Life In The 1500's

[Elisi]

Life In The 1500's

The next time you are washing your hands and complain because the
water temperature isn't just how you like it, think about how things used
to be. Here are some facts about the 1500s:


Most people got married in June because they took their yearly bath
in May, and still smelled pretty good by June. However, they were starting
to smell, so brides carried a bouquet of flowers to hide the body odor.
Hence the custom today of carrying a bouquet when getting married.

Baths consisted of a big tub filled with hot water. The man of the
house had the privilege of the nice clean water, then all the other sons
and men, then the women and finally the children. Last of all the babies.
By then the water was so dirty you could actually lose someone in it. Hence
the saying, Don't throw the baby out with the Bath water..

Houses had thatched roofs-thick straw-piled high, with no wood
underneath. It was the only place for animals to get warm, so all the cats
and other small animals (mice, bugs) lived in the roof When it rained it
became slippery and sometimes the animals would slip and fall off the roof.
Hence the saying . It's raining cats and dogs.

There was nothing to stop things from falling into the house..
This posed a real problem in the bedroom where bugs and other droppings
could mess up your nice clean bed. Hence, a bed with big posts and a sheet
hung over the top afforded some protection. That's how canopy beds came
into existence.

The floor was dirt. Only the wealthy had something other than
dirt. Hence the saying, Dirt poor. The wealthy had slate floors that would
get slippery in the winter when wet, so they spread thresh (straw) on floor
to help keep their footing. As the winter wore on, they added more thresh
until, when you opened the door, it would all start slipping outside. A
piece of wood was placed in the entrance way. Hence the saying a thresh
hold.

(Getting quite an education, aren't you?)

In those old days, they cooked in the kitchen with a big kettle that
always hung over the fire. Every day they lit the fire and added things to
the pot. They ate mostly vegetables and did not get much meat. They would
eat the stew for dinner, leaving leftovers in the pot to get cold overnight
and then start over the next day. Sometimes stew had food in it that had
been there for quite a while. Hence the rhyme, Peas porridge hot, peas
porridge cold, peas porridge in the pot nine days old..

Sometimes they could obtain pork, which made them feel quite
special. When visitors came over, they would hang up their bacon to show
off. It was a sign of wealth that a man could, bring home the bacon. They
would cut off a little to share with guests and would all sit around and
chew the fat..

Those with money had plates made of pewter. Food with high acid
content caused some of the lead to leach onto the food, causing lead
poisoning death. This happened most often with tomatoes, so for the next
400 years or so, tomatoes were considered poisonous.

Bread was divided according to status. Workers got the burnt
bottom of the loaf, the family got the middle, and guests got the top, or
the upper crust.

Lead cups were used to drink ale or whiskey. The combination would
sometimes knock the imbibers out for a couple of days. Someone walking
along the road would take them for dead and prepare them for burial. They
were laid out on the kitchen table for a couple of days and the family
would gather around and eat and drink and wait and see if they would wake
up. Hence the custom of holding a wake.

England is old and small and the local folks started running out
of places to bury people. So they would dig up coffins and would take the
bones to a bone-house, and reuse the grave. When reopening these coffins, 1
out of 25 coffins were found to have scratch marks on the inside and they
realized they had been burying people alive. So they would tie a string on
the wrist of the corpse, lead it through the coffin and up through the
ground and tie it to a bell. Someone would have to sit out in the graveyard
all night (the graveyard shift.) to listen for the bell; thus, someone
could be, saved by the bell or was considered a ...dead ringer..

And that's the truth...Now, whoever said History was boring ! ! !

[Grauntie Mag]

Thanks Elisi, a very entertaining read!

[Daisy]

Very interesting, but I'm glad I live in the 21st Century!

[Elisi]

Glad you enjoyed it Grauntie Mag XXX

[Plantaholic]

Doesn't sound like fun

[Gemini]

Most interesting! I don't think I would have liked to live then, and how awful to bath the babies last !!!!!

[Glammanana]

What an interesting read thanks so much for that,I did know a couple of the scenarios as hubby is fond of reading about History etc. Splendid post.

[Shemadee]

Interesting read! Glad I live now and not then!

[Nana]

My history teacher was so boring so I never learnt much because history was never made interesting to me. Your post is great reading Elisi. Brought it all to life. I had no idea where these sayings came from. I wish you could keep this going as it's made me want to know more. ☺️

[Elisi]

Ok Mamar, here we go then


In the 1600s most people still lived in the country. The commonest way for people to live was by running a small farm, growing enough food for themselves and selling the surplus, grazing animals on the common land. The farmer's wife would generally be in charge of the poultry and the dairy, make her own butter and cheese, and sell her surplus eggs, fowls, and dairy produce at market. Women would also spend some of their time spinning wool or flax into thread, either to make their own clothing or to sell to professional weavers.

Items like soap and candles might also be made at home. Children would work on the farm as soon as they were old enough. Country women were generally expected to take care of the family's health, since doctors and apothecaries were not readily available.

A country village would consist mainly of small farmers, but would also have a few specialist craftsmen like the miller, the blacksmith, and the baker.

Towns were a lot smaller than they are now, but filled with tradesmen and craftsmen of every kind. There would be builders, carpenters, smiths, potters, weavers, tailors, butchers, bakers, grocers, armourers, printers and bookbinders, chandlers, jewellers, etc. Businesses were often family affairs, with wives and children participating in the family business, whatever it might be.

A widow would often run a business after her husband died. Children would be apprenticed to trades when they were old enough, or might work in domestic service (this was one of the commonest forms of employment for girls).

People generally had larger families then than they do now, and childbirth could be a hazardous experience, a lot of women died in childbirth, and the infant mortality rate was also quite high. A woman normally gave birth with the aid of a midwife and her friends, men were usually excluded from the birth chamber.

Children were brought up quite strictly, expected to be polite and obedient to their parents, and to make themselves useful as soon as they were old enough. However, that does not mean that parents did not love their children, when children are mentioned in letters and diaries from the period they are usually spoken of with great affection. Children would have played with toys like balls, spinning tops, hobby horses, and girls would have dolls and boys toy weapons etc. There were elementary schools which taught both boys and girls to read and write, but grammar schools, which gave older boys an intensive education mainly in the classics, were usually for boys only. The majority of both boys and girls would leave school at an early age to go into domestic service or do some kind of apprenticeship.

People generally got up and went to bed earlier than they do now, because the lack of effective artificial lighting meant that people were more reliant on daylight. Breakfast would be eaten early and would usually consist of bread, ale, and perhaps cold cold meat. Dinner was eatrn at about 12 o'clock, and was the main meal of the day. In wealthy households, it might consist of several courses, each one offering a choice of different dishes. People generally ate a lot more meat than they do nowadays, for instance the ration for sailors was two pounds of meat a day. Most people drank ale rather than water, water was not considered healthy.

Music and dancing were popular with people of all classes, and most people learnt to play some kind of instrument. Dances were popular with young people in particular because it allowed for contact with the opposite sex (generally young people socialised in groups rather than pairing off too early, since most people could not afford to marry until they were in their mid-twenties, early pairing off was discouraged).

Cards were popular as were board games like chess, draughts, and backgammon. Billiards and bowling were popular games. Games like hide-and-seek and blind-man's-buff were popular with children and adults.

In towns, theaters were popular (though in England they were closed down during the years of the Civil War and the Interregnum - the 1640s and 1650s). People enjoyed sports like wrestling, football (football matches tended to be very large and rather violent), tennis, and archery. Bloodthirsty sports like bull and bear baiting were very popular too. And in the country, hunting and fishing were popular not just as sports but as sources of food. Fairs were held in most towns at least once a year, and would be places not only to buy and sell but to see entertainments like jugglers, acrobats, fire-eaters etc.

There were many seasonal festivals that were celebrated, like Christmas, which used to last for 13 days, Easter, May Day, Midsummer Day.

London was very different in 1600 than it is now...

London was very smelly place.There were different things that caused the smell for example the butchers would skin and gut animals and throw unwanted bits and bobs in the river [which was right by the houses] and people also put all their waste into the river. The smell in the street was very overpowering as you could imagine.

Above the smell some of the few things about cities, back then were that they were not safe places to live. The danger came from crowded city conditions, rabid crime in the poorest areas, and disease.

If you could afford a doctor he would probably 'bleed' you so that the evil spirits could escape from your body.

[Nana]

Thanks Elisi. Before my cataract op' I'd started reading a book Charles Dickens's London. Fascinating. If we think our streets are dangerous & dirty, you've only got to look back in history to see how our streets have actually improved. The exception being after the Saturday night revellers in Town! 😜 Reading this post I am almost transported back in time. Really interesting, thanks very much.

[Elisi]

You're very welcome Marmar

If there is a period in history you would like to know more about, please do pop it here and I'll source the best for you to feast on I love history, always have done and I get a lot of pleasure from finding interesting facts.