Elizabethan Renaissance

The age of Elizabeth was marked by a remarkable flowering of culture. This was the English Renaissance, when ladies and gentlemen played the lute, sang madrigals, admired painting, and sought to dress as did their counterparts in Italy. The high glory in the English Renaissance lay in its literature, in the works of William Shakespeare , Francis Bacon , Edmund Spenser , and many others who shaped the English language for generations to come. These Elizabethans and Jacobeans were exuberant even in their refinement, full-blooded even in their learning.

To a later generation they were uncouth, undisciplined, too full of the gusto of life. To the nineteenth- century romantics, they were brother sin romance, and nineteenth-century scholars rediscovered the Elizabethan age. The love of excess is obvious in much Elizabethan writing: Shakespeare is the most quoted author of all time. The son of a glove manufacturer in Stratford-on-Avon, Shakespeare began his career on the London stage, where he was well recognized before he was thirty. He became part owner of the Globe Theatre, which from presented his plays to raucous London audiences.

The smoke in these cases would be let out through a simple hole in the roof. Mansions had many chimneys for the many fireplaces required to keep the vast rooms warm. These fires were also the only way of cooking food. Wealthy Tudor homes needed many rooms, where a large number of guests and servants could be accommodated, fed and entertained. Wealth was demonstrated by the extensive use of glass. Windows became the main feature of Tudor mansions, and were often a fashion statement. Mansions were often designed to a symmetrical plan; "E" and "H" shapes were popular.

About one-third of the population lived in poverty, with the wealthy expected to give alms to assist the impotent poor. Those who left their parishes in order to locate work were termed vagabonds and could be subjected to punishments, including whipping and putting at the stocks. The idea of the workhouse for the able-bodied poor was first suggested in There was an unprecedented expansion of education in the Tudor period. Until then, few children went to school. Boys were allowed to go to school and began at the age of 4, they then moved to grammar school when they were 7 years old.

Girls were either kept at home by their parents to help with housework or sent out to work to bring money in for the family. They were not sent to school.

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Boys were educated for work and the girls for marriage and running a household so when they married they could look after the house and children. Many Tudor towns and villages had a parish school where the local vicar taught boys to read and write. Brothers could teach their sisters these skills. At school, pupils were taught English, Latin, Greek, catechism and arithmetic. The pupils practised writing in ink by copying the alphabet and the Lord's Prayer. There were few books, so pupils read from hornbooks instead. These wooden boards had the alphabet, prayers or other writings pinned to them and were covered with a thin layer of transparent cow's horn.

There were two types of school in Tudor times: The school day started at 7: Petty schools had shorter hours, mostly to allow poorer boys the opportunity to work as well.

Schools were harsh and teachers were very strict, often beating pupils who misbehaved. Education would begin at home, where children were taught the basic etiquette of proper manners and respecting others. Only the most wealthy people allowed their daughters to be taught, and only at home. During this time, endowed schooling became available. This meant that even boys of very poor families were able to attend school if they were not needed to work at home, but only in a few localities were funds available to provide support as well as the necessary education scholarship.

Boys from wealthy families were taught at home by a private tutor. He refounded many former monastic schools—they are known as "King's schools" and are found all over England. During the reign of Edward VI many free grammar schools were set up to take in non-fee paying students. There were two universities in Tudor England: Some boys went to university at the age of about England's food supply was plentiful throughout most of the reign; there were no famines.

Bad harvests caused distress, but they were usually localized. The most widespread came in —57 and — The poor consumed a diet largely of bread, cheese, milk, and beer, with small portions of meat, fish and vegetables, and occasionally some fruit. Potatoes were just arriving at the end of the period, and became increasingly important. The typical poor farmer sold his best products on the market, keeping the cheap food for the family.

Stale bread could be used to make bread puddings, and bread crumbs served to thicken soups, stews, and sauces. The holiday goose was a special treat. Many rural folk and some townspeople tended a small garden which produced vegetables such as asparagus, cucumbers, spinach, lettuce, beans, cabbage, carrots, leeks, and peas, as well as medicinal and flavoring herbs. Some grew their own apricots, grapes, berries, apples, pears, plums, currants, and cherries. Families without a garden could trade with their neighbors to obtain vegetables and fruits at low cost.

England was exposed to new foods such as the potato imported from South America , and developed new tastes during the era.

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The more prosperous enjoyed a wide variety of food and drink, including exotic new drinks such as tea, coffee, and chocolate. French and Italian chefs appeared in the country houses and palaces bringing new standards of food preparation and taste. For example, the English developed a taste for acidic foods—such as oranges for the upper class—and started to use vinegar heavily.

The gentry paid increasing attention to their gardens, with new fruits, vegetables and herbs; pasta, pastries, and dried mustard balls first appeared on the table. The apricot was a special treat at fancy banquets. Roast beef remained a staple for those who could afford it. The rest ate a great deal of bread and fish. Every class had a taste for beer and rum.

At the rich end of the scale the manor houses and palaces were awash with large, elaborately prepared meals, usually for many people and often accompanied by entertainment. The upper classes often celebrated religious festivals, weddings, alliances and the whims of the king or queen. Feasts were commonly used to commemorate the "procession" of the crowned heads of state in the summer months, when the king or queen would travel through a circuit of other nobles' lands both to avoid the plague season of London, and alleviate the royal coffers, often drained through the winter to provide for the needs of the royal family and court.

This would include a few days or even a week of feasting in each noble's home, who depending on his or her production and display of fashion, generosity and entertainment, could have his way made in court and elevate his or her status for months or even years.

Special courses after a feast or dinner which often involved a special room or outdoor gazebo sometimes known as a folly with a central table set with dainties of "medicinal" value to help with digestion. These would include wafers, comfits of sugar-spun anise or other spices, jellies and marmalades a firmer variety than we are used to, these would be more similar to our gelatin jigglers , candied fruits, spiced nuts and other such niceties. These would be eaten while standing and drinking warm, spiced wines known as hypocras or other drinks known to aid in digestion.

One must remember that sugar in the Middle Ages or Early Modern Period was often considered medicinal, and used heavily in such things. This was not a course of pleasure, though it could be as everything was a treat, but one of healthful eating and abetting the digestive capabilities of the body. It also, of course, allowed those standing to show off their gorgeous new clothes and the holders of the dinner and banquet to show off the wealth of their estate, what with having a special room just for banqueting.

While the Tudor era presents an abundance of material on the women of the nobility—especially royal wives and queens—historians have recovered scant documentation about the average lives of women. There has, however, been extensive statistical analysis of demographic and population data which includes women, especially in their childbearing roles. England had more well-educated upper class women than was common anywhere in Europe.

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The Queen's marital status was a major political and diplomatic topic. It also entered into the popular culture. Elizabeth's unmarried status inspired a cult of virginity. In poetry and portraiture, she was depicted as a virgin or a goddess or both, not as a normal woman. In contrast to her father's emphasis on masculinity and physical prowess, Elizabeth emphasized the maternalism theme, saying often that she was married to her kingdom and subjects.

She explained "I keep the good will of all my husbands — my good people — for if they did not rest assured of some special love towards them, they would not readily yield me such good obedience," [62] and promised in they would never have a more natural mother than she. Over ninety percent of English women and adults, in general entered marriage at the end of the s and beginning of the s, at an average age of about 25—26 years for the bride and 27—28 years for the groom, with the most common ages being for grooms and 23 for brides.

With William Shakespeare at his peak, as well as Christopher Marlowe and many other playwrights, actors and theatres constantly busy, the high culture of the Elizabethan Renaissance was best expressed in its theatre. Historical topics were especially popular, not to mention the usual comedies and tragedies. Travelling musicians were in great demand at Court, in churches, at country houses, and at local festivals. The composers were commissioned by church and Court, and deployed two main styles, madrigal and ayre. It became the fashion in the late 19th century to collect and sing the old songs.

Yet within this general trend, a native school of painting was developing. In Elizabeth's reign, Nicholas Hilliard , the Queen's "limner and goldsmith," is the most widely recognized figure in this native development; but George Gower has begun to attract greater notice and appreciation as knowledge of him and his art and career has improved.

Watching plays became very popular during the Tudor period. Most towns sponsored plays enacted in town squares followed by the actors using the courtyards of taverns or inns referred to as Inn-yards followed by the first theatres great open air amphitheatres and then the introduction of indoor theatres called Playhouses. This popularity was helped by the rise of great playwrights such as William Shakespeare and Christopher Marlowe using London theatres such as the Globe Theatre.

By , 15, people a week were watching plays in London. It was during Elizabeth's reign that the first real theatres were built in England. Before theatres were built, actors travelled from town to town and performed in the streets or outside inns. Miracle plays were local re-enactments of stories from the Bible. They derived from the old custom of Mystery Plays , in which stories and fables were enacted to teach lessons or educate about life in general. Festivals were popular seasonal entertainments [78].

There were many different types of Elizabethan sports and entertainment. Animal sports included bear and bull baiting , dog fighting and cock fighting. The rich enjoyed tennis , fencing , and jousting. Hunting was strictly limuited to the upper class. They favoured their packs of dogs and hounds trained to chase foxes, hares and boars. The rich also enjoyed hunting small game and birds with hawks, known as falconry.

Jousting was an upscale, very expensive sport where warriors on horseback raced toward each other in full armor trying to use their lance to knock the other off his horse. It was a violent sport-- King Henry II of France was killed in a tournament in , as were many lesser men. King Henry VIII was a champion; he finally retired from the lists after a hard fall left him unconscious for hours.

Other sports included archery, bowling, hammer-throwing, quarter-staff contests, troco , quoits , skittles , wrestling and mob football. Dice was a popular activity in all social classes. Cards appeared in Spain and Italy about , but they probably came from Egypt.



They began to spread throughout Europe and came into England around By the time of Elizabeth's reign, gambling was a common sport. Cards were not played only by the upper class. Many of the lower classes had access to playing cards. The card suits tended to change over time. The first Italian and Spanish decks had the same suits: The suits often changed from country to country. England probably followed the Latin version, initially using cards imported from Spain but later relying on more convenient supplies from France.

Spades, Hearts, Clubs, and Diamonds. Yet even before Elizabeth had begun to reign, the number of cards had been standardized to 52 cards per deck. Popular card games included Maw, One and Thirty, Bone-ace. These are all games for small group players. Ruff and Honors was a team game. During the Elizabethan era, people looked forward to holidays because opportunities for leisure were limited, with time away from hard work being restricted to periods after church on Sundays.

For the most part, leisure and festivities took place on a public church holy day. Every month had its own holiday, some of which are listed below:. From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia. Queen Elizabeth I c. Prehistoric Britain until c. Health and diet in Elizabethan England. Music in the Elizabethan era. Portraiture of Elizabeth I and Artists of the Tudor court. Aaron, Global Economics , p. Soul of the Age. Sharpe Remember, Remember: In Brown, George Williams.

Dictionary of Canadian Biography. I — online ed. University of Toronto Press. Drake and his reputation". The Construction of a Hero , D.

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Quinn Set fair for Roanoke: Andrews Trade, Plunder, and Settlement: Journal of Interdisciplinary History. The Repression of Protestantism under Mary Tudor". Reformation and Renaissance Review. Black, The Reign of Elizabeth: Palliser The Age of Elizabeth: England Under the Later Tudors, — 2nd ed. Before the Black Death: Studies in the "Crisis" of the Early Fourteenth Century.