Wednesday 29 March 2017

Setting the scene - Life in Elizabethan England


  • Facts:
    • Heaths were seen as horrific and ugly, unlike the scenic and uplifting connotations they may have today.
    • Life in the countryside was not pleasant. The people who lived there were poor and often there was a large sized family that lived in each individual home. It was typical for 7 or 8 people to share small 1 room cottages. The conditions of these homes was very cramped and dark on account of the small windows that lined the wall. The windows were literally holes in the wall and so these homes were also very cold as only shutters could block out the cold. an open fire would be made inside the home in an attempt to keep the home as warm as possible however the small windows and tiny hole in the roof (the chimney before it had evolved) meant that the room would always be full of smoke which affected the health of poor Elizabethans. Even in the summer, the small windows allowed a very small amount of light to enter the home. Candles were instead used for light but as rarely as possible because they were also really expensive.
    • The rural poor in Elizabethan England couldn't afford many possessions either. They only had basic things such as pots, forks, baskets and a bench. The floor became beds for them.

    • Most countrymen fall into 1 of 3 categories:


             1 - Yeoman (Rents or owns his own farm. He employees workers)

             2 - Husbandman (Rents the farm that he works on)

             3 - Labourers (Work on someone else's farm)


    • Sometimes you would earn your stay in a barn if you were a casual worker.
    • The money In Elizabethan times was called 'The Groat' (aka fourpence/4d) which was a 20p shaped piece of silver that weighs 2.1 grams. The groat was first established in medieval times. Labourers earned 1 groat per day which was
    • Lemons (3d) were more expensive then they are now (rough ration = £75). And chickens (4d) were a lot cheaper then they are today (equivalent to £100).
    • With wages of 4 d a day, you could afford a loaf of bread, some butter and cheese, 4 small pieces of meat, 3 small pieces of fish and some ale to drink (couldn't drink water because it was polluted). This leaves enough money for a husband and wife but no money for firewood, clothes, money to feed the children or rent. Marriage and children wasn't a choice for some that couldn't afford to make enough money.

    Above information sources from : http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/p01d4279






    Population:

    ‘When Elizabeth I (1533–1603) became queen there were about 2.8 million people in England. The population rose significantly during her reign, to about 4.1 million. Many people lived in the countryside, but in the sixteenth century the town population grew at a greater rate. (sourced from: http://www.encyclopedia.com/humanities/news-wires-white-papers-and-books/daily-life-elizabethan-era)’




    Jobs:

    Much of society was unemployed because there were not a lot of jobs available at the time. However for those that were able to work were only allowed specific jobs depending on their class:





    Entertainment:

    People enjoyed things such as the theatre which was the most popular type of entertainment at the time. Other things such as public execution (especially hanging) and bear baiting (eventually there was a rule made that meant that theatre was not performed on Thursdays so that the day could be reserved for bear baiting) were dark forms of entertainment that kept society amused. Less extreme things such as chess, checkers, tennis, going to the local pub for a drink and song and community celebrations such as May Day.

    The upper class also enjoyed other forms of entertainment such as tournaments of fencing and hunting.


    Religion:

    The popular religions at the time were catholic and protestant. Religion was very strong and important.


    Money



    Superstition:

    - Witches (Witches were often connected with flying broomsticks and potions and were thought of as bad. If you were thought to be a witch you would be burnt at the stake or drowned. One way to check for a witch would be to put a new born baby in water. If the baby drown then it wasn’t a witch, if the baby would float then it would be a witch and so would then be burnt -either way the baby would die. Also, being left handed was considered as a trait of witches and so many left handed people tried to learn how to write with their right hand)
    - Sneezing (this is where the saying ‘god bless you’ came from because it was thought that the individual was sneezing out an evil spirit)
    - Eclipse
    - The seventh son of a seventh son
    - Peacock feathers (this was because the pattern on the feather resembled that of the evil eye and so was connected to the devil)
    - Shoes
    - Spilling salt and pepper (this is where throwing salt over your shoulder comes from)
    - Touch wood
    - Ladders (this is where walking under ladders and bad luck being related comes from)
    - black cats (often associated with witches. It was thought that witches could shapeshift into these animals. This is where a cat crossing your path being unlucky comes from)

    Medicine:

    There weren’t many cures to treat diseases during the Elizabethan period which proved devastating when things such as smallpox, malaria, child-bed fever and the plague arose. There was not much medical education provided for those that wanted it and so doctors charged a very high price for its patients. Because of this, it was mainly only the upper class that were able to receive treatment. Doctors wore special bird masks that contained nice smelling substances such as flowers, herbs and spices in the beak because they believed that the bubonic plague was spreading through the air. This was not the case; however, London was too crowded and unsanitary so rats festered in the rubbish that was on the floor and in riverbanks. Flees lived on the rats and were able to go from thing to thing, transporting the disease quickly.

    Surgery to treat the ill at the time was brutal. Surgery was done without the use of anesthetics because they hadn’t been invented yet and things such as hot iron and a bow saw were used as tools to create incisions in the body. Furthermore, treatment was based on superstition, Aristotle, astrology and what type of surgery you could have done to you depended on your star sign.

    Some Treatments:

    Bleeding out

    Leeches

    Blood letting

    Often blood was removed from the body because it was believed that you could have bad or evil blood. By getting rid of blood, you got rid of the evil spirit and got better. However, a lot of the time, the patients would die from blood loss.

    Some Remedies:

    The Bubonic Plague - Most commonly the buboes were cut open so that a mixture of warm butter, onion and herb could be spread over it.

    Head Pain - Smell sweet smelling herbs such as lavender

    Heal Wounds - Vinegar was thought to kill disease and so was put on wounds

    The Professionals:

    The Rich received:

    Elizabethan Physician - These were the best medically trained individuals. However they charged around 10 gold shillings and were only used by the rich. This was similar for Elizabethan Surgeons and Barbers.

    Elizabethan Surgeons

    Barbers - Were only allowed to pull out teeth and let blood

    The Poor received:

    The Church - The poor were left to turn to the church for comfort because they couldn’t afford any treatment which probably worked in their favour

    The “Wise Woman”

    The Housewife - Produced homemade remedies and potions

    Andreas Vesalius was a professor of anatomy at the age of 23. He wrote a book called ‘De Humani Corporis Fabrica’ which is considered as one of the most important books in the history of science. He was later known as “Thee Father of Anatomy”.

    Ambroise Pare was a French man. When he was growing up he had an apprenticeship as a Barber. Usually a treatment was using hot oil on wounds however when Pare ran out of oil he used egg yolk, rose oil and turpentine as a substitute and discovered that it made the wounds heal better the next day. Because of this he stopped following old medicine methods and began creating his own. He put all his finding into a book called “Les Oeuvres” and was later known as “The Father of Surgery”.


    Theatre:

    English Renaissance theatre, also known as early modern English theatre, or (commonly) as Elizabethan theatre, refers to the theatre of England between 1562 and 1642. This is the style of the plays of William Shakespeare, Christopher Marlowe and Ben Jonson. (Taken from https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/English_Renaissance_theatre)

    The theatre was an expanding industry and became as popular as the cinema in the early 20th century.

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