increase of wealth among her people. The Elizabethan era was one of
general prosperity. Her good spirits and gayness created a happy mood in
the nation. She loved dancing and madrigal music was popular. She came
to dress elaborately and fancifully. Her dresses were fitted not only at
the waist, but along the torso by a long and pointed bodice stiffened
with wood, steel, or whalebone. Her skirt was held out with a petticoat
with progressively larger hoops. There were two layers of skirt with the
top one parted to show the bottom one. The materials used were silks,
satins, velvets, and brocades. On her dress were quiltings, slashings,
and embroidery. It was covered with gold ornaments, pearls, gems, and
unusual stones from America. She wore decorated gloves. Ladies copied
her and discarded their simple over-tunics for elaborate dresses. The
under-tunic became a petticoat and the over-tunic a dress. Often they
also wore a fan with a mirror, a ball of scent, a miniature portrait of
someone dear to them, and sometimes a watch. Single ladies did not wear
hats, but had long, flowing hair and low cut dresses showing their
bosoms. Married ladies curled their hair and wore it in high masses on
their heads with jewels interwoven into it. Both gentlemen and ladies
wore hats both indoors and outside and large, pleated collars around
their necks (with the newly discovered starch), perfume, rings with
stones or pearls, and high-heeled shoes. Gentlemen's' tight sleeves,
stiffened and fitted doublet with short skirt, and short cloak were
ornamented and their silk or velvet hats flamboyant, with feathers. At
their leather belts they hung pouches and perhaps a watch. They wore
both rapiers [swords with cutting edges] and daggers daily as there were
many quarrels. There were various artistic beard cuts and various
lengths of hair, which was often curled and worn in ringlets. Barbers
sought to give a man a haircut that would favor his appearance, for
instance a long slender beard for a round face to make it seem narrower
and a broad and large cut for a lean and straight face. Men now wore
stuffed breeches and stockings instead of long hosen. Some wore a
jeweled and embroidered codpiece between their legs to emphasize their
virility. Both gentlemen and ladies wore silk stockings and socks over
them and then boots. Coats dipped in boiled linseed oil with resin
served as raincoats. Both men and women wore velvet or wool full length
nightgowns with long sleeves and fur lining and trimming to bed, which
was the custom for the next 150 years. Fashions changed every year due
to the introduction of cheaper, lighter, and less durable cloths by
immigrant craftsmen. When Elizabeth became old, she had a wig made to
match her youthful long red hair. Other ladies then began wearing wigs.
Every few years, Elizabeth issued a proclamation reminding people of
the apparel laws and reiterating certain provisions which had been
disregarded. For instance, only the royal family and dukes and marquises
in mantles [cloaks] of the garter could wear the color purple. One had
to be at least an earl to wear gold or silver or sable. Only dukes,
marquises, earls and their children, barons, and knights of the order
could wear imported wool, velvet, crimson, scarlet, or blue, or certain
furs., except that barons' sons, knights, or men who could dispend at
least 200 pounds yearly could wear velvet in gowns or coats, embroidery,
and furs of leopards. Spurs, swords, rapiers, daggers, and woodknives
were restricted to knights and barons' sons or higher. A man who could
dispend at least 100 pounds per year could wear taffeta, satin, damask,
or cloth made of camels' hair and silk, in his outer garments. One had
to be the son and heir or the daughter of a knight or wife of said son
or a man who could dispend 20 pounds yearly or had 200 pounds worth in
goods to wear silk in one's hat, bonnet, nightcap, girdle, scabbard, or
hose. Yeomen, husbandmen, serving men, and craftsmen were very
restricted in what they could wear. Poor men wore skirted fustian
tunics, loose breeches, and coarse stockings or canvas leggings.
Children wore the same type of apparel as their elders. They were given
milk at meals for good growth. It was recognized that sickness could be
influenced by diet and herbs. Sickness was still viewed as an imperfect
balance of the four humors.
Women spent much of their time doing needlework and embroidery. Since
so many of the women who spent their days spinning were single,
unmarried women became known as "spinsters".
There were many lifestyle possibilities in the nation: gentleman, that
is one who owned land or was in a profession such as a attorney,
physician, priest or who was a university graduate, government official,
or a military officer; employment in agriculture, arts, sciences;
employment in households and offices of noblemen and gentlemen;
self-sufficient farmers with their own farm; fisherman or mariner on the
sea or apprentice of such; employment by carriers of grain into cities,
by market towns, or for digging, seeking, finding, getting, melting,
fining, working, trying, making of any silver, tin, lead, iron, copper,
stone, coal; glassmaker.
Typical wages in the country were: field-workers 2-3d. a day, ploughmen
1s. a week with board, shepherd 6d. a week and board, his boy 2 1/2 d.,
hedgers 6d. a day, threshers 3-7d. depending on the grain, thatching for
five days 2d., master mason or carpenter or joiner 4d. a day and food or
8d. without food, a smith 2d. a day with food, a bricklayer 2 1/2 d. a
day with food, a shoemaker 2d. a day with food. These people lived
primarily on food from their own ground.
There was typical work for each month of the year in the country:
January - ditching and hedging after the frost broke, February - catch
moles in the meadows, March - protect the sheep from prowling dogs,
April - put up hop poles, sell bark to the tanner before the timber is
felled, fell elm and ash for carts and ploughs, fell hazel for forks,
fell sallow for rakes, fell horn for flails, May - weed and hire
children to pick up stones from the fallow land, June - wash and shear
the sheep, July - hay harvest, August - wheat harvest, September and
October - gather the fruit, sell the wool from the summer shearing,
stack logs for winter, buy salt fish for Lent in the town and lay it up
to dry, November - have the chimneys swept before winter, thresh grain
in the barn, December - grind tools, repair yokes, forks, and farm
implements, cover strawberry and flower beds with straw to protect them
from the cold, split kindling wood with beetle and wedge, tan their
leather, make leather jugs, make baskets for catching fish, and carve
wood spoons, plates, and bowls.
There was a wave of building and renovation activity in town and
country. Housing is now, for the first time, purely for dwelling and not
for defense. Houses were designed symmetrically with decorative features
instead of a haphazard addition of rooms. Windows were large and put on
the outer walls instead of just inside the courtyard. A scarcity of
timber caused proportionally more stone to be used for dwelling houses
and proportionately more brick to be used for royal palaces and
mansions. The rest of the house was plaster painted white interspersed
with vertical, horizontal, and sloping timber, usually oak, painted
black. There were locks and bolts for protection from intruders. The
hall was still the main room, and usually extended up to the roof.
Richly carved screens separated the hall from the kitchen. The floors
were stone or wood, and sometimes tile. They were often covered with
rushes or plaited rush mats, on which incomers could remove the mud from
their boots. Some private rooms had carpets on the floor. Walls were
smoothly plastered or had carved wood paneling to control drafts.
Painted cloths replaced tapestries on walls. Family portraits decorated
some walls, usually in the dining room. Iron stands with candles were
hung from the ceiling and used on tables. Plastered ceilings and a
lavish use of glass made rooms lighter and cozy. Broad and gracious open
stairways with carved wood banisters replaced the narrow winding stone
steps of a circular stairwell. Most houses had several ornamented brick
chimneys and clear, but uneven, glass in the windows. There were
fireplaces in living rooms, dining rooms, kitchen, and bedrooms, as well
as in the hall and great chamber. Parlors were used for eating and
sitting only, but not for sleeping. Closets were rooms off bedrooms in
which one could read and write on a writing table, and store one's
books, papers, maps, calendar, medals, collections, rarities, and
oddities. Sometimes there was a study room or breakfast room as well. A
gentleman used his study not only to read and to write, but to hold
collections of early chronicles, charters, deeds, copied manuscripts,
and coins that reflected the budding interest in antiquarianism; and to
study his family genealogy, for which he had hired someone to make an
elaborate diagram. He was inclined to have a few classical, religious,
medical, legal, and political books there. Rooms were more spacious than
before and contained oak furniture such as enclosed cupboards; cabinets;
buffets from which food could be served; tables, chairs and benches with
backs and cushions, and sometimes with arms; lidded chests for storing
clothes and linens, and occasionally chests of drawers or wardrobes,
either hanging or with shelves, for clothes. Chests of drawers developed
from a drawer at the bottom of a wardrobe. Carpeting covered tables,
chests, and beds. Great houses had a wardrobe chamber with a fireplace
in front of which the yeoman of the wardrobe and his assistants could
repair clothes and hangings. Separate bedchambers replaced bed-sitting
rooms. Bedrooms all led out of each other. The lady's chamber was next
to her lord's chamber, and her ladies' chambers were close to her
chamber. But curtains on the four-poster beds with tops provided privacy
and warmth. Beds had elaborately carved bedsteads, sheets, and a feather
cover as well as a feather mattress. Often family members, servants, and
friends shared the same bed for warmth or convenience. Each bedroom
typically had a cabinet with a mirror, e.g. of burnished metal or
crystal, and comb on top. One brushed his teeth with tooth soap and a
linen cloth, as physicians advised. Each bedroom had a pitcher and water
bowl, usually silver or pewter, for washing in the morning, and a
chamber pot or a stool with a hole over a bucket for nighttime use, and
also fragrant flowers to override the unpleasant odors. The chamber pots
and buckets were emptied into cesspits. A large set of lodgings had
attached to it latrines consisting of a small cell in which a seat with
a hole was placed over a shaft which connected to a pit or a drain. The
servants slept in turrets or attics. Elizabeth had a room just for her
bath.
Breakfast was substantial, with meat, and usually eaten in one's
bedroom. The great hall, often hung around with bows, pikes, swords, and
guns, was not abandoned, but the family took meals there only on rare
occasions. Instead they withdrew to a parlor, for domestic use, or the
great chamber, for entertaining. Parlors were situated on the ground
floor: the family lived and relaxed there, and had informal meals in a
dining parlor.
More than medieval castles and manor houses, mansions were designed
with privacy in mind. The formal or "state" rooms were on the first
floor above the ground floor, usually comprising a great chamber, a
withdrawing chamber, one or more bedchambers, and a long gallery. Each
room had carved chairs and cabinets. Taking a meal in the great chamber
involved the same ceremonial ritual as in the manorial great chamber
dating from the 1400s. The table was covered with a linen cloth. The
lady of the house sat in a chair at the upper end of the table and was
served first. People of high rank sat at her end of the table "above"
the fancy silver salt cellar and pepper. People of low rank sat "below"
it near the other end of the table. Grace was said before the meal. Noon
dinner and supper were served by cupbearer, sewer, carver, and
assistants. Fine clear Italian glass drinking vessels replaced even gold
and silver goblets. Food was eaten from silver dishes with silver
spoons. Some gentry used two-pronged forks. Meats were plentiful and
varied: e.g. beef, mutton, veal, lamb, kid, pork, hare, capon, red deer,
fish and wild fowl as well as the traditional venison and brawn [boar].
Kitchen gardens and orchards supplied apricots, almonds, gooseberries,
raspberries, melons, currants, oranges, and lemons as well as the
traditional apples, pears, plums, mulberries, quinces, pomegranates,
figs, cherries, walnuts, chestnuts, hazel nuts, filberts, almonds,
strawberries, blackberries, dewberries, blueberries, and peaches. Also
grown were sweet potatoes, artichokes, cabbages, turnips, broad beans,
peas, pumpkins, cucumbers, radishes, carrots, celery, parsnips, onions,
garlic, leeks, endive, capers, spinach, sorrel, lettuce, parsley,
mustard, cress, sage, tarragon, fennel, thyme, mint, savory, rhubarb,
and medicinal herbs. The well-to-do started to grow apricots, peaches,
and oranges under glass. Sugar was used to make sweet dishes. Toothpicks
made of brass or silver or merely a stiff quill were used. After the
meal, some men and women were invited for conversation in a withdrawing
or drawing chamber. Some might take a walk in the gardens. After the
upper table was served, the food was sent to the great hall to the
steward and high household officers at the high table and other
servants: serving men and women, bakers, brewers, cooks, pot cleaners,
laundresses, shepherds, hogherds, dairy maids, falconers, huntsmen, and
stable men. What was left was given to the poor at the gates of the
house. Great chambers were used primarily for meals, but also for music;
dancing; plays; masques; playing cards, dice, backgammon, or chess; and
daily prayers if there was no chapel.
Without the necessity of fortifications, the estate of a noble or
gentleman could spread out to include not only a garden for the kitchen,
but extensive orchards and beautiful formal gardens of flowers and
scrubs, sometimes with fountains and maybe a maze of hedges. Trees were
planted, pruned, and grafted onto each other.
Householders had the responsibility to teach their family and servants
religion and morals, and often read from the Bible to them. Many thought
that the writers of the Bible wrote down the exact words of God, so the
passages of the Bible should be taken literally. A noble lord made
written rules with penalties for his country household, which numbered
about a hundred, including family, retainers, and servants. He enforced
them by fines, flogging, and threats of dismissal. The lady of the house
saw that the household held together as an economic and social unit. The
noble's family, retainers, guests, and the head servants, such as
chaplain and children's tutor, and possibly a musician, dined together
at one table. The family included step children and married sons and
daughters with their spouses. Young couples often lived with the parents
of one of them. Chandeliers of candles lit rooms. There were sandglass
clocks. Popular home activities included reading, conversation,
gardening, and music-making. Smoking tobacco from a clay pipe and taking
snuff became popular with men. For amusement, one of the lord's
household would take his place in managing the estate for twelve days.
He was called the "lord of misrule", and mimicked his lord, and issued
comic orders. Clothes were washed in rivers and wells. At spring
cleanings, windows were opened, every washable surface washed, and
feather beds and pillows exposed to the sun.
Most dwellings were of brick and stone. Only a few were of wood or mud
and straw. The average house was now four rooms instead of three. Yeomen
might have six rooms. A weaver's house had a hall, two bedrooms, and a
kitchen besides the shop. Farmers might have two instead of one room. A
joiner had a one-room house with a feather bed and bolster. Even
craftsmen, artificers and simple farmers slept on feather beds on bed
frames with pillows, sheets, blankets, and coverlets. Loom tapestry and
painted cloth was hung to keep out the cold in their single story homes.
They also had pewter spoons and plates, instead of just wood or
earthenware ones. Even the poorer class had glass drinking vessels,
though of a coarse grade. The poor still used wooden plates and spoons.
Laborers had canvas sheets. Richer farmers would build a chamber above
the hall, replacing the open hearth with a fireplace and chimney at a
wall. Poorer people favored ground floor extensions, adding a kitchen or
second bedchamber to their cottages. Kitchens were often separate
buildings to reduce the risk of fire. Roasting was done on a spit and
baking in irons boxes placed in the fire or in a brick oven at the side
of the fireplace. Sometimes dogs were used to turn a spit by continual
running in a treadmill. Some people lived in hovels due to the custom in
many places that a person could live in a home he built on village waste
land if he could build it in one night.
Yeomen farmers still worked from dawn to dusk. Mixed farming began. In
this, some of the arable land produced food for man and the rest
produced food for sheep, cattle, pigs, and poultry. This was made
possible by the introduction of clover, artificial grasses, and turnip
and other root crops for the animals. Since the sheep ate these crops in
the field, they provided manure to maintain the fertility of the soil.
This meant that many animals could be maintained throughout the winter
instead of being slaughtered and salted. So salted meat and salted fish
were no longer the staple food of the poorer people during the winter.
Farm laborers ate soup, porridge, milk, cheese, bacon, and beer or mead
(depending on the district), and dark barley or rye bread, which often
served as his plate. Gentlemen ate wheat bread. There was a scarcity of
fruits and vegetables that adversely affected the health of the affluent
as well as of the poor due to the overall decline in farming. During
winter, there were many red noses and coughing. Farmers' wives used
looms as well as spinning wheels with foot treadles.
The value of grain and meat rose compared to wool. Grain became six
times its value in the previous reign. Wool fell from 20s.8d. per tod to
16s. So sheep farming, which had taken about 5% of the arable land, was
supplanted somewhat by crop raising, and the rural population could be
employed for agriculture. In some places, the threefold system of
rotation was replaced by alternating land used for crops with that used
for pasture. The necessity of manuring and the rotation of crops and
grasses such as clover for enrichment of the soil were recognized.
Wheat, rye, barley, peas, and beans were raised. There was much
appropriation of common land by individual owners by sale or force. Many
farms were enclosed by fences or hedges so that each holder could be
independent of his neighbors. Red and black currants, rhubarb, apricots,
and oranges were now grown. These independent farmers could sell wool to
clothiers, and butter, cheese, and meat to the towns. They also often
did smithwork and ironwork, making nails, horseshoes, keys, locks, and
agricultural implements to sell. A laborer could earn 6d. a day in
winter and 7d. a day in summer. Unfree villeinage ceased on the royal
estates. But most land was still farmed in common and worked in strips
without enclosure. Elizabeth made several proclamations ordering the
enclosure of certain enclosed land to be destroyed and the land returned
to tillage. Windmills now had vanes replacing manual labor to change the
position of their sails when the wind direction changed. Prosperous
traders and farmers who owned their own land assumed local offices as
established members of the community.
The population of the nation was about five million. Population
expansion had allowed landlords to insist on shorter leases and higher
rents, instead of having to choose between accepting a long lease and
good rent or allowing their estates to pass out of cultivation. Over 50%
of the population were on the margin of subsistence. 90% of the
population lived in the countryside and 5% in the London and 5% in the
other towns. Life expectancy was about 40 years of age. Over 50% were
under the age of 23, while only about 9% were over 60. Fluctuations in
rates of population growth were traceable back to bad harvests and to
epidemics and the two were still closely related to each other: "first
dirth and then plague".
Most of London was confined within the city wall. There were orchards
and gardens both inside and outside the walls, and fields outside.
Flower gardens and nurseries came into existence. No part of the city
was more than a ten minute walk to the fields. Some wealthy merchants
had four story mansions or country houses outside the city walls. The
suburbs of the City of London grew in a long line along the river; on
the west side were noblemen's houses on both sides of the Strand. East
of the Tower was a seafaring and industrial population. Goldsmiths' Row
was replete with four story houses. A few wealthy merchants became
money- lenders for interest, despite the law against usury. The mayor of
London was typically a rich merchant prince. Each trade occupied its own
section of the town and every shop had its own signboard, for instance,
hat and cap sellers, cloth sellers, grocers, butchers, cooks, taverns,
and booksellers. Many of the London wards were associated with a craft,
such as Candlewick Ward, Bread St. Ward, Vintry Ward, and Cordwainer
Ward. Some wards were associated with their location in the city, such
as Bridge Ward, Tower Ward, Aldgate Ward, Queenhithe Ward, and
Billingsgate Ward. People lived at the back or on the second floor of
their shops. In the back yard, they grew vegetables such as melons,
carrots, turnips, cabbages, pumpkins, parsnips, and cucumbers; herbs;
and kept a pig. The pigs could still wander through the streets. Hyde
Park was the Queen's hunting ground. London had a small zoo of ten
animals, including a lion, tiger, lynx, and wolf.