Living In Early Elizabethan England
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- Created by: RoisinTewkesbury
- Created on: 29-01-20 21:16
Society In General
Upper Class:
- Queen
- Nobles- Men from the greatest and wealthiest families
- Gentry- Men and Women with titles e.g. knights
Middle Class:
- Yeoman Farmers- A landholder who employed tenant farmers
- Tenant Farmers- A person who farms rented land
Lower Class:
- Landless Poor
- Vagrants- A person who wanders from place to place in order to look for work.
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Towns
Order Of Society Within Towns:
- Merchants- Traders who were very rich
- Professionals- Lawyers, Doctors and Clergymen
- Business Owners- Often skilled craftsmen like glovers, carpenters and tailors
- Skilled Craftsmen- Skilled employees including apprentices
- Unskilled Workers- People who had no regular work and could not provide for themselves or their families
- Unemployed- See above
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Education
Noble Boys:
- Private Tutor
- Time living with another noble household
- University
- Inns of Court (to practice law)
Noble Girls:
- Private Tutor
- Time living with another noble household
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Education Continued
'Middling' Boys:
- Petty Schools- They were set up in a teacher’s home and boys began their education here. They would learn reading, writing, and basic arithmetic.
- Grammar Schools- They were for bright boys who were sons of gentry or professionals. The fee depended on how wealthy the family was. There was a great emphasis placed on memorizing huge quantities of texts. Public speaking and debating were also important.
- Apprenticeships- To run a farm or a business
- Occasionally University
'Middling' Girls:
- Dame Schools- Girls began their education here and they were run by a local educated woman. It was focused on the home and as wives and mothers.
- Educated at home by mothers
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Education Continued
Poor Children:
- No formal education- They learned what they needed by working on the land or in the home
- Literacy of men had increased (20% to 30%)
- Girls were expected to marry (10% of women could read which didn't change)
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Sports
Nobles and Gentry:
- Hunting*
- Hawking*- Hunting with a trained hawk
- Fishing*
- Fencing- Sword fighting
- Real Tennis
- Wrestling in private
Working People:
- Wrestling in public
- Football- more violent than the modern game
* Women may have done this too
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Spectator Sports
- Baiting- Bear chained up with dogs set on it
- All Classes
- CockFighting- Cockerels fight each other
- All Classes
- Sporting Competitions- All Classes with variation depending on the sport e.g. tennis was watched by the gentry and wrestling by working people
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Pastimes
- Literature- e.g. reading histories, poetry or plays and writing poetry
- Nobles, Gentry, Middling
- Theatre- E.g. Mystery plays (Religious plays), Secular Plays (Non-Religious plays)
- All Classes
- New theatres built like The Red Lion and The Rose
- All actors were men
- Rich sat, poorer people paid a penny to stand
- Music- e.g. playing instruments like lutes (like a guitar), Spinets and harpsichords (like pianos) for the gentry and bagpipes and fiddles for working people. Listening to performances
- All Classes
- Dancing
- Done in separate classes
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Did the treatment of the poor change?
Poverty Increased
- Population grew by 35% (towns and cities grew particularly quickly)
- Rising Prices (inflation)- Bad harvests led to food stortages
- Wages stayed the same (more labour)
- Higher Rents (more demand for land)
- Poor Harvests
- Unemployment
- Cloth trade decreased in some years
- Sheep farming grew- Fewer people were needed than growing crops
- Enclosures- Small farms were taken over by big farmers and their tenants were evicted
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Did the treatment of the poor change? Continued
Goverment Action
- Sympathy for people unable to work (impotent/deserving poor) so poor relief paid for by poor rate (local rate).
- Harsh treatment of those able to work but didn't (able-bodied/idle)
- Laws show a slight change as people recognised that that unemployment was a problem
- Statute of Artificers (1563)- Made sure Poor Relief was collected
- Vagabonds Act (1572)- Punished Vagabonds but said how much poor relief should be
- Poor Relief Act (1576)- JPs (Justices of the Peace*) to find work for able-bodied poor but set up House of Correction for those who refused to work
* Voluntary position who were responsible for ensuring law and order were kept in the counties
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What was the church like?
Religion
- People were very religious
- Religious festivals were celebrated throughout the year
- The Parish Church was the centre of village life
The Reformation
- Protestantism begun to grow in Europe with the reformation in 1532
- The English Reformation began with Henry VIII
- Edward (Protestant) and Mary (Catholic) made big changes to the Church during their short reigns
- Religion was dividing many countries in Europe
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What was the Church like? Continued
Catholic and Protestant
Pope/ No Pope
Bishops/ Bishops not necessary
Latin/ English
Priest is intermediary/ Direct relationship with God
Miracle/ No Miracle
Vestments/ No Vestments
Decorated/ Plain
Statues/ No statues
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What was Europe like in 1558?
Scotland
- Seperate Kingdom
- Ruled by Mary Of Guise (Mary Queen Of Scots' mother) who was Catholic
- Close links with France (Mary Queen Of Scots was married to the French king
- Protestantism was growing
Spain
- Rich, Powerful country with a large Empire with colonies in Europe and the New World (the Americas)
- Catholic
- Ruled by Phillip II (who had been married to Mary I of England
Spanish Netherlands
- Part of Spain's empire
- Very close to England
- Opposition to Spanish rule was growing
- Protestantism growing there too
France
- Quite Powerful
- Catholic
- Allies with Scotland
- Ruled by Francis II who was married to Mary Queen Of Scots
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