The Times: 1558-1601
Queen Elizabeth I was intelligent, educated, and wise about
human nature. When young, she was a brilliant student and studied the
Bible, philosophy, literature, oratory, and Greek and Roman history.
She wrote in English, Latin, French, and Italian. She read Greek,
including the Greek Testament, Greek orators, and Greek dramatists, at
age seven, when the first professorship of Greek was founded at
Cambridge University. Learning from books was one of her highest values
throughout her life.
She read so much and was so influenced by Cicero that she
acquired his style of writing. Her Chief Secretary William Cecil was so
guided by Cicero's "Offices" that he carried a copy in his pocket.
Cicero opined that government officials had a duty to make the safety
and interest of citizens its greatest aim and to influence all their
thoughts and endeavors without ever considering personal advantage.
Government was not to serve the interest of any one group to the
prejudice or neglect of the rest, for then discord and sedition would
occur. Furthermore, a ruler should try to become loved and not feared,
because men hated those whom they feared, and wished them dead.
Therefore obedience proceeding from fear could not last, whereas that
which was the effect of love would last forever. An oppressor ruling by
terror would be resented by the citizens, who in secret would choose a
worthier person. Then liberty, having been chained up, would be
unleashed more fiercely than otherwise. To obtain the peoples' love, a
ruler should be kind and bountiful. To obtain the peoples' trust, a
ruler should be just, wise, and faithful. To demonstrate this, a ruler
should be eloquent in showing the people an understanding better than
theirs, the wisdom to anticipate events, and the ability to deal with
adverse events. And this demonstration should be done with modesty. One
cannot get the peoples' trust by vain shows, hypocritical pretenses,
composed countenances, and studied forms of words. The first goal of a
ruler is to take care that each individual is secured in the quiet
enjoyment of his own property. The second goal is to impose taxes that
are not burdensome. The third goal is to furnish the people with
necessaries. The law should be enforced keeping in mind that its
fundamental purpose is to keep up agreement and union among citizens.
Elizabeth cared deeply for the welfare of all citizens of
whatever class. She was sensitive to public opinion and was loved by
her people. She respected truth and was sincere, avoiding guile or
fraud. She claimed that she had never dishonored her tongue with a
falsehood to anyone. She expected that any covert manipulations by
monarchs would be found out and therefore would damage their
credibility. "It becometh therefor all of our rank to deal sincerely;
lest if we use it not, when we do it we be hardly believed."
She was frugal and diplomatically avoided unnecessary wars,
saying that her purse was the pockets of her people. Her credit
reputation was so good that she could always get loans at small rates
of interest from other countries. England was a small Protestant nation
threatened by the larger Catholic nations of France and Spain. When
Elizabeth flirted and talked of marriage with foreign princes, they
laid aside any thoughts of conquering England by war, hoping to obtain
it my marriage. Not only did she not seek to conquer other lands, but
she turned down an invitation to rule the Netherlands.
Elizabeth prayed for divine guidance as in this prayer:
"Almighty God and King of all kings, Lord of heaven and earth, by whose
leave earthly princes rule over mortals, when the most prudent of kings
who administered a kingdom, Solomon, frankly confessed that he was not
capable enough unless Thou broughtst him power and help, how much less
am I, Thy handmaid, in my unwarlike sex and feminine nature, adequate
to administer these Thy kingdoms of England and of Ireland, and to
govern an innumerable and warlike people, or able to bear the immense
magnitude of such a burden, if Thou, most merciful Father didst not
provide for me (undeserving of a kingdom) freely and against the
opinion of many men. Instruct me from heaven, and give help so that I
reign by Thy grace, without which even the wisest among the sons of men
can think nothing rightly. Send therefore, O inexhaustible Fount of all
wisdom, from Thy holy heaven and the most high throne of Thy majesty,
Thy wisdom to be ever with me, that it may keep watch with me in
governing the commonwealth, and that it may take pains, that it may
teach me, Thy handmaid, and may train me that I may be able to
distinguish between good and evil, equity and iniquity, so as rightly
to judge Thy people, justly to impose deserved punishments on those who
do harm, mercifully to protect the innocent, freely to encourage those
who are industrious and useful to the commonwealth. And besides, that I
may know what is acceptable to Thee alone, vouchsafe that I wish, dare,
and can perform it without paying respect to any earthly persons or
things. So that when Thou Thyself, the just Judge, who askest many and
great things from those to whom many and great things are entrusted,
when Thou requirest an exact accounting, charge me not with badly
administering my commonwealth and kingdom. But if by human
thoughtlessness or infirmity Thy handmaid strays from the right in some
thing, absolve me of it by Thy mercy, most high King and most mild
Father, for the sake of Thy Son Jesus Christ; and at the same time
grant that after this worldly kingdom has been exacted of me, I may
enjoy with Thee an eternity in Thy heavenly and unending kingdom,
through the same Jesus Christ, Thy Son and the Assessor of Thy kingdom,
our Lord and Mediator. To whom with Thee and with the Holy Spirit, one
everlasting King, immortal, invisible, only-wise God, be all honor and
glory forever and ever, amen."
Elizabeth promoted commercial speculations, which diffused a
vast 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.
London was England's greatest manufacturing city. By 1600 the
greatest trading companies in London ceased to be associated only with
their traditional goods and were dominated by merchants whose main
interest was in the cloth trade. Ambitious merchants joined a livery
company to become freemen of the city and for the status and social
benefits of membership. The companies still made charitable endowments,
had funeral feasts, cared for the welfare of guild members, and made
lavish displays of pageantry. They were intimately involved with the
government of the city. They supplied members for the Court of
Aldermen, which relied on the companies to maintain the City's
emergency grain stores, to assess and collect taxes, to provide loans
to the Crown, to control prices and markets, to provide armed men when
trouble was expected, and to raise armies for the Crown at times of
rebellion, war, or visits from foreign monarchs. From about 1540 to
1700, there were 23% involved in cloth or clothing industries such as
weavers, tailors, hosiers, haberdashers, and cappers. 9% were
leatherworkers such as skinners; tanners; those in the heavy leather
crafts such as shoemakers, saddlers, and cobblers; and those in the
light leather crafts such as glovers and pursers. Another 9% worked in
metals, such as the armorers, smiths, cutlers, locksmiths, and
coppersmiths. 8% worked in the building trades. The victualing trades,
such as bakers, brewers, butchers, costermongers [sold fruit and
vegetables from a cart or street stand], millers, fishmongers,
oystermen, and tapsters [bartender], grew from 9% before 1600 to 16% by
1700. Of London's workforce, 60% were involved in production; 13% were
merchants before 1600; 7% were merchants by 1700; 7% were transport
workers such as watermen, sailors, porters, coachmen, and shipwrights;
and 5-9% were professionals and officials (this number declining). Life
in London was lived in the open air in the streets. The merchant
transacted business agreements and the attorney saw his clients in the
street or at certain pillars at St. Paul's Church, where there was a
market for all kinds of goods and services, including gentlemen's
valets, groceries, spirits, books, and loans, which continued even
during the daily service. Some gentlemen had offices distant from their
dwelling houses such as attorneys, who had a good income from trade
disputes and claims to land, which often changed hands. Plays and
recreation also occurred in the streets, such as performances by
dancers, musicians, jugglers, clowns, tumblers, magicians, and men who
swallowed fire. The churches were continuously open and used by trades
and peddlers, including tailors and letter-writers. Water carriers
carried water in wood vessels on their shoulders from the Thames River
or its conduits to the inhabitants three gallons at a time. A gentleman
concocted an engine to convey Thames water by lead pipes up into men's
houses in a certain section of the city. In 1581, a man took out a
lease on one of the arches of London Bridge. There he built a
waterwheel from which he pumped water to residents who lived beside the
bridge. Soldiers, adventurers, physicians, apprentices, prostitutes,
and cooks were all distinguishable by their appearances. An ordinance
required apprentices to wear long blue gowns and white breeches with
stockings, with no ornamentation of silk, lace, gold or silver and no
jewelry. They could wear a meat knife, but not a sword or dagger.
Apprentices lived with their masters and worked from 6 or 7 a.m. to 9
p.m. Some people knitted wool caps as they walked to later sell. There
were sections of town for booksellers, butchers, brewers, hosiers,
shoemakers, curriers, cooks, poulters, bow makers, textwriters,
pattenmakers, and horse and oxen sellers. Large merchant companies had
great halls for trade, such as the mercers, grocers, drapers,
fishmongers, and goldsmiths. The other great guilds were the skinners,
merchant tailers, salters, haberdashers, ironmongers, vintners, and
clothworkers. Smaller guilds were those of the bakers, weavers,
fruiterers, dyers, Thames watermen and lightermen, carpenters, joiners,
turners, and parish clerks. The guilds insured quality by inspecting
goods for a fee.
About 1571, mercer and Merchant Adventurer Thomas Gresham
established the Royal Exchange as a place for merchants and brokers to
meet for business purposes. It became the center of London's business
life. Its great bell rang at midday and at 6 p.m. Its courtyard was
lined with shops that rented at 50s. yearly and became a popular social
and recreational area. Gresham formulated his law that when two kinds
of money of equal denomination but unequal intrinsic value are in
circulation at the same time, the one of greater value will tend to be
hoarded or exported, i.e. bad money will drive good money out of
circulation.
The work-saving knitting frame was invented in 1589 by minister
William Lee; it knit crosswise loops using one continuous yarn and was
operated by hand. The stocking knitters, who knitted by hand, put up a
bitter struggle against its use and chased Lee out of the country. But
it did come into use. Some framework stocking knitters paid frame rent
for the use of their knitting frames. Frame knitting became a scattered
industry.
By 1600 basement services were frequently found in town houses
built on restricted sites in London. Lastly, provision of water
supplies and improved sanitary arrangements reflected concern with
private and public health. There was virtually no drainage. In the case
of town houses, some owners would go to considerable effort to solve
drainage problems, often paying cash to the civic authorities, but
sometimes performing some service for the town at Court or at
Westminster, in return for unlimited water or some drainage. Most
affluent households, including the Queen's, moved from house to house,
so their cesspits could be cleaned out and the vacated buildings aired
after use. A few cesspits were made air tight. Otherwise, there was
extensive burning of incense. Refuse was emptied out of front doors and
shoveled into heaps on street corners. It was then dumped into the
Thames or along the highways leading out of town. People put on perfume
to avoid the stench. By 1600, the first toilet and water closet, where
water flushed away the waste, was built. This provided a clean toilet
area all year round. But these toilets were not much used because of
sewer smells coming from them. The sky above London was darkened
somewhat by the burning of coal in houses.
Taverns served meals as well as ale. They were popular meeting
places for both men and women of all backgrounds to met their friends.
Men went to taverns for camaraderie and to conduct business. Women
usually went to taverns with each other. Two taverns in particular were
popular with the intelligentsia. Music was usually played in the
background and games were sometimes played. Beer made with hops and
malt was introduced and soon there were beer drinking contests.
Drunkenness became a problem.
At night, the gates of the city were closed and citizens were
expected to hang out lanterns. The constable and his watchmen carried
lanterns and patrolled the streets asking anyone they saw why they were
out so late at night. Crime was rampant in the streets and criminals
were executed near to the crime scene.
There were a few horse-drawn coaches with leather flaps or
curtains in the unglazed windows to keep out the weather. The main
thoroughfare in London was still the Thames River. Nobles, peers, and
dignitaries living on the Thames had their own boats and landings. Also
at the banks, merchants of all nations had landing places where ships
unloaded, warehouses, and cellars for goods and merchandise. Swans swam
in the clear bright water. Watermen rowed people across the Thames for
a fee. In Southwark were theaters, outlaws, cutpurses, prostitutes, and
prisons. In 1550 Southwark became the 26th and last ward of London. In
the summer, people ate supper outside in public.
As of old times, brokers approved by the Mayor and aldermen
made contracts with merchants concerning their wares. Some contracts
included holding wares as security. Some craftsmen and manual workers
extended this idea to used garments and household articles, which they
took as pawns, or security for money loaned. This began pawn brokerage,
which was lucrative. The problem was that many of the items pawned had
been stolen.
Elizabeth had good judgment in selecting her ministers and
advisors for her Privy Council, which was organized like Henry VIII's
Privy Council. The Queen's Privy Council of about twelve ministers
handled foreign affairs, drafted official communiques, issued
proclamations, supervised the county offices: the 1500 Justices of the
Peace, chief constables, sheriffs, lord lieutenants, and the county
militias. It fixed wages and prices in London, advised Justices of the
Peace on wages elsewhere, and controlled exports of grain to keep
prices down and supplies ample. It banned the eating of meat two days a
week so that the fishing industry and port towns would prosper. When
grain was scarce in 1596, Elizabeth made a proclamation against those
ingrossers, forestallers, and ingraters of grain who increased its
price by spreading false rumors that it was scarce because much of it
was being exported, which was forbidden. There were labor strikes in
some towns for higher wages after periods of inflation. In 1591, London
authorities rounded up the sturdy vagabonds and set them to work
cleaning out the city ditches for 4d. per day. During the Tudor period,
the office of Secretary of State was established.
Elizabeth did not allow any gentleman to live in London purely
for pleasure, but sent those not employed by the Court back to their
country manors to take care of and feed the poor of their parishes. Her
proclamation stated that "sundry persons of ability that had intended
to save their charges by living privately in London or towns corporate,
thereby leaving their hospitality and the relief of their poor
neighbors, are charged not to break up their households; and all others
that have of late time broken up their households to return to their
houses again without delay." She never issued a license for more than
100 retainers. She was partially successful in stopping Justices of the
Peace and sheriffs from wearing the liveries of great men. She
continued the policy of Henry VII to replace the rule of force by the
rule of law. Service of the crown and influence at court became a
better route to power and fortune than individual factions based on
local power structures. At the lowest level, bribery became more
effective than bullying. The qualities of the courtier, such as wit,
and the lawyer became more fashionable than the qualities of the
soldier.
Most of the men in Elizabeth's court had attended a university,
such as Francis Bacon, son of the Lord Keeper, who became a writer,
attorney, member of the Commons, and experimental philosopher; and
Walter Ralegh, the writer and sea fighter, who had a humble origin.
Many wives and daughters of Privy Councilors attended the Queen in her
privy chamber. Most of the knights or gentlemen of the royal household
were also members of Parliament or Justices of the Peace for certain
districts in the counties. Instead of the office of Chancellor, which
was the highest legal office, Elizabeth appointed a man of common birth
to be Lord Keeper of the Great Seal; she never made a Lord Keeper a
peer. Elizabeth encouraged her lords to frankly make known their views
to her, in public or in private, before she decided on a course of
action. She had affectionate nicknames for her closest courtiers, and
liked to make puns. The rooms of the Queen were arranged as they had
been under Henry VIII: the great hall was the main dining room where
the servants ate and which Elizabeth attended on high days and
holidays; the great chamber was the main reception room, where her
gentlemen and yeomen of the guard waited; the presence chamber was
where she received important visitors; beyond lay her privy chamber and
her bedchamber. She ate her meals in the privy chamber attended only by
her ladies. She believed that a light supper was conducive to good
health. The Lord Chamberlain attended the Queen's person and managed
her privy chamber and her well-born grooms and yeomen and
ladies-in-waiting. The Lord Steward managed the domestic servants below
the stairs, from the Lord Treasurer to the cooks and grooms of the
stable. The court did not travel as much as in the past, but became
associated with London. Elizabeth took her entire court on summer
visits to the country houses of leading nobility and gentry. Courtiers
adopted symbolic "devices" as statements of their reaction to life or
events, e.g. a cupid firing arrows at a unicorn signified chastity
under attack by sexual desire. They carried them enameled on jewels,
had them painted in the background of their portraits, and sometimes
had them expressed on furniture, plate, buildings, or food.
The authority of the Queen was the authority of the state.
Elizabeth's experience led her to believe that it was most important
for a monarch to have justice, temperance, magnanimity, and judgment.
She claimed that she never set one person before another, but upon just
cause, and had never preferred anyone to office for the preferrer's
sake, but only when she believed the person worthy and fit for the
office. She never blamed those who did their best and never discharged
anyone form office except for cause. Further, she had never been
partial or prejudiced nor had listened to any person contrary to law to
pervert her verdicts. She never credited a tale that was first told to
her and never corrupted her judgment with a censure before she had
heard the cause. She did not think that the glory of the title of
monarch made all she did lawful. To her, clemency was as eminent in
supreme authority as justice and severity.
Secular education and especially the profession of law was now
the route for an able but poor person to rise to power, rather than as
formerly through military service or through the church.
The first stage of education was primary education, which was
devoted to learning to read and write in English. This was carried out
at endowed schools or at home by one's mother or a tutor. The children
of the gentry were usually taught in their homes by private teachers of
small classes. Many of the poor became literate enough to read the
Bible and to write letters. However, most agricultural workers and
laborers remained illiterate. They signed with an "x", which
represented the Christian cross and signified its solemnity. Children
of the poor were expected to work from the age of 6 or 7.
The next stage of education was grammar [secondary] school or a
private tutor. A student was taught rhetoric (e.g. poetry, history,
precepts of rhetoric, and classical oratory), some logic, and Latin and
Greek grammar. English grammar was learned through Latin grammar and
English style through translation from Latin. As a result, they wrote
English in a Latin style. Literary criticism was learned through
rhetoric. There were disputations on philosophical questions such as
how many angels could sit on a pin's point, and at some schools,
orations. The students sat in groups around the hall for their lessons.
The boys and some girls were also taught hawking, hunting and archery.
There were no playgrounds. The grammar student and the undergraduate
were tested for proficiency by written themes and oral disputations,
both in Latin. The middle classes from the squire to the petty
tradesman were brought into contact with the works of the best Greek
and Roman writers. The best schools and many others had the students
read Cicero - the "De Officiis", the epistles and orations; and some of
Ovid, Terence, Sallust, Virgil, some medieval Latin works, the
"Distichs" of Cato, and sometimes Erasmus and Sir Thomas More. The
students also had to repeat prayers, recite the Lord's Prayer and the
Ten Commandments, and to memorize catechisms. Because the students came
from the various social classes such as gentlemen, parsons, yeomen,
mercers, and masons, they learned to be on friendly and natural terms
with other classes. A typical school-day lasted from 7:00 AM -to 5:00
PM. There were so many grammar schools founded and financed by
merchants and guilds such as the Mercers and Fishmongers that every
incorporated town had at least one. Grammar schools were headed by
schoolmasters, who were licensed by the bishop and paid by the town.
Flogging with a birch rod was used for discipline. However, the grammar
schools did not become the breeding grounds for humanist ideas because
the sovereigns were faced with religious atomism and political unrest,
so used the grammar schools to maintain public order and achieve
political and religious conformity.
Many grammar schools had preparatory classes called "petties"
for boys and girls who could not read and write to learn to do so. The
girls did not usually stay beyond the age of nine. This was done by a
schoolmaster's assistant, a parish clerk, or some older boys.
Some founders of grammar schools linked their schools with
particular colleges in the universities following the example of
Winchester being associated with New College, Oxford; and Eton with
King's College, Cambridge. The new charter of Westminster in 1560
associated the school with Christ Church, Oxford and Trinity College,
Cambridge.
The government of Oxford University, which had been Catholic,
was taken from the resident teachers and put into the hands of the
Vice-Chancellor, Doctors, Heads of Colleges, and Proctors. Cambridge
already had a strong reformed element from Erasmus' influence. Oxford
University and Cambridge University were incorporated to have a
perpetual existence for the virtuous education of youth and maintenance
of good literature. The Chancellors, masters, and scholars had a common
seal. Oxford was authorized to and did acquire its own printing press.
Undergraduate students entered about age 16 and resided in rooms in
colleges rather than in scattered lodgings. The graduate fellows of the
college who were M.A.s of under three years standing had the
responsibility, instead of the university, for teaching the
undergraduates. This led many to regard their fellowship as a position
for life rather than until they completed their post-graduate studies.
But they were still required to resign on marrying or taking up an
ecclesiastical benefice. The undergraduates were fee-paying members of
the college or poor scholars. Some of the fee-paying members or
gentlemen-commoners or fellow-commoners were the sons of the nobility
and gentry and even shared the fellows' table. The undergraduate
students were required to have a particular tutors, who were
responsible for their moral behavior as well as their academic studies.
It was through the tutors that modern studies fit for the education of
a Renaissance gentleman became the norm. Those students not seeking a
degree could devise their own courses of study with their tutors'
permission. Less than about 40% stayed long enough to get a degree.
Many students who were working on the seven year program for a Master's
Degree went out of residence at college after the four year's
"bachelor" course. Students had text books to read rather than simply
listening to a teacher read books to them.
In addition to the lecturing of the M.A.s and the endowed
university lectureships, the university held exercises every Monday,
Wednesday, and Friday in which the student was meant through
disputation, to apply the formal precepts in logic and rhetoric to the
practical business of public speaking and debate. Final examinations
were still by disputation. The students came to learn to read Latin
easily. Students acted in Latin plays. If a student went to a tavern,
he could be flogged. For too elaborate clothing, he could be fined.
Fines for absence from class were imposed. However, from this time
until 1945, a young man's university days were regarded as a period for
the "sowing of wild oats".
All students had to reside in a college or hall, subscribe to
the 39 articles of the university, the Queen's supremacy, and the
prayer book. Meals were taken together in the college halls. The
universities were divided into three tables: a fellows' table of earls,
barons, gentlemen, and doctors; a second table of masters of arts,
bachelors, and eminent citizens, and a third table of people of low
condition. Professors, doctors, masters of arts and students were all
distinguishable by their gowns.
Undergraduate education was considered to be for the purpose of
good living as well as good learning. It was to affect the body, mind,
manners, sentiment, and business, instead of just leading to becoming a
better disputant. The emphasis on manners came mostly from an Italian
influence. The university curriculum included Latin and Greek languages
and was for four years. The student spent at least one year on logic
(syllogizing, induction, deduction, fallacies, and the application of
logic to other studies), at least one year on rhetoric, and at least
one year on philosophy. The latter included physics, metaphysics,
history, law, moral and political philosophy, modern languages, and
ethics (domestic principles of government, military history, diplomatic
history, and public principles of government), and mathematics
(arithmetic, geometry, algebra, music, optics, astronomy). The
astronomy taught was that of Ptolemy, whose view was that the celestial
bodies revolved around a spherical earth, on which he had laid out
lines of longitude and latitude. There were lectures on Greek and Latin
literature, including Aristotle, Plato, and Cicero. There were no
courses on English history in the universities.
About 1564, the curriculum was changed to two terms of grammar,
four terms of rhetoric, five terms of dialectic (examining ideas and
opinions logically, e.g. ascertaining truth by analyzing words in their
context and equivocations), three terms of arithmetic, and two terms of
music. There were now negative numbers, irrational numbers such as
square roots of non-integers, and imaginary numbers such as square
roots of negative numbers. The circumference and area of a circle could
be computed from its radius, and the Pythagorean theorem related the
three sides of a right triangle. Also available were astrology, alchemy
(making various substances such as acids and alcohols), cultivation of
gardens, and breeding of stock, especially dogs and horses. Astronomy,
geometry, natural and moral philosophy, and metaphysics were necessary
for a master's degree. The university libraries of theological
manuscripts in Latin were supplemented with many non-religious books.
There were graduate studies in theology, medicine, music, and
law, which was a merging of civil and canon law together with
preparatory work for studying common law at the Inns of Court in London.
In London, legal training was given at the four Inns of Court.
Students were called to dinner by a horn. Only young gentry were
admitted there. A year's residence there after university gave a
gentleman's son enough law to decide disputes of tenants on family
estates or to act as Justice of the Peace in his home county. A full
legal education gave him the ability to handle all family legal
matters, including property matters. Many later became Justices of the
Peace or members of Parliament. Students spent two years in the clerks'
commons, and two in the masters' commons. Besides reading textbooks in
Latin, the students observed at court and did work for practicing
attorneys. After about four more years' apprenticeship, a student could
be called to the outer bar. There was a real bar of iron or wood
separating the justices from the attorneys and litigants. As "Utter
Barrister" or attorney, he would swear to "do no falsehood in the
court, increase no fees but be contented with the old fees accustomed,
delay no man for lucre or malice, but use myself in the office of an
Attorney within the Court according to my learning and discretion, so
help me God, Amen". Students often also studied and attended lectures
on astronomy, geography, history, mathematics, theology, music,
navigation, foreign languages, and lectures on anatomy and medicine
sponsored by the College of Physicians. A tour of the continent became
a part of every gentleman's education. After about eight years'
experience, attorneys could become Readers, who gave lecturess; or
Benchers, who made the rules. Benchers, who were elected by other
Benchers, were entrusted with the government of their Inn of Court, and
usually were King's counsel. Five to ten years later, a few of these
were picked by the Queen for Serjeant at Law, and therefore eligible to
plead at the bar of common pleas. Justices were chosen from the
Serjeants at Law.
Gresham left the Royal exchange to the city and the Mercer's
Company on condition that they use some of its profits to appoint and
pay seven lecturers in law, rhetoric, divinity, music, physics,
geometry, and astronomy to teach at his mansion, which was called
Gresham College. They were installed in 1598 according to his Will.
Their lectures were free, open to all, and often in English. They
embraced mathematics and new scientific ideas and emphasized their
practical applications. A tradition of research and teaching was
established in mathematics and astronomy.
There were language schools teaching French, Italian, and Spanish to
the aspiring merchant and to gentlemen's sons and daughters.
Many people kept diaries. Letter writing was frequent at court.
Most forms of English literature were now available in print. Many
ladies read aloud to each other in reading circles and to their
households. Some wrote poetry and did translations. Correctness of
spelling was beginning to be developed. Printers tended to standardize
it. There was much reading of romances, jest books, histories, plays,
prayer collections, and encyclopedias, as well as the Bible. In schools
and gentry households, favorite reading was Edmund Spenser's "Faerie
Queen" about moral virtues and the faults and errors which beset them;
Erasmus' New Testament, "Paraphrases", "Colloquies", and "Adages"; Sir
Thomas North's edition of Plutarch's "Lives of the Noble Grecians and
Romans"; Elyot's "The Book Named the Governor"; and Hoby's translation
of "The Courtier". Gentlemen read books on the ideals of gentlemanly
conduct, such as "Institucion of a Gentleman" (1555), and Laurence
Humphrey's "The Nobles: or of Nobilites". Francis Bacon's "Essays or
Counsels Civil and Moral" were popular for their wisdom. In them he
commented on many subjects from marriage to atheism. He cautioned
against unworthy authority, mass opinion, custom, and ostentation of
apparent wisdom. He urged the use of words with their correct meaning.
At a more popular level were Caxton's "The Golden Legend",
Baldwin's "Mirror for Magistrates", Foxe's "Book of Martyrs" about
English Protestant who suffered at the stake, sensational stories and
pamphlets, printed sermons (including those of Switzerland's Calvin),
chronicles, travel books, almanacs, herbals, and medical works. English
fiction began and was read. There were some books for children. Books
were copyrighted, although non-gentlemen writers needed a patron. At
the lowest level of literacy were ballads. Next to sermons, the
printing press was kept busiest with rhymed ballads about current
events. Printed broadsheets on political issues could be distributed
quickly. In London, news was brought to the Governor of the News
Staple, who classified it as authentic, apocryphal, barber's news,
tailor's news, etc. and stamped it. Books were also censored for matter
against the state church. This was carried out through the Stationers'
Company. This company was now, by charter, the official authority over
the entire book trade, with almost sole rights of printing. (Schools
had rights of printing). It could burn other books and imprison their
printers.
Italian business techniques were set forth in textbooks for
merchants, using Italian terms of business: debit (debito), credit
(credito), inventory (inventorio), journal (giornal), and cash (cassa).
The arithmetic of accounting operations, including multiplication, was
described in "An Introduction for to Lerne to Reckonwith the Penne or
Counters" in 1537. Accounting advice was extended to farmers as well as
merchants in the 1569 "The Pathway to Perfectness in the Accomptes of
Debitor and Creditor" by James Peele, a salter of London. It repeated
the age-old maxim: ...receive before you write, and write before you
pay, So shall no part of your accompt in any wise decay. The 1589
"Marchants Avizo" by Johne Browne, merchant of Bristol, gave
information on foreign currencies and keeping of accounts, and included
specimens of various business documents such as insurance policies, and
bills of exchange. It also advised: Take heed of using a false balance
or measure...covet not over familiarity amongst men it maketh thee
spend much loss of time. Be not hasty in giving credit to every man,
but take heed to a man that is full of words, that hath red eyes, that
goeth much to law, and that is suspected to live unchaste ... When thou
promiseth anything be not stuck to perform it, for he that giveth
quickly giveth double ... Fear God...know thy Prince...love thy parents
...give reverence to thy betters ...be courteous and lowly to all
men... be not wise in thine own conceit. The old prohibitions of the
now declining canon law were still observed. That is, one should not
seek wealth for its own sake or beyond what was requisite for a
livelihood in one's station, exploit a customer's difficulties to
extract an extravagant price, charge excessive interest, or engross to
"corner the market".
The printing press had made possible the methodizing of
knowledge and its dissemination to a lay public. Knowledge associated
with the various professions, occupations, and trades was no longer
secret or guarded as a mystery, to be passed on only to a chosen few.
The sharing of knowledge was to benefit the community at large. Reading
became an out-of-school activity, for instruction as well as for
pleasure.
In 1565, graphite was discovered in England, and gave rise to
the pencil. Surveying accuracy was improved with the new theodolite,
which determined directions and measured angles and used a telescope
that pivoted horizontally and vertically. Scientists had the use of an
air thermometer, in which a column of air in a glass tube sitting in a
dish of water contracted or expanded with changes in the temperature,
causing the water to move up or down the tube.
William Shakespeare, a glovemaker's son, wrote plays about
historical events and plays which portrayed various human personalities
and their interactions with each other. They were enjoyed by all
classes of people. His histories were especially popular. The Queen and
various earls each employed players and actors, who went on tour as a
troupe and performed on a round open-air stage, with people standing
around to watch. In London, theaters such as the Globe were built
specifically for the performance of plays, which before had been
performed at inns. The audience applauded and hissed. There were
costumes, but no sets. Ordinary admission was 2d. Before being
performed, a play had to be licensed by the Master of the Revels to
make sure that there was nothing detrimental to the peace and public
order. Elizabeth issued a proclamation forbidding unlicensed interludes
or plays, especially concerning religion or government policy on pain
of imprisonment for at least fourteen days. The common people still
went to morality plays, but also to plays in which historical
personages were portrayed, such as Richard II, Henry IV, and Henry V.
Some plays were on contemporary issues. Musicians played together as
orchestras. Music with singing was a popular pastime after supper;
everyone was expected to participate. Dancing was popular with all
classes. Gentlemen played cards, dice, chess, billiards, and tennis.
They fenced and had games on horseback. Their deer-hunting diminished
as forests were cut down for agriculture and the deer were viewed as an
enemy eating crops. Falconry diminished as hedges and enclosures
displaced the broad expanses of land.
Country people enjoyed music, dancing, pantomime shows with
masks, hurling, running, swimming, leap frog, blind man's buff,
shovelboard played with the hands, and football between villages with
the goal to get the ball into one's own village. Football and
shin-kicking matches often resulted in injuries. They bought ballads
from traveling peddlers. Early morning dew gathered in May and early
June was thought to have special curative powers. There were many tales
involving fairies, witches, devils, ghosts, evil spirits, angels, and
monsters which were enjoyed by adults as well as children. Many people
still believed in charms, curses, divination, omens, fate, and advice
from astrologers. The ghosts of the earth walked the earth, usually
because of some foul play to be disclosed, wrong to be set right, to
warn those dear to them of peril, or to watch over hidden treasure.
Good witches cured and healed. Fairies blessed homes, rewarded minor
virtues, and punished mild wrongdoing. When fairies were unhappy, the
weather was bad. There were parties for children.
The merry guild feast was no longer a feature of village life.
There were fewer holydays and festivals. The most prosperous period of
the laborer was closing. An agricultural laborer's yearly wage was
about 154s., but his cost of living, which now included house rent, was
about 160s. a year. In 1533, daily wages in the summer for an
agricultural laborer were about 4d. and for an artisan 6d. In 1563 in
the county of Rutland, daily wages for laborers were 7d. in summer and
6d. in winter; and for artisans were 9d. in summer and 8d. in winter.
Unemployment was widespread.
There were endowed hospitals in London for the sick and infirm.
There were others for orphans, for derelict children, and for the
destitute. They worked at jobs in the hospital according to their
abilities. There was also a house of correction for discipline of the
idle and vicious by productive work. Elizabeth continued the practice
of touching people to cure scrofula, although she could not bring
herself to fully believe in the reality of such cures, contrary to her
chaplain and her physician.
In the towns, shop shutters were let down to form a counter at
the front of the shop. Goods were made and/or stored inside the shop.
Towns held a market once a week. Fairs occurred once or twice a year.
At given times in the towns, everyone was to throw buckets of water
onto the street to cleanse it. During epidemics in towns, there was
quarantine of those affected to stay in their houses unless going out
on business. Their houses were marked and they had to carry a white rod
when outside. The quarantine of a person lasted for forty days. The
straw in his house was burned and his clothes treated. People who died
had to be buried under six feet of ground. There was an outbreak of
plague in London roughly every ten years.
There was a pity for the distressed that resulted in towns
voting money for a people of a village that had burned down or been
decimated by the plague.
Communities were taxed for the upkeep and relief of the
prisoners in the gaols in their communities.
Queen Elizabeth was puzzling over the proper relationship
between the crown and the church when Richard Hooker, a humble scholar,
theologian, and clergyman, attempted to find a justification in reason
for the establishment of the Church of England as an official part of
the governing apparatus of the nation. His thinking was a turning point
from the medieval notion that God ordered society, including the
designation of its monarch and its natural laws, and the belief in a
divine structure with a great chain of being, beginning with God and
working down through the hierarchy of angels and saints to men, beasts,
and vegetables, which structure fostered order in society. Hooker
restated the concept of Aristotle that the purpose of society is to
enable men to live well. He wrote that although the monarch was head of
state and head of religion, the highest authority in civil affairs was
Parliament, and in religion, the Convocation. The monarch had to
maintain divine law, but could not make it. From this later came the
idea that the state derives its authority from the will of the people
and the consent of the governed.
Protestant women had more freedom in marriage and were allowed
to participate in more church activities compared to Catholic women,
but they were not generally allowed to become pastors. Due to
sensitivities on the part of both Catholics and Protestants about a
female being the head of the church, Elizabeth was given the title of
"Supreme Governor" of the church instead of "Supreme Head". Elizabeth
was not doctrinaire in religious matters, but pragmatic. She always
looked for ways to accommodate all views on what religious aspects to
adopt or decline. Images, relics, pilgrimages, and rosaries were
discouraged. But the Catholic practice of kneeling at prayer, and
bowing and doffing caps at the name of Jesus were retained. Also
retained was the place of the altar or communion table at the east end
of churches, special communion wafers instead of common bread, and
elaborate clergy vestments. The communion prayer contained words
expressing both the Catholic view that the wafer and wine contained the
real presence of the body and blood of Christ, and the Protestant view
that they were commemorative only. Communion was celebrated only at
Easter and other great festivals. Church services included a sermon and
were in accordance with a reformed prayer book and in English, as was
the Bible. Care was even taken not to use words that would offend the
Scots, Lutherans, Calvinists, or Huguenots. People could hold what
religious beliefs they would, even atheism, as long as they maintained
an outward conformity. Attendance at state church services on Sunday
mornings and evenings and Holydays was enforced by a fine of 12d.
imposed by the church wardens. Babies were to be baptized before they
were one month old or the parents would be punished.
The new religion had to be protected. Members of the House of
Commons, lawyers, schoolmasters were to take the oath of supremacy or
be imprisoned and make a forfeiture; a second refusal brought death.
When numerous Anabaptists came from the continent to live in the port
towns, the Queen issued a proclamation ordering them to leave the realm
because their pernicious opinions could corrupt the church. The new
church still accepted the theory of the devil causing storms, but
opposed ringing the holy church bells to attempt to drive him away. The
sins of people were also thought to cause storms, and also plagues.