What was life like in 1500's England?

Question

how was it different for royalty and for the general populace?

Answer 1

Smelly, really really poor, no food, really really Catholic.

Answer 2

General population smelled.

Answer 3

Well, royalty was much wealthier and more powerful than the general population.  The monarch in those days had real power and could have his own way about most things.  King Henry VIII was able to set himself up as head of the church for instance, because he decided he wanted to be able to marry Anne boleyn, and get his hands on the wealth of the monasteries.

The majority of people in the 1500s would be farmers working the land.  Most people were still living in the system that had developed during medieval times, grouped together in villages, growing crops ont heir own small strips of land (smallholdings as they were known) and grazing their animals on the common ground.  People would keep enough food for their own use and sell the surplus.  The farmer's wife was generally in charge of the dairy and the poultry, she would make her own butter and cheese and raise her own hens, and sell the surplus butter, cheese, eggs and chickens and market.  Most people drank ale or beer instead of water, as water was generally not safe to drink.  The housewife would brew ale in several different strengths, the third brewing produced 'small ale' or 'small beer' which was the mildest of the three, with a very low alcahol content, which would be drank for everyday usage.  As there was little fresh food available in winter, the housewife would spend a lot of hter time preserving food for winter use, smoking and salting meat, making pickles and preserves etc.

Spinning was another occupation that most women spent a good deal of time doing.  Wool or flax would be spun into thread to be made into cloth.  Often girls would do the spinning, this was so common that the term 'spinster' was still in use in the 20th century to describe an unmarried woman.

There were few doctors in those days and as most people lived int he country they did not have access to a dcotor easily anyway, so women were generally expected to have a knowledge of first aid and medicine, and to make their own home remedies.

towns were much smaller then than now, but they were full of tradesmen and craftsmen of all kinds.  Businesses tended to be family affairs, with wives and children participating in whatever the family business was.  Houses were generally made of wood, and most people in those days did not have indoor plumbing, water would generally be fetched from a well.  

The homes of royalty and nobility did sometimes have indoor plumbing, and so did monasteries (before they were dissolved in the 1530s).  Royalty often had very grand bathrooms.  The common people probably did not bathe much, as it would be hard work filling a tub with water by hand and then emptying it, but the would wash from a bowl.  And people always washed their hands before and after a meal, because people generally ate with their fingers.

Most people who could afford it kept servants, you did not have to be wealthy to have servants, though of course rich people would have more.  Even a family of modest means would probably have a maidservant though.  People tended to work as servants when they were young, until they go tmarried.  The children of the noblity were sometimes married off young, in their early teens, and their marriages were often arranged between families.  Among the common people though, it was more usual for people to marry later, in their mid-twenties, when they were able to set up their own household, either by inheriting a smallholding, or setting up in some kind of business.

The children of the rich were often education at home by tutors, children of the middle classes and lower classes could be educted at home or go to elementary schools which educated both boys and girls, they would leanr reading, writing, and basic arithmetic.  Older boys could go to the grammar schools, where they would learn mainly Latin and Greek, with some mathematics and music.  Some boys would go on to university, though the proportion who went there was tiny compared to the proportion who go nowadays.

The invention of printing meant that books were much more widely available, and more people were able to afford them, though they were still a luxury item.  Music and dancing were popular with people of all classes, and people enjoyed playing board games like chess, draughts and backgammon.  Bowls was a game that was popular with all classes, and tennis was played mainly by the upper classes.  Hunting was another sport popular with the upper classes, and hawking.  men were still supposed to practice archery in case they were needed in war, but the longbow was obsolete as a weapon by the late 16th century, and people were shooting mainly for sport.  Football matches were generally discouraged as they were very violent with sometimes hundreds of men joining in, and people often got injured or even killed.  Wrestling was popular though, and people also enjoyed more bloodthirsty sports like bear-baiting, and rooster fighting.  Golf was popular in Scotland (Mary Queen of Scots was a keen golfer) but I am not sure if it had caught on in england at that time.

The Reformation brought about a major change in people's religious practices.  Up until the 1530s, the religion in england was Catholic.  After the Reformation, many of the practices of the Old Religion were discontinued.  There were far fewer saints days celebrated for instance (sainsts days had been holidays) and the veneration of the saints was forbidden, and pligrimage shrines were destroyed.  Instead of the Latin mass, the church services were said in english (there was a rebellion against the use of the english prayer book in the west country).  The destruction of the monasteries brought about another big change.  Monasteries had provided care for the sick and elderly and hospitality for poor travellers, and education for poor children, and their destruction meant that poor people could no longer rely on help in times of need.

Answer 4

Turbulent and dangerous times.   International diplomacy was closely tied up with personal family relationships between members of Royal Families in England, Scotland and Spain.  Religious differences in the decades following Henry VIII's split from Rome affected everyone in the country, and resulted in big social and economic changes, with the dissolution of the monastries, and real and imagined plots both external and internal.  These continued throughout the reigns of Edward VI, the short reign of Lady Jane Grey, the reign of  'Bloody Mary' and of Elizabeth I.   A good time to get yourself burnt at the stake for heresy.