Life+in+Elizabethan+England

Towns and Cities
Life during Elizabethan times was mostly focused around their town or village. The community was usually self-sufficient, which means people rarely ventured far from their town. Most people were short of money in Elizabethan times, and tended to barter items to obtain special items. In these villages, there was a Village Green, where leisure activities were conducted, much like a park in our suburbs. In these villages, basically everyone knew each other, and many family ties were spread throughout. The construction of houses was also simple, with wooden roofs and thatched walls. Women in these villages took care of small animals, made and mended clothes and cooked food. They were also responsible for the children and nursing people back to health. Work would have started as early as 3am, and labourers would start at around 5am. These were the fixed times for labourer’s hours: Later, changes in agriculture meant that many people were forced into cities, with wool becoming popular, which meant more land were used to rear sheep. During the Elizabethan Era, more and more people went to live inside cities. The largest and most crowded city during the Elizabethan Era was London. London’s prosperous city life was cut during the Black Death during the 14th century, where almost one third of the population was killed. Most people who referred to cities at that time were probably talking about London. [|[2]] London was mostly against the Thames River, using it as a source of commerce. This river was the commercial passage for most Londoners, and crossed to the other side of London using boat-taxis. The most used bridge in London was the London Bridge, which was commenced construction several centuries earlier and completed at 1209. This bridge was inefficient as it was too narrow, and also blocked river traffic along the Thames River. Most roads at that time were made from cobblestone, were narrow and some in disrepair. This was because most houses at that time packed tightly together, and no drainage system meant the London was an uncomfortable and unsanitary place. In the city people rarely would have drunk water, and instead mostly drank ale every part of the day.
 * //March to September - 5am to 7 or 8pm// [|[1]]
 * //September to March - From Dawn until Dusk//

//“It abounds with every article of luxury, as well as with the necessities of life. But the most remarkable thing in London is the wonderful quantity of wrought silver. I do not allude to that in private houses, but to the shops of London. In one single street, named the Strand, leading to St Paul's, there are fifty-two goldsmith's shops, so rich and full of silver vessels, great and small, that in all the shops in Milan, Rome, Venice, and Florence put together, I do not think there would be found so many of the magnificence that are to be seen in London. And these vessels are all either salt cellars or drinking cups or basins to hold water for the hands, for they eat off that fine tin [pewter] which is a little inferior to silver. These great riches of London are not occasioned by its inhabitants being noblemen or gentlemen; being all, on the contrary, persons of low degree, and artificers who have congregated there from all parts of the island, and from Flanders and from every other place.”//[|[3]] (Taken from http://elizabethan.org/compendium/27.html, date unknown)
 * //From the report of a Venetian envoy, about 1500://**

Education
Children would start their education at home learning basic manners and etiquette. Advanced education would usually only be reserved for middle or upper classes. They would then start proper education around 5 to 7 at a ‘Petty School’ which taught basic life education. The education wasn’t actually conducted in a ‘school’ but in the teacher’s home, and was also known as Dame Schools. These schools were local, small schools which charged a small fee, and children would learn basic things such as reading and writing, learning about the religion and basic manners. At the time, education was censored or restricted by the monarch, and constantly changed each time a new monarch came in. Later, when the children were aged from 7 to 14 years old, they started to go to Grammar Schools, which was the most common form of education. At these Grammar Schools, children were taught the basics of Latin and Grammar through a textbook called Lily's Latin Grammar. [|[4]] At these Grammar Schools, the teachers would be fairly strict, and students would be forced to talk Latin to each other. Getting hit with the cane would be common, and school hours would add up to more than 2,000 hours in one year.
 * During the first year of Elizabethan education, aged 7, the curriculum would have consisted of learning parts of speech together with verbs and nouns.
 * The second year of Elizabethan education, aged 8, the boys would be taught the basics of grammar and sentence structure.
 * The third year of Elizabethan education, aged 9, would have concentrated translating between English and Latin. [|[4]]

Elizabethan Handwriting[|[4]]

Crime and Punishment
Punishment during the Elizabethan age was swift and fierce, and with the smallest offence, such as stealing bread meant you could have been executed. Even begging was against the law, and anyone who begged would be whipped. People who were accused of witchcraft or any other crime would probably have been found guilty, as the defendant was allowed no legal defence. Executions often gathered large masses of people who would watch and socialise. The different types of punishments range extensively, and several are extremely gruesome. Some of these include: Minor crimes were overseen by the Justice of the Peace, as many of these petty crimes were committed by the poor or desperate. Due to this, taxes were collected from landowners to help the poor.
 * The Gossip’s Bridle [|[5]] ||
 * Hanging
 * Burning
 * The Pillory and the Stocks
 * Whipping
 * Branding
 * Pressing
 * Ducking stools
 * The Wheel
 * Boiling in oil water or lead (usually reserved for poisoners)
 * Starvation in a public place
 * Cutting off various items of the anatomy - hands, ears, etc.
 * The Gossip's Bridle or the Brank (A metal object which was a punishment for people who liked to gossip or wives who live to nag. The metal spur was prevented the person who wore this to talk. They would then be paraded around the town to humiliate them.)
 * The Drunkards Cloak (An object which was basically a heavy barrel, and was used for people who often committed crime while drunk.)