The Elizabethan era began in 1558 after Elizabeth came to power. During this time the population were predominantly peasants and not "gentile" or wealthy. From the clips on BBC 2, I found that most peasants lived in the moors and lands away from London where it was extremely communal and not very wealthy. Around 2 million people lived in London between the reign of Elizabeth and Henry VIII with only another 10% of the general population living in Towns. The poor were quickly losing ways to get work that was reliable as the changes to farming and the increasing population meant many were out of work, moving to London in hopes of finding work. When they would reach London jobs would obviously be scares and so resort to begging on the streets to acquire cash.  |
| ‘Food in history’ is Pieter Breugel the Elder’s ‘The Fight between Carnival and Lent’ (1559) |
http://www.shakespeare-online.com/faq/entertainment.html
During this time going to the theatre was a pass time enjoyed by "the masses", so both the poor and the wealthy enjoyed Watching performances. Very frequently during this time whole towns would suffer loses of life due to deaths from mass illness and infection. Theatre seemed to be one of the main forms of entertainment that brought merriment in the many bleak times during the 16th and 17th century. The theatre was only one of many past times enjoyed by the people of the Tudor time many other sports and games such as cheese grew importance and prominence at this time where even Elizabeth endorsed the game playing frequently. So was bear baiting and other more grotesque sports, at times Elizabeth would invite nobels and diplomats to her quarters to watch matches and fights she would host.
religion,
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Elizabethan_era
The Elizabethan rule came at the end of many years of religious unrest with this beginning as Henry VIII departed from the Catholic church in Rome during the Reformation. Through this time religions like Puritanism and Protestants became very prominent instead of orthodox Catholicism. As Elizabeth came into power while the religious unrest between these emerging groups and the foundations of Catholicism were at war. But unlike Henry VIII, Elizabeth began to cool the tensions between the religious groups by refraining from persecution and giving both protestants and devout Catholics space to pray and worship as they wished instead of condemning one group. Elizabeth herself was a protestant.
superstition+ Medicen
Superstition in Elizabethan England was rife with many of the population believing in the existence of witches, ghosts, curses and other fanciful nonsensical things. These beliefs in the supernatural and other odd things lead to very peculiar rituals and traditions up held strictly by the believers of the strange and somewhat peculiar. Many examples of the effects of this superstition appear on the kids show "Horrible Histories" in episodes about weird Elizabethan laws that is on my blog and there is also another clip from an American youtuber who discusses Elizabethan people and their now antiquated superstitions that are both on my blog.
These two clips greatly aided me in finding out quick information about Tudor superstitions and beliefs, but after further research I discovered more detailed pages of information laying out all Tudor superstitions and rituals. On further research I found that these superstitions were held by the common folk and the nobility as well, with the populous of Elizabethan England very wary and careful of their actions regarding the supernatural as they believed there was a delicate balance between demons, spirits, luck and misfortune that all linked into the now mythical world of superstition.This careful balance was to go much further than the spiritual world of ghosts but also extended to the natural world, where normal accidents were blamed on a lack of balance in this sacred order. Some of those beliefes and superstitions were:
why we say "god bless you" when someone sneezes is because it was strongly believed that when you open your mouth to sneeze you give the devil an opportunity to enter your body.
good luck charms were usually made out of iron, silver, fire, salt and running water
An eclipse was seen as an omen for evil
Children who were born with deformerties or with missing limbs were seen as cursed by the devil, it was also suggested that their mothers had consorted with (had sex with) demons prior to the childs conception this is linked to the very strong religious society that the elizabethans lived in, anything unfamiliar or out of the ordinary was viewed as witchcraft or the mark of the devil's hand
Women who lived alone, were older and single were frequently accused of being witches due to the way society viewed women and their role in the world, if you werent married and you didnt have children, were well educated or wise; there was something wrong with you. Also women who had pets, frequently black cats were suspected of withchraft. Black cats were frequently displayed in folklore as Familiars (Familiars are an evil spirit in the form of an animal that witches used to cast spells and conduct other witch-like things.)
Herb lore lead to the use specifically
money + Jobs,
During the time of Queen Elizabeth she encouraged a sense of self reliance and growth in the economy, encourag
medicine,
theatre.
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