St Matthew's Guild

Newcastle History

Newcastle-Upon-Tyne

In ancient times, the present location of Newcastle was the site of a Roman fort called “Condernum”. The fort was later renamed “Beonnan-Wall”, meaning “a place within a wall”. A roman temple stood nearby that was dedicated to a local god called Antenocites.

A few centuries later, the Roman fort was renamed again to “Pons Aelius”, after a Roman Emperor. It had a significant role in guarding a bridge across the Tyne. “Pons” was the Latin word for bridge. The Roman bridge was built of timber on stone piers and was used for centuries. The original bridge was destroyed during a fire around 1248. A medieval bridge replaced this burned structure utilizing the Roman foundation.

In Anglo-Saxon times, the old Roman fort was known as “Monkchester” after a small community of monks who settled in the area. The later name of Newcastle did not come into existence until William the Conqueror built a castle there on return from a raid into Scotland. Naturally, William called the building his “New Castle”, and the name has stuck ever since. William’s Castle was built right on the site of the Roman fort.

A medieval walled town grew up around this new castle, which became an important stronghold in the northern defenses against the Scots. Its military importance stimulated trade and commerce and the expanding town of Newcastle developed into a major sea port. By 1300, Newcastle’s importance was such that it was permitted to appoint its own mayor and a century later the town became a county in its own right.

Rope making, ship building and glass making were among the early trades to develop in Newcastle but without a doubt the most important of all the industries of the town was the mining and export of coal. The Tyneside pits were among the first to be worked in England and for centuries Newcastle was the most important exporter of coals to London.

The “New Castle” of William the Conqueror was built of earth and timber and was situated on a defended plateau overlooking the River Tyne. In 1172, during the reign of King Henry II, the castle at Newcastle was rebuilt in stone and most of the stonework of the present keep still dates from this period. Later, in about 1250, a barbican (gate leading into the castle and town) was added to the castle called the “Black Gate” which can still be seen today. Blackgate was converted into a house during the time of Queen Elizabeth by the addition of a roof and windows.

Newcastle & Blackgate

In ancient times, about 122 A.D., Newcastle was the site of a Roman fort. In Anglo-Saxon times, the fort was known as “Monkchester” after monks who settled in the area. A few centuries later, William the Conqueror built a castle on the site of the Roman fort while returning from a raid into Scotland. William called the building his “New Castle”. The castle became one of the most important strongholds in the northern defense of England. The “New Castle” was built of earth and timber and was replaced by a stone building in the 12th century. The castle was huge and surrounded by great walls and defensive ditches. There were several towers including the “Black Gate” which possessed its own drawbridge and portcullis, a heavy metal grating of iron with the lower ends pointed like teeth, suspended by chains over the gateway and lowered to prevent the entrance of an enemy. The impressive “keep” is 85 feet high and towers over the city center. The walls are between 15 and 18 feet thick.

The Renaissance Legacy

As renaissance humanism spread across Europe during the 16th century, it gave people the freedom to look at the world in fresh ways, to express individual thoughts, and to question traditional views. And the achievements of the Renaissance went on to inspire and influence the Western world in the following centuries. Painters and sculptors such as Rembrandt, Michelangelo, Raphael and Leonardo da Vinci were no longer regarded as craftsmen but as fine artists. Writers such as William Shakespeare could use language with new exuberance and beauty. Scientists such as Sir Isaac Newton could examine how the universe functioned and demonstrated that the universe is held together by gravity.

Queen Elizabeth

Elizabeth's Realm

When Elizabeth I ascended the throne in 1558 at the age of 25, England was a kingdom in jeopardy, ravaged by religious turmoil and costly conflicts with France and Scotland. Englishmen feared that Elizabeth could never provide the strong and steady leadership they needed without a husband to guide her. She would prove them wrong.

Elizabeth sought to stabilize her country by establishing a moderate form of Protestantism and concluding peace with France and Scotland.

Peace at home was shattered in 1568 with the arrival of Elizabeth’s Catholic cousin Mary Stuart, who had been forced to abdicate the Scottish throne. Knowing that many English Catholics wanted Mary as their queen, Elizabeth put her under house arrest. A rebellion aimed at installing Mary as England’s ruler broke out in the north, but Elizabeth’s troop quickly stemmed the revolt.

Aside from that rebellion and brief interventions on behalf of protestants in Scotland and France, England remained at peace and managed not only to endure but to prosper, growing stronger at home and abroad.

Elizabethan England had only one large city: London. The center of government, commerce, and social life. London boomed as thousands flocked from around the country to a city ripe with opportunities for rogues and reformers, doctors and lawyers, play-writes and pamphleteers. In this age of enterprise, merchants and the Crown supported adventurers like Sir Francis Drake and Sir Walter Raleigh in their efforts to explore and colonize distant lands – and plunder Spanish treasure ships.

London was reached by London Bridge, over the river Thames, and by roads that passed through the many gates in London Wall. Many well-to-do Englishmen made their homes on the fashionable street known as the Strand, west of the wall, while Londoners of all classes flocked across the river to suburban Southwark to see the plays of luminaries like Shakespeare, who sang the glories of his homeland: “This royal throne of kings, this scepter’d isle, this blessed plot, this earth, this realm, this England.

Luminaries like William Shakespeare sang the glories of his homeland: “This royal throne of kings, this scepter’d isle, this blessed plot, this earth, this realm, this England”.

Worshiping the Queen's Image

In an age when women rulers had few historical role models to choose from, Queen Elizabeth and her legion of admirers drew inspiration from the fabled heroines of myth and scripture. She was linked to biblical figures such as the lawgiver Deborah and likened to the goddesses of Greece and Rome. But above all, she was celebrated as the Virgin Queen – an image Elizabeth shrewdly cultivated for political purposes. By inviting comparisons with the Virgin Mary, she enhanced her appeal in a realm where Catholic sentiment remained strong. Her refusal to take a husband became an asset rather than a liability, enabling her to preserve a pristine aura that no married queen could have maintained.

But Elizabeth was careful not to appear so remote and unworldly that the men who served her found her undesirable. She used her feminine charms skillfully at court to allay hostility and inspire devotion. Indeed, she was ardently admired by dozens of prominent men, including courtiers like Robert Dudley and Sir Walter Raleigh, as well as artists, writers, dramatists, and others wooed her in words and images that contributed greatly to her mystique. At royal tournaments and pageants, they vied with one another for her favor and paid tribute to her in chivalrous terms that recalled the legendary devotion of the Knights of the Round Table to King Arthur. On New Year’s Day and other festive occasions, they showered her with gifts or honored her with clever and often-cryptic love poems that touted her beauty and tested her wit.

That all this passion went unrequited by the Virgin Queen in no way diminished her appeal. Pure and unattainable, she remained forever alluring in the eyes of her admirers. Even in old age, she insisted on being portrayed as young maiden with flowing red hair, but such flattering images were not just expressions of royal vanity. England flowered during her reign, and by depicting her in eternal bloom, artists expressed their hope that this bright season of promise would never end.

Accession Day

November 17, the day on which Elizabeth became queen, celebrated annually by a national holiday with festivities and a tournament.

Religion

Religion was hugely important to everyone in 16th Century Europe. The church had tremendous power over people's lives (and souls). To not be religious was unthinkable. Indeed, to not be Roman Catholic was only a very recent phenomenon.

Before King Henry VIII, you would have been Roman Catholic. Henry VIII instituted the Church of England, which placed the monarch as the Supreme Governor of the Church in England and Ireland. The Church of England was heavily influenced by Martin Luther. In addition to the Roman Catholics and the Church of England, there were also the Radical Protestants, who were influenced by John Calvin. Radical Protestants referred to themselves as "the godly." However, they were more commonly known by the perjorative term of "Puritans". So, as noted, the choice of a religion during this time period was very limited. Everyone was Christian.

If you're interested in learning more about the various Elizabethan religions, please check out this Bibliography for books which may be of help. You can also contact Tim Duncan, who does a magnificent workshop on Elizabethan religions, for more information.

Government & Law

Taxing the People

The rulers of the 16th century needed endless supplies of money. Fighting wars and building palaces were very expensive. Royal servants had to be paid to attend to the complicated business of government. Matters were made worse by a great and rapid increase in prices all over Europe. One way of raising more money was to demand higher taxes from the people.

In many parts of Europe, rich nobles and Church officials did not have to pay these taxes. Most of the burden fell on the peasants, who were already suffering terribly from the rise in the cost of living. These peasants not only paid taxes to their rulers; they also had to pay dues to their local lords, and tithes to their local clergy.

Now and then, peasants resisted the unfair demands made on them. It is surprising that they did not rebel more often.

Crime & Punishment

Punishments in the 16th century seem terribly harsh to us. In England, you could be punished by hanging, suspended by their necks until they slowly strangled to death for stealing goods worth more than one shilling. But many criminals were never caught. There were no detectives or police to track them down. So when a criminal was caught, they were severely punished, to make it clear to others that crime did not pay. This is why executions were held in public.

Violence was more widespread than it is today. In the larger towns and cities, most people went about armed, to defend themselves against sudden attacks or robberies. Torture was the usual way of getting information out of criminals. It seemed quite natural that murderers or traitors should suffer the slow death of being hung, burned alive or boiled to death.

Maritime Justice

The “Master” or Captain of a vessel had “absolute power and authority” by virtue of Queen Elizabeth “to order, rule, govern, correct and punish by imprisonment and violent means and by death.” Tight discipline was necessary, food and drink had to be strictly rationed, and even the careless use of a candle risked fire and explosion.

Unruly sailors in Elizabethan times faced a harrowing array of punishments. Captains tried to keep the peace by laying down rules of conduct; “Serve your God duly, love one another, preserve your victuals (provisions), beware of fire, and keep good company.”

But men who defied the captain or committed crimes received little mercy. Murderers were tied to the body of their victim and thrown overboard, anyone drawing a knife on an officer had his right hand cut off, and thieves were dunked three times into the sea and banished at next landfall.

Riding the Stang

Elizabethans could be as outraged by a social misdemeanor as well as a legal one, leading to some colorful punishments. A passerby once spied a wife rapping her husband with a shoe for pouring a beer while holding the baby.

A report to neighbors would lead to a ritual known as “riding the stang”, intended to shame the man for allowing his wife to master him. The husband is paraded through the streets atop a pole – a stang – usually to the accompaniment of bells, pipes, pots, and pans.

Education

Going to School

An Elizabethan schoolmaster once wrote “that the point of education was to train every person to perform those functions in life which his position shall require”. Most people needed no book-learning to carry out their daily duties, so they received little or no education. Women were expected to content themselves with household work, so girls were rarely educated.

There were many schools for the sons of the nobility and middle classes. At the start of the 1500’s, most schools were attached to churches or monasteries. In these ‘grammar-schools’, boys whose parents wanted them to go to university, or to become priests, learned almost nothing but Latin grammar. Lessons could go on for ten hours a day, six days a week, that’s 1,826 hours of lessons a year compared to 1080 hours today. The boys had to speak Latin, as well as to write it, and could be punished for speaking their own language. Even small offences were severely punished. A pupil might receive more than fifty strokes of the birch switch in a single day.

Later in the century noblemen and merchants set up new schools. Many teachers stopped beating information into their pupils. Instead they encouraged them to seek knowledge for themselves. The desire and need for reading and writing prompted the growth of schools. Elementary schools popped up all over Europe, attended by both boys and girls. These schools taught reading, writing, arithmetic, history, geography, and religion. The boys, if their parents desired, could receive advanced education, which included Latin, philosophy, and law, at secondary schools and universities. Girls were occasionally instructed in these subjects by private tutors.

Formal education was mostly confined to the middle class. The nobility generally taught their children at home, while the poor, laborers and peasants, often did not go to school at all because they could not afford the fees. However, they sometimes attended charity schools run by the church.

Centres of Learning

In the 16th century England, there were only two universities – Oxford and Cambridge. A year or two at college had become a useful stepping-stone towards a career as a lawyer, doctor, business-man or a politician. Few undergraduates studied long enough to gain a degree. Most of them went to university when they were about 14 years old, and often got into “riotous company which draweth them away from their books.”

Students were watched over by tutors. A tutor not only taught his students; he also looked after them when they fell sick, handed out their pocket money, and birched them when they misbehaved.

Serious students completed the full degree course after 7 years, when he will qualify as a Master of Arts. Many students had to pay for their own board and lodging. They studied subjects ranging from astronomy and the theory of music to theology. Students were tested in written examinations and also in “disputations”. These were debates on a set topic between a student and his masters – in Latin.

A Reading Public

The invention of the printing press was one of the most dramatic developments to affect the renaissance world. Until now, the press used hand-carved wooden letters, which produced a poor quality print. Early printed volumes were large, bulky, and expensive, affordable only to wealthy few. With the innovation of movable metal type, it was possible to print entire books. For the first time, exact copies of books could be produced quickly and cheaply. By the 16th century there were more than 1,000 printing workshops through out Europe.

Suddenly, books, some in pocket-size editions that people could carry around with them, became available to everyone, significantly speeding up the spread of classical knowledge.

Whereas in the Middle Ages only the clergy and a few others could read, Renaissance readers came from all social classes and walks of life. They included, of course, scholars and students but also aristocrats, merchants, and trades-people. They numbered among them both men and women.

During the 16th century, about half the population of London could read and write to some degree. By making books plentiful and easily affordable, the printing press certainly led more people to reading and writing. The aristocracy saw literacy as a civilizing influence, and those who could read and write generally advanced further at court. The middle class found literacy a valuable tool in running a business, which required written records and reports. Guilds, professional trade organizations, required that apprentices be able to read and write.

Literacy was for the most part a city trait, with few in the country, aside from the aristocracy, learning to read, since it was not yet essential for farming. Still, most rural villages had at least one reader who would read aloud to the community from books bought from traveling booksellers.

England's Bard

Son of an illiterate glover, William Shakespeare left school at a young age. But a voracious appetite for reading and a natural ear for language more than compensated for his abbreviated education and allowed him to become England’s greatest playwright.

Born in 1564, Shakespeare moved to London around age 23 and began performing and writing for Lord Chamberlain’s Men, a prominent acting troupe. His career flourished as he penned a score of historical dramas, comedies and tragedies, such as “A Midsummer Night’s Dream”, and “Romeo and Juliet”. The Bard, as he would come to be known, became the principle playwright of the Globe Theatre, and produced his greatest tragedies: Hamlet, Othello, Macbeth, and King Lear.

New Frontiers of Knowledge

During The middle ages, most scientific knowledge came either from the Greeks or from the church. Anyone who questioned this ‘scientific knowledge’ could be burnt as a heretic. But a number of 16th-century men did dare to challenge some of the age-old beliefs. “Knowledge is a great thing, but only if it is based on experience”. By carefully observing and experimenting, such men began to form their own scientific ideas.

Copernicus suggested that the earth rotated daily on its axis and, along with other planets, revolved around the sun. Until then it was taught that the sun went around the earth. Galileo was observing the night sky using the recently invented telescope. He discovered that several moons revolve around Jupiter. He also made the first detailed drawings of the moon. Leonardo da Vinci was inventing his flying machines and making the most detailed anatomical drawings of the human body than anyone before.

Exploring the Heavens

The basic shape of the universe had been defined by Greek astronomers back in the 2nd century. Their theories stated that Earth is a static body at the center of the universe, and that the planets and the sun revolved around it. This geocentric, or Earth-centered, view had become a cornerstone of Western thought. But the Renaissance provoked a fresh spirit of inquiry. During the 16th century, the astronomer Nicolaus Copernicus put forward and amazing new theory: that the sun is at the center of the universe, around which Earth and the other planet revolve. This single idea led to a revolution in astronomy.

Medieval astronomers had believed that the moon was a perfectly smooth sphere that produced its own light. Thanks to the development of the telescope, the astronomer Galileo was able to observe the night sky in greater detail than anyone before him. Galileo saw that the surface of the moon was rough and uneven, with valleys and mountains, and that its light was simply a reflection of the sun’s light.

Language, Manners & Speech

Here's the Practical Stuff

Early modern English was much more plastic than we think of our language being. There were no rules written down, no dictionaries, and people were encouraged to play with language; Shakespeare alone is responsible for bringing many words into the language. “Mass media” was virtually non-existent, so there was little standardization. Today, we think of language as a tool, as something we use to communicate information. To the Elizabethans, it was far more—it was a toy, a pastime, and an end unto itself. Much as you showed your wealth with your clothes, you showed your wit and your intelligence with your words. The “insult contest,” in which people tried to out-barb each other was popular; likewise, flattery (especially of women) was an art form (those were the days). Think of language as the Elizabethan’s (and at fair, as your) main form of entertainment. Enjoy your words, revel in them.

Sounds Great, But How Do I Do That?

Think of the spirit of the thing, not about exactness.

Specifically Avoid:

Things to do:

Seven ways to sound like a True Renaissance Man or Woman
1. Invert the normal word order. Instead of “do you think,” try “thinkest you. . . ?” “So say I,” “Goes he to the jakes.”

2. Change “is” constructions into “do/does.” For example, do not use “he’s going to the store,” but “he does (doth) go to the market anon.” “I do think,” “They did see him o’er there,” etc.

3. Use “not” in negative constructions. For example, make “I don’t think so” into “I think not,” “I know it not.”

4. Throw in some old-sounding verb endings. Thinketh, dost, shouldst, goest. Don’t go overboard, though—it will sound fake. They are disappearing from the language by this time, anyway.

5. Ditto for: thee, thou, thine, thy. A little of these words goes a long way. “Thee” forms are for your peers and inferiors; “you” forms are for your superiors and anyone you are trying to flatter.
   • Thou=you (subject: “Thou art a pox-addled scalliwag!”
   • Thy=your (“How is thy head, this morn, Mistress Brickhouse?”)
   • Thine=your, especially in front of a vowel or H (like “an”)
   • Thee=you (object: “I give it to thee.”)]

6. Add exclamations and interrupters. I think me, s’wounds, by my faith, in truth, say you so, indeed, Good my lord/lady, fie, fie on’t, and so on.

7. Double your adjectives and use double negatives. Great huge, great grand, exceeding fine (wroth, angry, beauteous, rich, etc.), not never, nay not, nay never. Not all of these suggestions are completely historically accurate; complete accuracy would take a great deal of study and practice to achieve, and would probably render us unintelligible to the majority of fairgoers. What we’re aiming for here is the spirit of the age; the richness, the playfulness, the wordiness.

Now, go out and enjoy that English sliding trippingly over the tongue!

One final note: when all else fails, when you’re absolutely stuck for words, try “It marvels me much.” Really.

Elizabethan Manners and Speech: Bold and Fearless Think of the following adjectives: assertive, straightforward, boisterous, forceful. Men didn’t just stand— they straddled the ground, feet spread wide. Elizabethans bent onto one knee for their Queen and went on both knees only to God (or the headsman’s axe!). To help keep that head they showed respect to their betters by taking hat in hand and bowing—the more important the person greeted, the deeper the bow. Faire customers love this, and it is fun for you, too.

Manners were rough by our standards, but not deliberately crude. Tossing turkey legs over the shoulder went out with King Henry VIII, but people still ate sliced meat with their fingers. And why not? Forks weren’t popular yet, just knives and spoons. They didn’t have Kleenex tissues, but they did have linen handkerchiefs, and they did bathe . . . occasionally . . . well, every once in a while.

People expressed themselves boldly and physically. Don’t hold back! “The bigger the gesture the better” is a very Elizabethan attitude. Friends (man to man): shake hands and clasp forearms, slap backs...think of the winning team in the locker room. Stand tall! Friends (woman to woman): hugs and cheek kisses, hold hands while you talk, link arms when you walk ...think of grade school best friends. Man to woman and woman to man ...aw, c’mon, you know what to do!

Gossip about common things: the weather, how you are feeling, your family, your wealth, your lover(s), this “wondrous fyne faire”. Let customers catch a snatch of your conversation about your pigs as they pass by. It really blurs the lines of reality and strengthens the fantasy we’re trying to create.

It makes the faire much more real for you and absolutely fantastic for the customers if you greet them and other participants in an Elizabethan tongue. It only takes a few memorized words and phrases to create real magic.

Some Useful Words and Phrases

You can find extensive lists of Elizabethan words and phrases all over the internet. Here are a few to get you started:

Greetings, Titles, and Goodbyes

Good Morrow

God Give You Good Morrow

Well met

God Ye Good Den

Good Sir/Wife

Good Worthy

Good Worthy

Fair Mistress

Goody (old woman)

Good My Lord/Lady

Coz/Cousin (any relative)

Anon’ (until later)

I Shall See Thee Anon

God Save you/thee

Common Words and Phrases

I pray you (please)

Prithee (please)

Tell on, I pray you

What is’t the clock

Gramercy (Thank You)

I crave your pardon (excuse me)

I do think. I do go. I did see

Most Wonderous (best)

Marry! (WOW!)

Verily (truly)

Yea/aye (yes)

Nay/nay not (no)

Gaffer (old man)

Gammer (old woman)

Doxy (cheap girl)

Fare (food)

Wares (items for sale)

Afeared (afraid)

Privies (restrooms)

Out purse (thief)

Carouse (party)

Scurvy (wretched)

Perchance/belike/mayhaps (maybe)

Whoreson (worst sort of rascal)

Forsooth (in truth, an oath)

Toss pot (drunkard)

Adam’s ale (water)

Prithee (would you)

Chide (scold)

Hereabouts (nearby)

Fortnight (two weeks)

Sennight (one week)

Bouze (ale)

Daft (idiot in the senses)

Asunder (apart)

Fulsome (horny)

Hearken (hear)

Trounce/smite (beat)

Certes (certain, I am)

Quoth (quote)

A most excellent conceit (a good idea)

Wench (any young woman)

Insults, Praises, and Proverbs

By My Troth (my word on it)Thou art a boil, a plague sore, an embossed carbunklel!

Thou base rascal. I would fain strike thee dead!

Let vultures gripe thy guts! A pox on you!

Thy wit be so fat and lazy as thy belly?

You are not worth the dust the rude wind blows in your face!

Run through fire I would, for thy sweet sake!

My affection hath an unknown bottom.

O’ she doth teach the torches to burn bright!

Better a witty fool, than a foolish wit.

There is many a man who hath more hair than wit.

Two women placed together makes cold weather.

Many a good hanging prevents a bad marriage.

There is small choice in rotten apples.

One may smile and smile, and be a villian.

Unbidden guests are often welcomest when they are gone.

Strong reasons make strong actions.

People, Trades & Occupations

Family Life

Half of all the children born in the 16th century died before reaching their first birthdays. Those who survived were often killed at an early age by famine, disease or war. Therefore the people were astonished to see that the population was growing very fast. Many were worried that England was getting over-crowded. However, there were far fewer people than there are today. There are perhaps ten times as many people in the British Isles now as there were in 1600.

Children made up about half the population in most countries. Babies were christened very soon after they were born. This was because so many babies died, and their parents wanted to make sure that their souls would go straight to heaven. There were no birth certificates in the 16th century, so many grown-up people were not sure exactly how old they were. Anyone over 40 years of age was considered old.

The father of the household was expected to rule his family as a king ruled his subjects. This meant that he often arranged marriages for all his children. Once they were married, women were often expected to have a baby each year. They also had to run their households. Men controlled their wives almost as closely as their children. Compared to Europe, England was called “a paradise for married women”. But even here, the church taught that woman “was made for the man’s use and benefit”, which usually meant a lifetime of domestic chores and childbearing.

Work in the Fields

In 1600’s, Rural life centered around work, the church, and the local alehouses. Most country people lived in a town or village, even farmers: every day, they walked from their homes to work in the fields. But the country-workers had to provide food and clothing for the townspeople, as well as themselves.

The country-worker’s day often began at dawn, and ended when it was too dark to see. At sowing, ploughing and harvesting times, work would go far into the night.

In autumn everyone helped to get the hay in before rain could spoil it. Hay was very important as feed for livestock during the winter.

Crafts & Industries

The number of skilled craftsmen and industrial labourers was growing dramatically at this time. These people provided buildings, clothes, and furniture for both the rich and poor. They also manufactured the goods which European merchants traded overseas for gold, silver and spices.

In the towns and cities, a craftsman usually belonged to a “guild”. These organizations laid down rules on standards of workmanship, fixed wages and decided on prices for finished goods. They also made sure that apprentices were given proper training by their masters, and looked after members who had fallen on hard times.

The guilds tried to keep craftsmen from elsewhere out of their towns. But governments often encouraged people who had technical skills to come from abroad. They thought it sensible to get hold of the best craftsmen.

Merchants & Traders

“The purpose of every merchant,” wrote and English trader, “is to make a lawful and reasonable profit so as to keep up his business.” In the 16th century, the profits from worldwide trade could be huge. The nobles, especially in southern Europe, despised rich merchants. “Inherited wealth is more honest than earned wealth,” they believed, “in view of the vile gain needed to gain the latter.” But the rulers of Europe were less proud. Kings and Emperors were often glad to borrow money from the greatest family merchants.

Many merchants clubbed together in trade companies, like the Merchant Adventurers of London. Sometimes these companies were granted royal “monopolies”. These were charters allowing only one company to trade in certain goods, or with a certain region.

Cheaper goods from abroad could now reach local markets. But food traveled badly over long distances, unless it was dried and salted. Most people still ate only locally-produced food.

Masters of Stone

Of all the renaissance arts, architecture was considered the most sublime. To become an architect was the ultimate aim of many artists, from the most illustrious to the most humble. Leonardo, Michelangelo, and Raphael gladly would drop the paintbrush or the sculptors chisel to draw plans, survey buildings, and make sketches of facades and design towers or domes of churches. Works of architecture were considered to be the most durable, the most spectacular, and the most complete artistically. The creation of a monumental work of architecture made use of every technique and every talent. A great construction site required the work of hundreds of quarry-workers, laborers, masons, and carpenters as well as glaziers, cabinet-makers, sculptors and painters. All these artisans attained perfect mastery of their art and benefited from the technical advances and superior equipment they had at their disposal. Nothing seemed impossible for the architects.

New Reflections

Glass was coarse and discolored until the Renaissance, when craftsmen discovered how to make a clear product called “crystal”. This important advance led to the manufacture of silvered mirrors. For the first in history, people could see true reflections of themselves. They became more aware of their appearance, and of new fashions in cosmetics, cloths, and hairstyles.

The Pocket Watch

Early clocks, driven by a falling weight, kept poor time. In the 16th century, the invention of the coiled spring made it possible to produce much more accurate clocks, as well as portable “pocket” watches. Such watches were worn around the neck, as much for deoration as for timekeeping.

Sailors and the Sea

Before the 16th century, almost all sea-borne trade was carried on in the Mediterranean, using “galleys”, vessels driven by oarsmen. Then, in the 16th century, Europeans began to trade with faraway peoples. Huge sailing ships were built, called “galleons”, to cross the oceans. Many sailors died on these voyages. Some were killed by pirates or storms, others by disease, often caused by bad food. On long voyages, stored water went bad. It had to be strained through a cloth, to filter off the stinking scum. Sailors often suffered badly from fevers and scurvy, caused by the lack of fresh vegetables or fruit. Scurvy was the bane of many voyages of the day. “It taketh them in their legs, the flesh becomes soft and swelleth in the knees, their teeth would grow loose and their gums would swell.” Most men would recover quickly on a diet that included fruit and lemons. A British sailor was called a “limey” due to the lemon juice served aboard ship.

Another danger was “privateers”. These were privately owned English, French and Dutch ships, who were given royal permission to seize and plunder enemy vessels. The galleons used heavy cannon to fend off the smaller, faster privateers. On galleons of the time, the cannons could only be fired at very close quarters. At times, the vessels had to be within 20 feet of each other. So battles were still decided by the soldiers on board, fighting hand to hand. English “sea-dogs”, like Sir Francis Drake raided Spanish ports and fleets with great success.

Vagabonds & Bandits

Vagabonds were people who either could not or would not find work for themselves. They took to the roads and begged or thieved. Some beggars were wounded ex-soldiers, others just pretended to be crippled, to win sympathy.

Large towns attracted both beggars and those who really wanted to work. The population was rising so fast that there was a lot of competition for jobs. Most vagabonds just wandered around the country until they found work. But there were those who actually chose to beg and steal. They made governments believe that all vagabonds were “loathsomely idle”. Anyone caught begging was therefore punished harshly. In England, a vagabond could be branded on the cheek with a “V” and sent back to his home parish.

The roads of Europe were plagued by bandit gangs. These highwaymen were sometimes in league with innkeepers, who provided rooms for travelers. There were no police forces to fight crime like this. But any bandits who were caught could expect little mercy.

Witchcraft

The 16th century was a time of great hardship and suffering. Many people believed that “servants of the devil”, witches, caused illness, death and famine. It was easy to blame witches for disasters. More people were hunted down and burned as witches in the 16th century than at any time before.

There was no proof that witches put curses on cattle, or killed people with magic spells. But governments and ordinary people blamed them all the same. The main problem was how to identify the witches. They could be men or children, but usually they were thought to be women. A woman who seemed different in any way was suspected at once. She might be a young and beautiful girl, or old and ugly. She might be physically deformed, or even mentally ill.

Suspects were tortured until they admitted to crimes that they never committed. Under horrific torture, women “confessed” to all sorts of crimes. Then they were executed. Hundreds of thousands of innocent women were killed during this time.

Fashions

Social Climbers

In Elizabethan England, wealth itself was not enough to confer distinction on a family. Merchants and others who amassed fortunes were looked down upon by the social elite unless they could show that they had illustrious ancestors. Families with distinguished forebears recorded their genealogies on elaborate trees emblazoned with their coat of arms, considered the ultimate status symbols.

The task of verifying such genealogies and awarding family coats of arms was performed by the College of Heralds, whose members were not above accepting bribes from wealthy social climbers to approve fabricated pedigrees.

No one joined the nobility unless born into it or raised to that perch by the queen, an exceptional honor that she restricted to a few favorites.

Popular Entertainment

During the working week, there was little time for leisure. But on Sundays, Saints’ Days, and the great festivals of Christmas, Easter and the Autumn Harvest allowed people to relax and enjoy themselves.

They danced, drank, sang, and played games like dice, draughts, cards and chess. For those who wanted more bloodthirsty pleasures, there were bear-baiting, cock-fighting and, in the streets of Europe, bull-fighting. Whole villages played a violent form of football (soccer), which was less of a game but more of “a friendly kind of fight”.

Most people could not read, but enjoyed listening to preachers and actors. Plays were put on by bands of traveling players, in market squares and inn yards. But these actors were often treated by local authorities as little better than vagabonds. During Queen Elizabeth’s time, proper theatres were built in the large towns and cities. In these places, packed audiences were thrilled by the plays of men like Shakespeare.

Dress

Dress in the 16th century was not just a matter of personal taste. Queen Elizabeth collected ward- robes full of magnificent dresses, many of them encrusted with precious stones. She dazzled her subjects with outfits like her white silk dress “bordered with pearls the size of beans”.

Few people could afford to dress fashionably. For most of the century, wealthy men and women copied the styles worn at the Spanish court. Then, towards the end of the century, they began to look at France for new ideas. There were no fashion magazines, so small dolls dressed in the latest French styles were being sent from Paris to those who wanted to keep in touch with the trends.

Fashionable cloths were expensive, elegant but flimsy. Shoes were made of velvet, silk or soft leather. Women’s dresses and men’s breeches were covered in lavish embroidery. Sometimes they were slashed, to show off different material underneath. Women wore frames called “farthingales” under their gowns, to make their skirts stand out.

Hair Today, Gone Tomorrow

Men’s hair fashions changed bewilderingly during the 16th century. At about 1500, men favored long hair and a clean-shaven chin. By the 1520’s, the fashion had switched to short hair plus beards and mustaches. By the 1560’s, hair was long again, but long beards were laughed at.

A Renaissance beauty would take great trouble each day to arrange her hair. A wealthy woman would have an ivory comb and a special hair- parting instrument. Gum Arabic, employed as a glue in the 20th century, was used to make curls stick to their foreheads. Thick strands of hair were stiffened with gold lacquer called “Venus’s hair.” Leonardo da Vinci wrote “among the simple-minded, one single hair out of place means high disgrace.”

The most fashionable color for hair was blonde, and many women tried to bleach their hair by spending whole days in the sun. False hair, made of white or yellow silk, was also popular.

Food & Drink

Food & Drink

Most peasant diets were unbalanced and boring. In an age of dramatic increases in prices, the poor could afford little more than bread. Sometimes the bread was stirred into watery vegetable stews. But meat was to expensive for most people. Fruit was quite common, even though doctors believed it caused fevers. Since people depended on bread, one bad harvest could cause widespread starvation. At such times, the hungry would eat almost anything – straw, roots, rats, even tree-bark.

By contrast, the rich ate an enormous variety of meat and fish. Meat was often dried and salted, to keep it through the winter. Then it was cooked in hot spices – to cover up the taste and smell of decay. Most vegetables were despised by the rich, although cabbages were thought to prevent baldness.

New delicacies like turkeys and drinking chocolate provided variety now and then. Sugar was still a luxury. It was expensive, and difficult to obtain. When available, it was sprinkled on everything, including meat.

The Fork & The Napkin

During the renaissance no festival was even possible without the pleasures of the table. Food was a sign of wealth; its abundance demonstrated the fortune of the host who invited his guest to partake in good food and wines.

In an effort to refine table manners, in the 16th century, each guest was given a napkin, a plate and a glass, and sometimes a knife and a two- pronged fork. Table forks were rare until now, where they were beginning to be used more and more in wealthier homes. These implements were novelties; it would take another 300 years before they were common place.

Most often, fingers were used for eating, but according to manual of etiquette, people were advised to “pick up the meat with three fingers, and not to fill the mouth with overlarge morsels,” and “to avoid putting meat in the mouth with two hands.” As for the table napkin, precise instructions were given that it was not to be used “for wiping away sweat and blowing the nose.”

Ale

A dark, heavy alcoholic beverage made from water, malted barley, and spices, consumed within a week because it spoiled quickly. The common everyday drink (breakfast, lunch and dinner) of the English people.

Alehouses

A drinking establishment where beer and ale are served.

Church-Ales

Fund raising events held by churches where beer or ale was sold to raise money for the parish.

Bride-Ales

Another name for the bride’s post-wedding feast at which prodigious amounts of ale were drunk.

Hogshead

A large cask of ale with a capacity ranging from 63 to 140 gallons

How to Make Drunkards Loathe Wine

To make common drunkards loathe and abhor wine, put a live eel in a wide-mouthed pot deep enough to suffocate it. Give the strained wine to the drunkard to drink.

Health & Hygiene

Health & Hygiene

No matter where people stood in stature or wealth, they lived in the midst of disease and death. Influenza, smallpox and bubonic plague swept across Europe. The worst effects were felt in towns and cities, where large numbers of people were crowded together in filthy conditions. In 1599 alone, plague killed all but 500 of the 4500 inhabitants of Santander in Spain.

Doctors could not explain these diseases, let alone cure them. The doctors and surgeons could deal only with the less mysterious ailments. Those who could not afford to pay doctors’ fees used herbs as cures. They probably recovered more quickly than the doctors’ patients, who were told to swallow crabs’ eyes, buttered live spiders or powdered human skull.

By modern standards, 16th century people were hopelessly unhygienic. Soap was very expensive, and people rarely washed. “The more the dirt is moved, the more it stinketh” the English believed. Even kings like Henry IV of France had to use special perfumes to drown their dreadful body odors. We can only imagine what their subjects smelled like.

The Human Body

For 1,000 years, the science of the body, anatomy, had remained virtually unchanged. Medieval doctors relied on textbooks and tradition. In the 16th century, a revolution in anatomy took place, led by artists, like Leonardo da Vinci and Michelangelo, as well as doctors. This revolution, inspired by the rediscovery of the writings of the great classical physicians, and encouraged by a new spirit of inquiry and observation, changed everything. Both doctors and artists began to dissect bodies and to describe the results with unheard-of accuracy. The first medical textbook written in a thousand years was published. “On the structure of the human body”, it was based on the practice of human dissection.

Before the 16th century, surgeons were considered little more than mechanics and had scant training. Their array of instruments were often un-sterilized and crude. Now, anatomy and dissection became an essential part of a physician’s training. Modern surgery was born, and standards were improved. Wounds were closed by stitching, rather than cauterizing (burning with a hot iron) them.

A 16th century surgeon could amputate a man’s leg without the benefit of anesthesia. Skilled surgeons could remove a limb while spilling as little as four ounces of the patient’s blood.

Advances in medical sciences during the Renaissance came primarily from the need to treat victims of the bubonic plague.

Hospitals

A charitable institution for the refuge, maintenance, or education of the needy, elderly, ill or young.

Physicians

The most prestigious level of the three-tiered medical profession; although university trained, physicians had limited healing skills, and their knowledge was primarily theoretical; their contact with patients was commonly limited to a wealthy few.

Surgeons

The second level of the three-tiered medical profession, men whose knowledge and skills were based, not on theory, but by practice in treating wounds of various sorts, frequently on the battlefield.

Apothecary

One who prescribed, mixed, and dispensed drugs and herbal remedies; the third and least prestigious level of the medical profession.

16th Century Toilets

Chamber Pot

A portable container used as a toilet, typically found in bedrooms.

Close-Stool

A small, portable, enclosed wooden stool with a hinged lid which, when lifted, revealed a hole, beneath which was a chamber pot.

Water Closet

A room containing a toilet similar to a close-stool.

Privie

A very small room set in an outside wall, with a seat placed over a shaft that drained into a pit below; an outhouse or outside toilet.

Cesspool

A covered hole or pit for receiving sewage or wastes from chamber pots.

Antidotes to Venery

If thy loins be too hot, anoint them with the oil of henbane or poppy…and do not…lie in a soft featherbed. Some there be which cool their privities in cold water, and find thereby a present remedy. They that drink the juice of water lily…12 days together shall have no manner of desire to carnality. And therefore it is good for wiveless bachelors and husbandless maidens to drink.

Death

The Black Death

The PLAGUE, also known as Bubonic Plague, appeared in the middle of the fourteenth century, raging through Italy, France, Germany and England. Over the course of 200 years, it killed over 375,000 men, women and children. 100,000 people perished in and around London alone. At times, there were 1,000-6,000 deaths per week.

People called it the Black Death, BLACK for the color of the tell-tale lumps that foretold its presence in the victim’s body, and DEATH for the inevitable result. You would die within 2-3 days of being infected.

The plague was first brought to Italy in ships returning from the Black Sea. The virus was carried by a species of flea that lived on black rats and other rodents. Once on dry land, the rats lived in people’s homes and spread the deadly virus to humans. The Renaissance saw the rise of trade between countries, this dramatically increased the spread of the disease throughout Europe and England.

It was rumored that dogs and cats spread the disease. It’s estimated that 40,000 dogs and 200,000 cats were killed. The real effect of this was that there were very few predators of the rats who carried the fleas, so the plague spread much more rapidly.

Death Takes a Child

Woodcuts would show a child being dragged from his parents by a devil (representing death). Repeated outbreaks of the plague reinforced the medieval belief that illness and early death were punishments from God for human wickedness.

In Renaissance Europe, between 25-50% of all babies died in their first year. With little proper treatment available, common illnesses such as influenza and measles easily killed vulnerable babies. Children born to poor families were also particularly at risk from malnutrition.