Life and Culture of the Elizabethan Era

1
Life and Culture of the Elizabethan Era

• Vanessa Languis

2
Overview
3
Queen Elizabeth I

• Reign 1558-1603
• Last of the Tutors
• The Virgin Queen, never married

4
English Renaissance

• 1520s to 1620
• Dominated by literature and art
• Key figures include
• John Milton
• Sir Francis Bacon
• John Donne
• Christopher Marlowe
• William Shakespeare

5
Religion

• Favored religion determined by ruler
• Catholic and Protestant
• Small percent of Jews - stereotyped and
  prejudiced

6
Gender

• Men and women not equal
• "Women in her greatest perfection was made to
  serve and obey man. - John Knox
• Women were forbidden to go to school, vote, or be
  on stage

7
Clothing

• Elizabethan Sumptuary Clothing Laws

8
Clothing
What class do you think this outfit belongs to?
9
Food and Drink

• Unclean water drank ale or mead instead
• Dairy products and food from the ground eaten by
  the poor
• Sugar and spices were expensive
• Main diet consisted of bread, meat, and fish

10
Health and Wellness

• Lack of sanitation
• Open sewers as community garbage cans
• Epidemics of Bubonic Plague, measles, smallpox,
  scarlet fever, diphtheria

• Many cures just superstition
• Putting roasted onions in ears, rubbing eyes with
  tail of black tomcat
• Use of mercury

11
Theatre

• Open-air playhouses
• The Globe (1599-1613)
• Closed by epidemics, or burned down by accidents

12
Other Entertainment

• Sports - hunting, archery, wrestling, fencing,
  hammer-throwing
• Bear-baiting, cock-fighting, dog-fighting
• Music - lute, harpsichord,drums, bells, flute,
  violin, viol
• Feasts/banquets, jousting, dances, fairs

13
Crime and Punishment

• Severe/cruel and unusual
• Public
• Hanging
• The stocks
• Whipping post
• Punishment often fit the crime

14
Review
15
Review
16
For More Information

• http//elizabethan.org/
• http//www.elizabethan-era.org.uk/
• http//www.bardweb.net/england.html
• http//falcon.jmu.edu/ramseyil/england.htm
• Information used for educational purposes