Information about Tudor Era

The Tudor period usually refers to the period between 1485 and 1603, specifically in relation to the history of England. This coincides with the rule of the Tudor dynasty in England. Usually the term is used more broadly to include Elizabeth's reign as well (1558 – 1603), although this is often treated separately as the Elizabethan era.

Health

The Tudor municipalities were comparatively small and overcrowded. The cobbled streets were narrow, dirty due to open sewers running alongside and carrying the filth to the nearest river. Rats and flies thrived, spreading diseases such as typhus and the plague. Few of the inhabitants lived to be older than 40, and children often died before they were five.

Homes and food

The rich lived in mansions in the countryside. These were very big with up to 150 servants. The mansions had many chimneys for the many fireplaces required to keep the vast rooms warm and to cook the food for their feasts, which consisted of up to ten courses. They would regularly eat venison, blackbirds and larks but rarely had potatoes because although explorers such as Sir Walter Raleigh had brought them to Britain, they were not, as yet, grown with any frequency by British farmers. Honey was normally used to sweeten food; sugar was only rarely available, but when they did have it, they put it on all their food, including meat. The poor never had sugar or potatoes and seldom ate meat. They would occasionally catch rabbits and fish but most of the time they ate bread and vegetables such as cabbage and turnips.

Education

Poorer children never went to school. Children from better-off families had tutors to teach them reading and French. However, boys were often sent to schools which belonged to the monasteries and there they would learn mainly Latin in classes of up to 60 boys. The school day went from dawn until dusk and the schoolmasters would frequently beat their pupils. Children from royal families had private lessons where they usually were the only pupil.

Pastimes

The rich used to go hunting to kill deer and wild boar for their feasts. They also enjoyed fencing and jousting contests. The poor watched bear fighting and also played a kind of football where they jumped on each other, often breaking their necks and backs. There were some theatres and people enjoyed watching plays, particularly those of the young playwright William Shakespeare, operas were also a favourtie among the richer part of the community, with binoculars they would watch the intensity and romance of opera artists.

The English Reformation began in this period with the Henrician Reformation.

References

See also

• Tudor style
• Tudor rose
• Tudorbethan architecture
• Early Modern Britain

External links

• Tudor food - learning resources from the British Library

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