Earth, Air, Fire and Water In the
human body, the humours are the natural bodily
fluids. They correspond to the elements and have
various qualities cold, dry, hot, and moist. .
Doctors bleed their patients to restore this
balance of fluids. Bleeding is performed with a
lancet and a bowl, not with leeches (ick). In
fact, leeching is a separate type of operation.
Blood is usually drawn from the arm or the
foot. Someone with a natural abundance of
choler is said to be choleric, or naturally angry
and quick-tempered. The liver, not the heart,
is considered the source of the emotions,
although the heart is the source of love. The
stomach is the seat of courage.
14
Honor Dueling
Calling someone a liar, or otherwise impugning
his honor, his courage, or his name is a
challenge in itself. Dueling is illegal, so you
take the fight out of the way, and sometimes out
of the country (any war-zone will do) If you are
angry enough, you may not wait for a duel, or
even for a fair fight. One (or some) of your men
may lie in ambush. People get killed this way all
the time.
15
Classical Education
The ability to read and write was not as
widespread as today. Rich children were often
sent to boarding schools to study music and
Latin, but most were taught at home by
tutors. Riding, shooting and hawking (catching
birds) were important skills which had to be
mastered to become a gentlemen. Other children
often attended a parish school associated with a
local church. Most schools charged fees. Few
girls attended school. Much of the schoolwork
consisted of memorizing Bible passages. Students
were beaten with a birch whip for disobeying
rules.
The Seven Liberal Arts This is what a person
studied at a university. Grammar Rhetoric
Logic Arithmetic Geometry Music Astronomy
16
Keeping Christmas
The Christmas season or Christmastide ran the
twelve days from 24 December to 6 January that
is, Christmas Eve to Epiphany or Twelfth Day. The
evening of that day is called Twelfth Night, and
is the last party of the season. Hospitality is
the rule. All who can do so furnish their tables
with all the meats,, pies, custards, and so on
that they can afford, and more. Gifts are given
at New Year's, not on Christmas day. Although
the official year starts in March, the midwinter
custom is too entrenched to change. The
decorations about any house include holly, ivy,
box, yew, bay, laurel, holm oak, and in fact,
anything still green. Entertainments in the
season include mummer's plays of various kinds,
often incorporating music and morris dancing
(also performed at May Day). The story of St
George and the Dragon is especially popular.
Food. The most popular Christmas dinner is brawn
(roast pork) with mustard or roast beef. Also
popular are mince pies, frumenty, plum porridge,
and a Christmas pie of neat's tongue, eggs,
sugar, lemon orange peel, spices Communal
Activities. In many homes, they play Flapdragon
or Snapdragon. You take turns picking raisins out
of a dish of flaming brandy and popping them into
your mouth. Try not to get burnt! Wager on each
person's chances of success.