Life in Tudor Britain was harsh - theaverage life expectancy was just 35 years.
Most Tudor people lived in the countryside,but some people lived in towns or bigTudor cities like London, Bristol orNorwich.
Tudor England was a farming society.Most of the population (over 90 %) lived insmall villages and made their living from
farming. Under Tudor rule England be-came a more peaceful and richer place.Towns grew larger and the mining of coal,tin and lead became very popular.
The poor
The poor had to work hard and struggled to survive.Many poor people lives lived in villages doing farmwork or making cloth in their own homes for very littlepay. They worked six days a week and only had holydays and public holidays off work.
When the harvest failed it was tempting for poor peo-ple to steal food. When people did break the law,they risked public flogging or being hanged.
The rich
Wealthy Tudors loved to show of their riches.The clothes they wore and the homes theylived in were all signs of their place in society.
Food was another show of wealth. The richcould afford all kinds of meats and fish andexpensive French wine. The best food wasconsidered to be roast veal and venison.
People also ate robins, blackbirds, pigeons,badgers, otters, tortoises and seagulls.
The type of pastimes they enjoyed were alsoa sign of their rank.
SECTION 1: WHAT WAS DIFFERENT ABOUTRICH AND POOR IN TUDOR TIMES?
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Life in Tudor Britain was harsh - the average life expectancy was just ____years.
Most Tudor people lived in the ____________, but some people lived in townsor big Tudor cities like London, Bristol or Norwich.
Tudor England was a __________ society. Most of the population (over 90 %)lived in small ___________ and made their living from farming. Under Tudorrule England became a more peaceful and richer place. Towns grew largerand the mining of coal, tin and lead became very popular.
The poorThe poor had to work ____ and struggled to survive. Many poor people liveslived in villages doing farm work or making cloth in their own homes for verylittle pay. They worked ___ days a week and only had holy days and publicholidays off work.
When the harvest failed it was tempting for poor people to steal ____. When
people did break the law, they risked public flogging or being hanged.
The rich Wealthy Tudors loved to show of their ________. The clothes they wore andthe homes they lived in were all signs of their place in society.
Food was another show of wealth. The rich could afford all kinds of meats andfish and expensive French _____. The best food was considered to be roastveal and venison.
People also ate robins, _____, badgers, otters, tortoises and seagulls.
The type of pastimes they enjoyed were also a sign of their rank.
riches farming villages six 35 hard
food wine swans countryside
FILL IN THE MISSING WORDS
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its beautiful and ornate cloth-ing, particularly during thereign of Queen Elizabeth I.
Clothes were a means of dis-playing how wealthy a personwas. Rich people could affordclothing made of fine wool,linen or silk. Their clotheswere decorated with jewelsand embroidered with goldthread.
No rich person felt properly dressed to impress unless he or she waswearing a ruff. Like so many Tudor clothes, it gave a strong signal about thewealth and importance of the person wearing it.
Rich ladies wore padded skirts held up with loops. Over these went bodicesand colourful floor-length gowns.
Rich men wore white silk shirts, frilled at the neck and wrists. Over thisthey wore a doublet (a bit like a tight-fitting jacket), and close-fitting stripedtrousers (called hose).
Poor people wore simple, loose-fitting clothes made from woollen cloth.Most men wore trousers made from wool and a tunic which came down to
just above their knee. Women wore a dress of wool that went down to theground. They often wore an apronover this and a cloth bonnet ontheir heads.
All clothing was ruled by the Sump-tuary Law, which had rules tellingyou which clothes you could wearfor your class. If you were poor andwere given the dress of a rich per-son, you would not be allowed towear it as it would be above yourstation.
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they wore short doubletsover their hose and theshoulders of their coatwere cut wide. It wasfashionable for their
sleeves to be slashedand their flat hats were
often decorated withfeathers.
WomenWomen's clothing
gave them a triangular
shape. Their corsetswere tight fitting whiletheir kirtles and gowns
were very full. Theirhead-dress consisted
of a coif that fittedclosely round the face,to which was attached
the cornet - a longpiece of black materialthat often hung down
the back.Late Tudor Clothes (Elizabeth I)
WomenThe style of dress hadchanged considerably.the bodice was longer,and the skirt was worn
over a farthingale (a cir-cular frame) to give it itsunique shape. the head-
dress had been re-placed by jewels in thehair and an elaborateruff of lace was worn
around the neck.
MenThe men's fashion hadnot changed as muchas the women's. How-
ever, the squareshape was replaced
by a sleeker look. Menstill wore doublet and
hose, but the coat hadbeen replaced by a
short jacket. Men alsowore ruffs around their
necks.
Getting DressedPutting on an Elizabethan gown was not a simple process and, including time taken for hair and makeup, could
take as long as half-an-hour. This is the order in which clothing had to be put on:
1. Stockings, ear rings and shoes.
2. Chemise - the main item of underwear.3. Petticoat - for extra warmth4. Farthingale - stiffened with willow to give the triangular shape to the costume.5. Corset - stiffened with wood to flatten all lumps and bumps.6. Bumroll - worn on the hips to give extra flare to the skirt7. Parlet - worn over the corset8. Kirtle - the main underskirt 9. Gown - split at the front to reveal the kirtle.10. Sleeves were either sewn in or tied on.
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Rich Tudors ate vast amounts of meat. However they rarely ate vegetables. Poor peopleate plenty of vegetables because they had no choice! Vegetables were cheap but meatwas a luxury.
Tudor vegetables included cabbages, onions, cauliflower, cucumbers, leeks, lettuce, spin-ach and turnips. Common fruits were apples, strawberries, pears, plums, blackberries,melons, raspberries and lemons.
Poor people lived on a dreary diet. In the morning they had bread and cheese and onions.They only had one cooked meal a day. They mixed grain with water and added vegetablesand (if they could afford it) strips of meat.
All classes ate bread but it varied in quality. Rich peoples bread was made from fine whiteflour. Poor people ate coarse bread of barley or rye.
In the 16th century people thought fresh fruit was bad for you. They did eat fruit but usuallyafter it was cooked and made into a tart or pie. As water was often contaminated, ale wasusually served, including breakfast.
The Tudors were also fond of sweet foods (if they could afford them). However in the 16thcentury sugar was very expensive so most people used honey to sweeten their food.
The rich ate Rich people liked to show off their gold and silver plate. The middle classeswould have dishes and bowls made of pewter. The poor made do with wooden plates andbowls. There were no forks in Tudor times. People ate with knives and their fingers or with
spoons. Rich Tudors had silver or pewter spoons. The poor used wooden ones.
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A Sixteenth Century Dinner
First Course
BrawnRoast tongueLeg of Pork
Roast BeefRoast VenisonMeat Pie
Vegetables in SeasonBread
Second Course
Road LambRabbitBread
Tarts and Custard
Food in the Tudor PeriodFood could not be transported, nor could it be frozen. The Tudors therefore relied onfresh food. The menu below shows what the rich people would have eaten. Poor peoplewould have eaten a herb-flavoured soup called pottage which would be served withbread.
Facts about Tudor FoodThe Tudors could keep the animals theyused for food alive, so meat was availableall year round
Fruit and vegetables could only be eaten
when they were in season
Potatoes were not introduced to the UK un-til Elizabeth's reign and then would onlyhave been available to the rich
The Catholic religion of the early Tudorsmeant that they could not eat meat on aFriday and often not on a Wednesday.
Bread was always served with a meal.
There was no fresh drinking water and soale was drunk with a meal. The very richmay have wine.
Three-quarters of the Tudor diet was made
up of meat - oxen, deer, calves, pigs orwild boar. They also ate a lot of chickenand other birds - pigeons, sparrows andpeacocks.
Meat was roasted, boiled or made intopies. Fish was baked, fried, grilled orboiled.
Tudor food was served in a sauceflavoured with herbs and spices.
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Tudor Entertainment
Our lives today are filled with ready-made entertainment - television, computers, andmusic centres etc. In the Tudor period people had to make their own entertainments.Hours of work were long and without electric light or the benefit of being able to read,many people simply went to bed when it got dark. The time for entertainment was on a
Sunday or Saint's day or when there was a great public event - Royal wedding or publicexecution.
This picture shows a jousting competition
Sports were very popular in the SixteenthCentury. Some of the most popular are stillplayed today:JoustingPitching the BarThrowing the SledgehammerLeaping
Banquets were a popular form of enter-tainment for the rich, but the poorer folkwould also hold feasts on Special occa-sions. If there was a great public eventsuch as a royal wedding then the mon-arch would pay for wine and food to beplaced in the streets for the poor peopleto join in the celebrations. The dinerswould be entertained by mummers, jug-glers, jesters or fire-eaters.
The popularity of the theatre rose with bothrich and poor alike, during the sixteenthcentury. This popularity was helped by therise of great playwrights such as Christo-pher Marlowe and William Shakespeare aswell as the building of the Globe theatre inLondon.
A public execution was an event not to be missed and peoplewould queue through the night to get the best places. There wasalways a carnival atmosphere and pie sellers, ale merchants andproducers of execution memorabilia did a good trade. Public exe-cutions always produced a carnival-like atmosphere with largecrowds attracting peddlers, minstrels, jugglers and other streetperformers anxious to use this ready-made audience.
Sport and pastimes in Tudor England tended to mirror the likes and dislikes of the king orqueen who reigned at this time. Henry VIII had a great love for certain sports, especiallyhunting, while his daughter, Elizabeth, liked pastimes which we would find very cruelsuch as bear-baiting. However, not everyone was allowed to participate in sport.
Individual bears were chained to a post in a bear-ring. A group of dogs were then set onthe bear. The dogs tried to kill the bear by biting its throat.
Both Henry VIII and Elizabeth enjoyed watching bear-baiting. A ring was even built in thegrounds of Whitehall so that the Tudor monarchs could watch bear-baiting from the win-dows of the palace.
In Tudor England, sport was heavily controlled by the government. The ordinary citizenrarely had a chance to take part in sport as the government considered it more importantthat they were fit enough to work. It was only at Christmas that rules were slightly relaxed
FIND THE BIG BEAR IN THE MUSEUM
Imagine what it was like to have watched bear-baiting. Describe your feelings or the
Tudor Education was generally designedfor boys of the Upper and Middle Classes.However, there were some girls notablyRoyalty or Nobility who were also givenand education. The education of girls suchas Lady Jane Grey and her sisters, Prin-cess Mary and Princess Elizabeth was out-standing covering the subjects taught to theboys of the era. Other less fortunate andless wealthy Tudor girls were provided withlittle education and their skills were focus-sed on life in the home.
The education of most Tudor girls were fo-cussed on non-academic subjects accord-ing to their rank and status. Lessons pro-vided to the Middle Class girls includedsewing, embroidery, dancing, music, arch-ery, riding and hunting. Tudor education forgirls of the Lower classes were of a totallypractical nature and these girls would nothave attended school or received any for-
mal type of education. It was important forTudor girls to learn how to govern a house-hold and become skilled in all housewifely
duties in preparation for the only real ca-reer option for a girl which was marriage.Above all Tudor Girls would be taught obe-dience to the male members of the family.
Between the ages of 5 and 7 the educationof wealthy Tudor children was undertaken
by private tutors. Middle class childrenwere taught at schools.
The school day started at 6am in the sum-mer and 7am in the winter, six days aweek. Corporal punishment was the normfor any disobedience.
Poor children did not receive an educationbut stayed at home to learn the skills oftheir parents. They would not be able to
read or write.A horn book
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