WEEK 1 - SETTING THE SCENE – LIFE IN ELIZABETHAN ENGLAND

The Time Traveller's Guide to Elizabethan England is a documentary that first aired on the BBC in 2013. It gives insights into life in Elizabethan England. Below is a link to a series of clips on the BBC website which you should watch to gain an insight into life in this period. As you watch the clips and make notes bear in mind the question below.

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.

Life for the poor

In the countryside in Elizabethan England many people were poor, and in that time period the chances were higher that you would end up being part of the poor population. They lived on heaths, hills and wasteland, it was known to be a dangerous place, always busy and noisy and there was no roads across them only muddy paths, and at the time they were seen as horrific and dirty, anything but beautiful.  Dotting around the countryside were small hut life homes, which usually accommodated 7-8 people, whoever lived in these houses were very,very poor.

Life inside these cottages were dark, due to their source of life only being the sun. It was also basic, with only one room without proper flooring, and in the middle of the room there is a firer. The firer is constantly alight, which means the room fills with thick smoke. It was also cold in the collage because there was no insulation, so to keep as much heat in and cold out the windows were very small.

The society in in Elizabethan times were very divided depending to the class you were born into. Job options in the countryside were limited, you could be:

Yeaman - This is someone who owns their own farm and gets workers to work in it.

Husbandman - Rents out land from the Husbandman so that he can work in it.

However, you highest chance to get a job was to go to different farmers offering your services as a labourer, which is when you work on somebody else farm. The working day was long and hard, it would start at the early morning and continue to sunset. You earning for the day’s work would be a ‘groat’, made of 2.1grams of pure silver, and it is also known as fourpence (for english pennies).  This was not enough money to for a family to live on, to get you an idea,

A chicken: 4p

A lemon: 3p

Generally a family earning fourpence a day would live of a loaf of bread, a small amount of butter, cheese, 4 small pieces of meat, 3 piece of fish and ale to drink, as the water was polluted. This is 6000 calories per day to spread across a household of 7-8.

During the Elizabethan era is when books became more available to mass as printer has been invented. This meant people from different classes had the chance to read books and educate themselves whilst at home. This meant people started to learn, read and teacher more about religion a because the bible was now printed in English.    

Approaching the 1598 different thing started to be developed and invented, people started moving to the city because house were being built and rebuilt. The population was also increasing, it went from 3.2 to 4.1 million, his is a growth of 25%. A big deal at the time was chimneys, people who could afford had chimneys built into their home, which meant that houses were not filled with smoke from their fires.

As I said before books were now available to a wider range of people. Before it was only to extremely wealthy who could be educated, but now grammar schools were being opened for boys where they had the opportunity to head and write in Latin.  At the started to the Elizabethan era 1 in 10 men could write how by then end to Elizabethan reign 1 in for could write. The percentage of women that could read also went up by 10%. This meant both men and women were able to publish their work  this meant there was more jobs.