Week 1 - Life in Elizabethan England

What was life like in Elizabethan England?

The Elizabethan era began when Elizabeth, the daughter of Henry VIII was crowned Queen of England in 1558. It had been a time of great change, with the royal court and the country swinging between Catholicism with Queen Mary, then Protestantism with Queen Elizabeth. People could be persecuted for being the wrong religion, there were witch trials, and people would have been scared at times.

At the time, poor people would have been living in small cottages in villages dotted around the countryside, with holes for windows, and often seven to eight people living in one cottage. There would have been little light, with people waking and going to bed when dark. They would have worked very hard, with long hours, living and working on land that they did not own. They would have had to pay a percentage of their crops or livestock to the landowner, even if it had been a poor farming year. This meant that it could be very easy to starve. If you were lucky enough to be of a higher class, life would be easier but there were still difficulties. Population density in towns and cities was very high and there was poor sanitation with raw sewage. This included human waste from chamber pots, running down the streets. People during this era believed that washing too much could be bad for their health, so may have only had a bath every few months although they would have changed their linen underclothes everyday if they could afford it. They didn’t have toothbrushes, relying on sticks and clothes to clean then. The body odors must have been overpowering!

There were many health issues in this period. Dirty water could spread cholera, so people would drink a weak beer instead, there was typhoid, vomiting from dirty water, and also outbreaks of the plague. Many babies and children died very young.  You could call a doctor if you could afford it, but they may not have been very useful. They used leeches, bloodletting and poultices to try to treat many illnesses. However, many things that we survive easily today could be very dangerous during the period. The life expectancy in the period was only 42 years.

However, despite these many difficult issues, the era had lots of exciting changes. There were growing chances for people to change jobs, make money, and move up in the world. Many people started moving from the countryside to cities like London in search of their fortunes. The population of London increased from 70,000 to 200,000 during this period. People were also given new things to do during their free time, with entertainment including plays in newly built theatres, cockfighting, bear baiting and card games.

During this period only women who had no other choice would have worked, and it therefore was seen as a lower class thing. However the children from poor families would also have worked.