in towns like stratford a revolution was taking place, the chimney. Having the chimney meant that the buildings could now expand upwards and heat the whole house this was a social revolution because before this only castles and rich homes had such luxury.
School was a place mainly for boys and the very high up to learn the core subject of Latin, but also the basics such as reading and writing. Girls where sometimes allowed to attend a school but education was primarily for boys. Home schooling was the most common place of education were children (mostly boys and some upper class girls) would often be taught by tutors.
The Rich
There was a clear divide between the rich and the poor. The rich would live in lavish big houses with servants. They were known for hating bodily odours and bad breath and would often have a wide selection of fragrances and concoctions to prevent them getting either. Elizabethans would travel a lot, mainly the rich in horse drawn carriages and would spend a lot on their travel, whether it be hire or owned, the driver and the food for the horses.
Punishments
In the 1580’s there was an attempt on the queens life every year, this resulted in the queen becoming very tight on security and releasing a lot of her own spies throughout England to try and gather any information on why and who was trying to kill her. Spies quickly populated England and most people would have them in their households as servants listening to their every word unknowingly. If you were a traitor to the queen you would be punished in the most savage ways, it wouldn't matter if you were rich or high status you would be killed, those who had the most had the most to lose.
The Poor
In Elizabethan England Crime and Witchcraft was extremely common with the belief of witches being most of the population. If you were found guilty if witchcraft you would be burnt at the stake or hung in front of the local town. One of the most dangerous factors of Elizabethan times was the weather, it lead a massive chain of events: Farmers crops would not grow due to weather conditions meaning that they could not sell any produce or make an income, this then lead onto starvation of families and loss of homes which resulted in starvation of the town or village as they would have no access to local produce or food. In 1597 England makes changes to the law, there is an act passed for relief of the poor. This meant that taxes were given to a Parish that would help the very poor with food, clothing, and illness, everyone started to share the duty caring for the poor.
Death
Most children in Elizabethan times would grow up and then lose at least on of their parents and parents would lose up to half their children. Because Medicines were so expensive many people had to go for the cheaper alternative which wouldn't make much difference to the illness. The plague was amongst one of the biggest killers in Elizabethan England, with 80,000 people dead as a result by 1563. If you had the Plague you would be bolted up inside your house and left to die with your family to avoid an outbreak of the disease on anyone else.
Religion
The two main religions throughout the era were Catholic and Protestant beliefs.
Although Elizabeth had adhered to the Catholic faith during her sisters reign, she had been raised a Protestant, and was committed to that faith.
Life was probably very different depending on what class you where, if you were poor life would have been very hard and limited in the Elizabethan era, death would always be around the corner and money would be scarce but you would probably be quite sociable with the others in your village and there would be some forms of entertainment to enjoy. If you were rich life would have been very luxurious for you, perfumes, servants, transport, money, riches and entertainment would be just some of the things there would be for you to enjoy. But being rich could also be potentially dangerous as you would probably have spies in your household listening to your every word, criminals targeting your house/ riches and most importantly the more you had the more you had to lose.
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