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Elizabethan England - Life in Elizabethan times i - Coggle Diagram
Elizabethan England - Life in Elizabethan times i
Living standards and fashions
Social hierachy
Countryside
Nobility were at the top
Homeless and vagrants at the bottom
90% lived in the country
Towns
Merchants at the top
Unskilled labourers and unemployed at the bottom
10% lived in towns
Obedience
You owed respect to those above you and had a duty of care to those below you
Landowners ran their estates according to these ideas
In households, husband/ fathers was head of the house, his wife and children were espected to obey him
Fashions
Sumptuary laws in 1574
Only royalty could wear ermine
Only nobility coudl wear silk
Ordinary people had to wear wool, linen or sheepskin, and were restricted to certain colours
Purple could only be worn by roylty, gentry and members of the nobility
Gentry
Who was the gentry
Knights, esquired and gentlemen wo lived in the countryside
Knight was mark of honour given by the Queen
Esquired had knights as their ancestors (fighting kind)
Gentlemen had become wealhy landowners
Rise of the gentry
gentry grew in size wealth and influence in Elizabethan England
Members of the gentry like Raleigh and Walsingham had more influence in the court, influence of noble families increased
Members of the gentry joined the nobility through marriage
Increasing wealth allowed the gentry to build and extend their houses
Growing prosperity
Growth in manafacturing industries such as wool lead to increase wealth for merchants
London became a city centre of finance and trade
Privaterring brough gold and silver from Spanish ships
Relatively small number of people became increasingly wealthy
Divided society
Most people remained poor and struggled to live
During the 1590s, bad harvests and falling wages meant that many people struggled to provide for their families
Many became vagrants, moving from place to place in search of work and often reduced to begging
Poors involvement in riots and rebllions threatened the gentry's lives and their property
Elizabethan theatre
Structure
Reflected on English society
Ordianry people watched the play standing in spit
Wealthier people sat in a stadium-style seat around the stage
Members of the gentry sat in galleries or stage
Theatre
Comedies funded by wealthy noblement were popular
Acting groupds included the Queen's Men and Leicster's Men
All social classes attended the theatre
Globe theatre is an example
Importance
Reflected on socvierty and could depict problems in society
Could portray messages to the audience
Could make the Queen look Good
Attitudes to theatre
Why was it so popular?
Cheap form of entertainment
Appealed to all social classes
Appealed to different tastes
Social groups
Queen - Enjoyed plays at her court
Nobility - ould show off their wealth
Gentry - Could entertain friends and business partners
Poor - Could gain cheap adisison
Negative attitudes
Many puritans disliked the theatre
Plays contained immoral references to sex, drunkenness and witchcraft
Many of the characters were disreputable
Government
Worried that the content of plays might encourage a rebellion
From 1572 - Pblished plays required a licence
By 1596 all theatre were banned from the City of London
Increase in poverty
What was poverty
Unemployed or ill
Couldn't afford food
Vagrants - people without a settled home or regular work
Types of people
Widows
Sick and elderly
Orphans
Poeple on low wages
Reasons for increase in poverty
Population growth - population of 4.2 million in 1601 - more demand for food and increase labour supply so lower wages
Bad Harvests - 1560-1590 - redcued food supply
Growth of towns - rents were higher and prices rose
Demand for land - More people needed land, so rents rose
Attitudes
Traditional
Deserving poor - those who couldn't help themselves, like the old
Idle poor - lazy people who didn't want to work
Poor should be given every opportunity to better themselves
Changing
Fear that poverty could casue a rebellion
Cost of dealing with the poor was increasing
Bad harvest and economic situations lead to authorities to develop a more constructuive attitude towards poverty
Policies
Poor Rate - Local tax organised by JPs with the proceeds spent on improving the lives of the poor
Statute or Artificers 1563 - Those who refused to pay the poor rate could be put in prision
1601 - Elizabethan poor law - Able-bodied to work in workhouses, Idle poor sent to prisons, children became apprentices