Elizabethan daily life

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Last updated 8:41 PM on 3/25/26
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40 Terms

1
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Family Life

How old were most people when they got married ?

In their 20s

2
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Family Life

How big was the average family ?

4-5 members

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Family Life

What was the name for a child born outside of marriage ?

Illegitimate

4
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Family Life

Did people have sex before marriage ?

  • Illegitimate children were uncommon
  • Sex outside of marriage was forbidden by the church
  • 30% of Elizabethan women got married when pregnant
5
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Family Life

Were people free to choose who they married ?

How did this differ between rich and poor people ?

  • In gentry families, wealthy parents would help arrange a child's partner due to property and status
  • Most middling sort and labouring young people were free to choose who they married
  • Same sex marriage wasn't permitted
6
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Family Life

What were the roles of wives and husbands ?

  • Wives had to obey their husbands at all times
  • Husbands were advised to respect their wives and seek their advice
  • Women were't afraid to argue with their husbands and often helped run family farms or businesses
  • Elizabethans dissaproved of violent husbands and scolding wives
7
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Family Life

Were large families common ?

  • Usually only the gentry and nobility had large families
  • Most families were small even though people had many children as around 30% of children died before turning 15
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Family Life

What were 'wet nurses' ?

Who used them ?

  • Some gentry families used wet nurses to care and breastfeed their babies
  • Most common women looked after their own children
9
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Family Life

What was education and work like for families ?

  • Families with enough money would send their sons to school at around age 7
  • In poorer families children often worked on the farm or helped their parents
  • At age 12/13 most boys left school to work as apprentices or farm servants and girls left to become servants for other families
10
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Family Life

Was physical punishment used by parents ?

  • Physical punishment was widespread
  • Boys would often be beaten in grammar schools
  • Harsh discipline and physical punishment was uncommon at home however
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Family Life

Did people live with their wider family ?

  • Most houses rarely included kin outside parents and children
  • Big gentry houses sometimes had members of wider family
  • When wider family liver together it was because someone was sick and needed looking after, or couldn't take care of themselves
12
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Family Life

Did kin live in the same village ?

  • No, most young people left home at an early age and would settle and work in a different place
13
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The Gentry

What was the gentry class ?

  • The social class below the nobility
  • Owned land and earned an income from it
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The Gentry

What happened to the wealth of the gentry ?

Why ?

  • Population growth, more efficient farming, rising food prices and increased rents all meant the gentry earned more money from their land
15
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The Gentry

How did the gentry show off their wealth ?

  • From the 1570s many of the gentry class bought new homes or improved them
  • They usually had large windows made of glass ( which was very expensive )
  • Large landscapes, chimneys and fireplaces were also signs of wealth
  • They often wore ruffs on clothing made out of expensive silk, velvet, and women wore long sleeved dresses with hoops under their skirts
16
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The Middling Sort

Who were the middling sort ?

  • Social class below the gentry
  • They had to work for their survival but had enough money to pay taxes
  • Richer members of the middling sort included yeomen and merchants who gained wealth through increasing trade and from working on their own land
  • Less prosperous members included shop keepers and small farmers, at risk of poverty
17
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The Middling Sort

Who were yeomen ?

  • Rented land or owned some and worked on it
  • Often had wooden oak houses with at least 2 floors
  • They often had servants
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The Middling Sort

Who were husbandmen ?

  • Usually owned about 5-10 acres of land and often rented it from yeomen
19
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The Poor

How much of the population were poor ?

  • 30% of the population were settled poor
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The Poor

Did poverty increase in Elizabethan times ?

  • Poverty increased largely
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The Poor

Who were the vagrant poor ?

  • Vagrant poor had no home and wondered from place to place looking for work
  • Usually young unmarried men and women
  • Many vagrants died from harsh winter weather each year
  • Villagers were often suspicious of them
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The Poor

Who were the settled poor ?

  • Settled poor had a room to live in and could earn money or receive alms
23
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The Poor

Who were the impotent poor ?

  • Physically unable to work through age or illness
24
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The Poor

Who were the able-bodied poor ?

  • Wanted to work ( capable ) but couldn't get it
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The Poor

How did the government choose to deal with vagrants ?

  • Harshly punished
  • From 1572 law stated that vagabonds over 14 should be whipped and burned through the ear with a hot iron ( for a second time caught begging )
  • Anyone above age 18 could be hanged
  • From 1589 the government prohibited people from giving shelter to vagrants and could be fined for it
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Causes of Poverty

How did Henry VIII and monasteries affect poverty ?

  • In the past monasteries provided support for many poor, ill and disabled people
  • Between 1536 and 1541 Henry VIII closed down England's monasteries and sold off most of their land ( the dissolution of monasteries )
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Causes of Poverty

How did charity affect poverty ?

  • Charity became the main source of support for the poor
  • However poverty became so bad that charitable donations by individuals were no longer enough
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Causes of Poverty

How did changes in agriculture affect poverty ?

What was it like previously ?

  • Traditional farming wasn't very efficient as farmers rented small strips of land in large fields to grow what they needed
  • In the 16th century, landowners developed new techniques to make money, instead of sharing open fields they enclosed these fields to create a few large farms
  • These new farms required fewer labourers, so farmers who rented land were evicted leaving them unemployed and homeless
29
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Causes of Poverty

How did population growth affect poverty ?

How did the population change ?

  • In the 16th century England's birth rate increased and the death rate fell
  • Food production couldn't keep up with the growing population and as a result prices for food rose
  • Prices rose much more quickly than wages causing living standards to fall and many ordinary people fell into poverty
  • The growing competition for land also meant rents increased
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Causes of Poverty

How much did the population increase by ?

When ?

2.8 million in 1541
4.1 million in 1600

31
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Causes of Poverty

How did harvests and food affect poverty ?

  • In the late 1580s and 1590s several failed harvests led to food shortages and higher food prices
  • This pushed some people into extreme poverty with some people starving to death
  • In 1586, 1595,96 and 97 harvests failed
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Response to Poverty

How did many people feel about poverty ?

  • Most people believed everyone had a fixed place in society following the Great Chain of Being
  • People believed everyone had to work hard to care for themselves and their families
  • Many people thought vagabonds were spreading the plague
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Response to Poverty

What did Puritans believe about poverty ?

  • Believed idleness was a sin and thought hard work was important
  • Thought the devil made people idle and therefore anyone who refused to work should be harshly punished
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Response to Poverty

What was the Statute of Artificers ?

When was it made ?

Statute of Artificers
1563

  • If the impotent poor refused to make contributions they could be taken to court and imprisoned
  • The idle poor would be fined and taken to their place of origin if begging without a license
35
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Response to Poverty

What was the Vagabonds Act ?

When was it made ?

Vagabonds Act
1572

  • Impotent poor had to make compulsory contributions to poor relief, overseen by the parish
  • Punishment for vagrancy increased ( whipping and ear boring)
  • The 'deserving poor' were exempt from these punishments for the first time ever
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Response to Poverty

What was the Act for the Relief for the Poor ?

When was it made ?

Act for the Relief of the Poor
1576

  • 'Houses of correction' were set up to punish those who refused to work
  • Justices of Peace had to buy materials to provide work for those who were able to
  • Ear boring and execution for being a vagabond were removed
37
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Response to Poverty

What happened when the act was updated ?

What was the act for the Punishment of Rogues ?

When ?

1597/8

  • 4 overseers were appointed to find work for the poor
  • Beggars were whipped and returned to the parish of origin
  • Each county had to have at least 1 house of correction
  • Tools and materials were provided to the poor and children were apprenticed to a trade
38
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Response to Poverty

When was the poor law introduced ?

What did it do ?

1601

  • 4 overseers were appointed to find work for the poor and collected a poor rate ( money ) from householders in the parish to support the poor
  • Beggars were whipped and returned to the parish of origin
  • Impotent poor were looked after in almhouses and work was provided for the able bodied poor
39
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Response to Poverty

How did the council respond to poverty in York ?

When?

1588

  • Provided people who could work with wool and hemp and paid them small wages to spin in their homes
  • Any rogues or vagabonds would either be put to work or banished from the city
40
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Response to Poverty

How did the town respond to poverty in Ipswich ?

When ?

1569

  • House of Blackfriars was turned into a hospital for people in the town, called Christ's Hospit

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