Shakespeare's Shack

The Elizabethan Era is the period in which Queen Elizabeth I ruled over England. This period was often referred to as the 'Golden Age', with increased prosperity, exploration of other countries and a renewal of arts and culture at the climax of the Renaissance era.

 

During this period the average life expectancy was 35 years. In London between a quarter and a third of babies died before their first birthday. Only half of children lived to the age of 15.

 

The bubonic plague or 'black death', a rat-bourne disease, is famous from this time.  It spread widely because of unhygienic living conditions. Toilets did not exist, so people used chamber pots, which they emptied in cesspits, vaults, basements or gutters. Ladies walked close to the wall while men walked close to the gutters so if sewage splashed out of the gutter the men got wet, not the women.  Medicine was based on superstition and unfounded beliefs, rather than science.

 

The feudal system consisted of peasants, kings, dukes, earls, viscounts, barons and knights. Your lifestyle depended on where you were in the the feudal system. For example, the poor faced very harsh conditions compared to the rich. The poor worked six days a week. They ate coarse bread and soup made from vegetables and herbs. Meat was rarely had, but sometimes animals were kept for milk and cheese. The rich ate and drank delicacies such as fish, robins, otters, badgers, tortoises, seagulls and French wine. The best food was considered to be roast veal and vension.

 

Entertainment was another sign of their rank and wealth. Falconry, hunting, jousting, tennis and bowls were all activities enjoyed by the rich.

 

Another popular form of entertainment was watching plays. This popularity was brought about by rising playwrights such as William Shakespeare and Christopher Marlowe, and the Elizabethan period saw the establishment of the Globe Theatre in London.