SECTION 2: HOW COMFORTABLE WERE THE LIVES OF …falstaffexperience.co.uk/uploads/docs/TUDOR2-SectionTwo&Three.pdf · SECTION 2: HOW COMFORTABLE WERE THE LIVES OF RICH TUDOR PEOPLE?

© The Falstaff Experience 2009

How the poor lived

A poor family’s house was usually one small room with a hole in the wall for a window (which might have a closing wooden shutter). They slept on straw or straw-filled mat-tresses with only a blanket to keep themselves warm. Furniture was simple; a wooden table, some stools and maybe one wooden bed, and a one or more wooden chests to keep everything in. Really poor people’s homes were made of cob (mud). They would also have an iron cooking pot, to hang/sit over the fire and some wooden bowls and mugs. The cottage floor was usually just beaten earth. The poor often had to share their home with their animals. The houses were damp and draughty and filled with smoke as they had no chimneys. The smoke went out through a hole in the thatch. The only water would come from a well or stream and would have to be fetched in buck-ets, this made it difficult to keep everything (including themselves) clean. The toilet would be a hedge or an outside hut away from the house and rubbish was just thrown onto a ‘midden’ where the pigs and hens would find anything worth scavenging. There were many farm labourers who either rented a cottage and got paid wages by the farmer or got a cottage in return for working for the farmer. A farm labourer was paid 6d a day (2p) and a loaf 2d (1p). You would get up when the sun came up and go to bed when the sun set. The only light in your house came from the fire or from rushlights (candles made from reeds dipped in animal fat) which gave off very little light and stank.

MUSEUM PUPIL WORKSHEET _______________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

SECTION 2: HOW COMFORTABLE WERE THE LIVES OF RICH TUDOR PEOPLE?


Wealthy Tudor homes were made of timber or, if you were really wealthy, of brick or stone. The walls of rooms were lined with oak panelling to keep out drafts and wooden floors. People slept in four-poster beds hung with curtains to reduce drafts. In the 16th century some people had wallpaper but it was very expensive. Other wealthy people hung tapestries or painted cloths on their walls.

In Tudor England carpets were a luxury only the richest people could afford. They were too expensive to put on the floor! Instead they were hung on the wall or over tables. People covered the floors with rushes, reeds or straw, which they strew with sweet smelling herbs. Once a month the floor covering was changed.

In the rich people lit their homes with beeswax candles. However they were expensive. The rich had clocks in their homes and the very rich had pocket watches although most people relied on pocket sundials.

Rich Tudors were also fond of gardens. Many had mazes, fountains and topiary (hedges cut into shapes).

The rich ate vast amounts of meat. However they rarely ate vegetables. They were also fond of sweet foods and sugar was very expensive. In the 16th century new foods were introduced from the Americas. Many Tudors, such a Elizabeth I, had rotten teeth due to the sugar. Turkeys were introduced into England about 1525. Potatoes were brought to England in the 1580s but at first few English people ate them.

Rich people liked to show off their gold and silver plate. The middle classes would have dishes and bowls made of pewter. There were no forks in Tudor times. People ate with knives and their fingers or with spoons. Wealthy people had silver or pewter spoons.

How the rich lived



Label the different materials (wood, brick, slate, glass) Label the different rooms. Label the different activities.

MUSEUM PUPIL ACTIVITY SHEET _______________________________________________________________________________________________________________________


Here we have the outside and inside of three houses—a poor Tudor’s house, a rich merchant’s house and a palace. Can you label which is which?



LOOK AT THE OUTSIDE OF THE MUSEUM Is it old or is it new? ____________________________________________________________________ What is it made of? (brick, stone, slate, wattle-and-daub, wood) _____________________________________________________________________ Would this have been owned by a rich person or a poor person? _____________________________________________________________________ LOOK AT THE INSIDE OF THE MUSEUM Is it old or is it new? ____________________________________________________________________ What is it made of? Look at the floor, ceiling and walls. (brick, stone, slate, wattle-and-daub, wood) _____________________________________________________________________ _____________________________________________________________________



Most people like to leave their possessions and property to family and friends when they die. To make sure that their wishes are known and followed, people write down their bequests in a document known as a will. However, some people die without mak-ing a will and others have so many things that the executors (the people in charge of making sure the terms of the will are carried out) find their job very difficult. In cases like this, an inventory can be drawn up.

The inventory is a list of all the property and goods owned by a person - it even in-cludes debts! In the past, inventories were drawn up by friends of the person who had died or people who worked in the same kind of job. There were no rules about what had to be included in an inventory so some are very long and give details about every possession whilst others are very short.

A large number of inventories from the Tudor period have survived and they can tell us a lot about the people who were living at that time.

Although they look quite boring they contain very use-ful information, such as how people dressed, what things they used, how many rooms they had in their houses, what they did for a living, what animals they kept and what kind of things could be bought in a shop.

The only trouble is that not everyone left an inventory. In fact, it was only people who had anything worth something that left a will or an inventory - in other words, it was just rich people. But, just like today, there were big differences in the lifestyles of different rich people in the Tudor period.


SECTION 3: WHAT CAN INVENTORIES TELL US ABOUT THE LIVES OF PEOPLE AT THIS TIME?

Beds would often be left in a will as they were very expensive items of furniture. Shakespeare left his wife

the ‘second best bed’.


DISCUSSION POINTS In what ways would his will be useful in finding out about the life and times of William Shakespeare?

WILL SHAKESPEARE’S WILL (EXCEPT)



BACKGROUND TO WILLIAM ROGERS (AKA JOHN FALSTAFF) AND HIS INVENTORY

In the 16th century the Shrieve’s House and Barn (now Tudor World) was a tavern called The Three Tunns run by William Rogers and his wife Elizabeth. William Rogers was a mercer and also kept a tavern on the property. From the many dishes mentioned on his inventory taken after his death, it is clear that food as well as drink was served. William Rogers married Elizabeth Walker. During the forty-six year tenancy of Elizabeth Rogers (1578-1624) it is not unreasonable to assume the playwright spent time within its walls. Her nephew, William Walker, was Shakespeare's godson, bequeathed twenty shil-lings in the author's will. Added to that her son-in-law, Matthew Morris and also her cousin John Greene, were co-Trustees of the Bard's property in Blackfriars. The Shakespeare connection continued with Elizabeth Roger's daughter (also Elizabeth) who is thought to have met her husband, Matthew Morris through their mutual associa-tion with Susannah Shakespeare (the poet's daughter) and her husband, Dr John Hall. In fact Susannah and her husband and Elizabeth Morris and her husband were so close they named their children after each other. Shakespeare is said to have based many of the characteristics of his famous character, Sir John Falstaff, on William Rogers the red-faced, over-weight publican - who appears as an aging soldier in The Merry Wives of Windsor and Henry IV part I. William Rogers died in 1597, living his wife Elizabeth to run the tavern and his 8 surviv-ing children.



WILLIAM ROGERS INVENTORY ON HIS DEATH IN 1597

William Rogers, Sergeant-at-Mace, 1597

A true and perfect inventory of all the goods, chattels and credits of William Rogers one of the Sergeants at Mace of Stratford-Upon-Avon within the county of Warwick, late deceased, taken by Mr George Badger, William Wyatt, William Smarte, Gilbert Charnock, Ananyas Nason & others and praised thee 25th day of January in the 49th year of the reign of our sovereign lady Elizabeth the Queen Majesty that now is anno domini 1596.

WILLIAM ROGER’S INVENTORY CAN BE FOUND IN THE MUSEUM. HOWEVER, IF YOU WOULD LIKE A COPY PRIOR TO YOUR VISIT, WE WILL BE HAPPY TO EMAIL THIS 5-PAGE DOCUMENT TO YOU

(WHICH INCLUDES SOME TRANSLATIONS).



When did William Rogers die? ___________________________________________________________________ ___________________________________________________________________ Can you list the rooms/areas that are included on the inventory? ___________________________________________________________________ ___________________________________________________________________ ___________________________________________________________________ How many mattresses and beds can you count? ___________________________________________________________________ ___________________________________________________________________ How many plates can you count? ___________________________________________________________________ ___________________________________________________________________ Why are the windows on the inventory? ___________________________________________________________________ ___________________________________________________________________ What sort of place is this?___________________________________________________________________ ___________________________________________________________________ What does it tell you about William Rogers. ___________________________________________________________________ ___________________________________________________________________ Why don’t we have inventories for the poor people?___________________________________________________________________ ___________________________________________________________________


Documents

SECTION 2: HOW COMFORTABLE WERE THE LIVES OF …falstaffexperience.co.uk/uploads/docs/TUDOR2-SectionTwo&Three.pdf · SECTION 2: HOW COMFORTABLE WERE THE LIVES OF RICH TUDOR PEOPLE?