Life in Tudor Times

Life in Tudor Times

Classes of people

-Gentlemen

-Citizens

-Yeomen

-Labourers

-Paupers

Gentlemen

-Very, very rich

-Lived in huge country houses with lots of rooms to hold dinner parties, dances and music concerts

-Owned lots of land

-Some gentlemen help king/queen to run the country

-There were some women who had the same social status as gentlemen known as "ladies"

-5% of population

Citizens

-Also known as merchants

-Lived in town

-Rich, made money by buying and selling goods

-Lived in fine town houses and had servants

-5% of population

Yeomen

-Farmers

-Lived in middle-sized farmhouse

-Made good living from farming crops (wheat or barley) or cattle, pig or sheeps

-Employed people to work on farms and some had servants

-30% of population

Labourers

-Peasants of Middle Ages

-work in a farm

-lived in town

-Some works as carpenters, tailors, shoemakers or bricklayers.

-60% of the population

Paupers

-people who had no jobs and relied on charity

-lower class than poorest labourer

-Some wore special badges to show this

-Others went to local churches to collect "relief"-a few pennies to buy clothes or bread

Multiple Choice

Which group of Tudor society included tailors and bricklayers?

• Gentleman

• Citizens

• Yeomen

• Labourers

Poor Law

Introduced in 1601 by Queen Elizabeth and her government

Divides paupers into four categories

1. Pauper children - given work and taught a trade

2. Sick paupers - looked after in special homes

3. Fit paupers - given work (they received food and drink as payment)

4. Lazy, idle paupers - whipped, then sent to a House of Correction (a place where they were forced to work)

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Poor people had to stay in their own town or village and not wander about.

Each town/village is appointed a “Overseers of the Poor”

They collect money from people(a local tax, known as poor rate) and give to those in need.

The law remains largely unchanged for 200 years

Tudor schools

A Tudor child’s education mainly depended on how wealthy their family was

Hence, poor children often start work when they were five or six years old as they could not afford school.

Wealthy children oftern went to grammar school, so called because they were taught Latin and Greek grammer

Latin was the language used by businessman and merchants throughout Europe

Multiple Choice

Why did so few poor children go to school in Tudor times?

• They could not afford to pay for school

• Their parents do not allow them to attend school

• They hate school

Cudgels

Shin hacking

William Shakespeare

-started writing plays in 1588 (at least 37 and acted in some of them)

-His plays are famous all over the world

-Show us how people lived and thought in Tudor times, also wrote about everyday human emotions, such as love, hate and jealousy.

-Some his best known works include: Macbeth, Hamlet, Romeo and Juliet, Julius Caesar and the Tempest.

Theatre

• When the flag on top a theatre was flying, it meant that there was going to be a performance on that day. A trumpet blast let people know that the show was about to start.

• Both rich and poor people went to the theatres.

• The rich could afford to buy seats in the gallery, whereas the poor had to make do with standing by the stage.

Tudor Crime & Punishment

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3usxel3lK04&ab_channel=SimpleHistorySimpleHistory

Multiple Choice

In 1587, William Harrison published a book in which he divided the people of England into four groups: gentleman, citizens, yeomen and...?

• labourers

• royalty

• celebrities

Multiple Choice

In a Tudor theater, the covered areas usually occupied by richer people were known as?

• pits

• galleries

• alleyways

• room

Multiple Choice

What was a 'sturdy beggar'?

• Tudor con-artist or trickster

• a poor farmer

• a famous Shakespeare character

• Queen Elizabeth's soldier

Multiple Choice

In Tudor times, people who had no jobs and relied on charity were called?

• beggars

• pensioners

• paupers

Multiple Choice

In Tudor schools, children sometimes wrote with a pen made from a feather. What was this called?

• a hornbook

• a quill pen

• a fountain pen

• a pen

Multiple Choice

A popular game at the time involved two people standing opposite each other, each holding a heavy stick. They took it in turns to hit each other. What was this game called?

• shin-hacking

• bog-snorkelling

• cudgels