keep workers on the land (with the
Statutes of Labourers of 1549 and 1563) and keep workers' wages low. 20 Part I: Encountering the Early Tudors
In 1556, historians know from John Ponet, the Protestant Bishop of
Winchester, that:
A pound of beef cost 4 pence.
A pound of candles cost 4 pence.
A pound of butter cost 4 pence.
A pound of cheese cost 4 pence.
A whole sheep cost �1.
Two eggs cost 1 pence.
A quarter (of a ton) of wheat cost 64 shillings.
A quarter of malt cost 50 shillings or more.
People were so badly off that they used acorns to make bread and drank
water instead of beer. Ponet put all this down to the fact that Mary had
turned the country back to Catholicism.
Trading at home and overseas
In the early Tudor period, most trade was local with village people driving
their geese, cattle or sheep to market in the nearest town. Some specialist
places already existed;
Coventry made gloves and ribbons.
Nottingham made lace.
Sheffield made metal goods.
Witney made blankets.
London, as the largest city, was a huge consumer market, swallowing up vast
quantities of grain, cattle, cloth and sea coal. The market gardens of Essex
and Kent supplied vegetables, and fish was brought up the Thames for sale at
Billingsgate.
Ship yards were springing up along the coast from Newcastle in the north to
Falmouth in the south west. By the 1530s Henry VIII was building ships at the
Royal Docks at Deptford, 3 miles (5 kilometres) from London. Ships like this
traded with the great European centres such as Antwerp and Bruges.
Chapter 1: Touring the Time of the Tudors 21 Building Dream Homes
Everybody knows what a Tudor house looks like � it's black and white (half-
timbered) and made a reappearance in the 1930s as `Mock Tudor'. The royals
were great builders � see Chapter 19 for ten great houses that have survived.
Throughout the period:
Oak remained the basic building material, with infill of the framework
made of wattle and daub (wood and clay).
Brick began to replace wattle and daub.
Increased prosperity meant more large houses.
Traditionally, an Englishman's home was his E-shaped residence built
around a courtyard.
The E shape has nothing to do with Elizabeth � houses of this style were
on the market long before she was born.
Roofs were made of slate or thatch.
Staircases replaced ladders to get from floor to floor (Amy Robsart, look
out! See Chapter 12).
Fireplaces and chimneys kept rooms largely smoke free.
Rich people built specialist rooms in their houses � kitchens, sculleries,
larders, libraries and dining rooms.
The poor continued to live in hovels in the countryside or were
crammed into tiny tenements in the towns.
Homes didn't have bathrooms and toilets, called privies, were usually
holes in the ground.
Tutoring the Tudors: Education
Before the Tudors came along the Church ran all schools, as well as the
two universities in England: Oxford and Cambridge. Books were expensive
because they were hand-written, but the arrival of the printing press by the
late 15th century changed all that.
Education was a class thing:
The nobility learned to hunt, ride, handle weapons, dance and have
good manners. In Elizabeth's reign, Sir Christopher Hatton was a
member of the royal Council, but he was also the best dancer in
England.
22 Part I: Encountering the Early Tudors
The gentry followed the nobility and both groups could afford to hire
clerks to do their writing for them.
Merchants needed to be able to read, write and do their own book-keeping.
The investor John Lok's accounts from the voyages of the explorer Martin
Frobisher still survive and include everything down to the cost of nails.
Grammar schools (like Henry VIII School in Coventry) taught boys to be
able to go on to university or join a profession.
Everybody else learned what they could, but most laymen were illiterate
because they had
Statutes of Labourers of 1549 and 1563) and keep workers' wages low. 20 Part I: Encountering the Early Tudors
In 1556, historians know from John Ponet, the Protestant Bishop of
Winchester, that:
A pound of beef cost 4 pence.
A pound of candles cost 4 pence.
A pound of butter cost 4 pence.
A pound of cheese cost 4 pence.
A whole sheep cost �1.
Two eggs cost 1 pence.
A quarter (of a ton) of wheat cost 64 shillings.
A quarter of malt cost 50 shillings or more.
People were so badly off that they used acorns to make bread and drank
water instead of beer. Ponet put all this down to the fact that Mary had
turned the country back to Catholicism.
Trading at home and overseas
In the early Tudor period, most trade was local with village people driving
their geese, cattle or sheep to market in the nearest town. Some specialist
places already existed;
Coventry made gloves and ribbons.
Nottingham made lace.
Sheffield made metal goods.
Witney made blankets.
London, as the largest city, was a huge consumer market, swallowing up vast
quantities of grain, cattle, cloth and sea coal. The market gardens of Essex
and Kent supplied vegetables, and fish was brought up the Thames for sale at
Billingsgate.
Ship yards were springing up along the coast from Newcastle in the north to
Falmouth in the south west. By the 1530s Henry VIII was building ships at the
Royal Docks at Deptford, 3 miles (5 kilometres) from London. Ships like this
traded with the great European centres such as Antwerp and Bruges.
Chapter 1: Touring the Time of the Tudors 21 Building Dream Homes
Everybody knows what a Tudor house looks like � it's black and white (half-
timbered) and made a reappearance in the 1930s as `Mock Tudor'. The royals
were great builders � see Chapter 19 for ten great houses that have survived.
Throughout the period:
Oak remained the basic building material, with infill of the framework
made of wattle and daub (wood and clay).
Brick began to replace wattle and daub.
Increased prosperity meant more large houses.
Traditionally, an Englishman's home was his E-shaped residence built
around a courtyard.
The E shape has nothing to do with Elizabeth � houses of this style were
on the market long before she was born.
Roofs were made of slate or thatch.
Staircases replaced ladders to get from floor to floor (Amy Robsart, look
out! See Chapter 12).
Fireplaces and chimneys kept rooms largely smoke free.
Rich people built specialist rooms in their houses � kitchens, sculleries,
larders, libraries and dining rooms.
The poor continued to live in hovels in the countryside or were
crammed into tiny tenements in the towns.
Homes didn't have bathrooms and toilets, called privies, were usually
holes in the ground.
Tutoring the Tudors: Education
Before the Tudors came along the Church ran all schools, as well as the
two universities in England: Oxford and Cambridge. Books were expensive
because they were hand-written, but the arrival of the printing press by the
late 15th century changed all that.
Education was a class thing:
The nobility learned to hunt, ride, handle weapons, dance and have
good manners. In Elizabeth's reign, Sir Christopher Hatton was a
member of the royal Council, but he was also the best dancer in
England.
22 Part I: Encountering the Early Tudors
The gentry followed the nobility and both groups could afford to hire
clerks to do their writing for them.
Merchants needed to be able to read, write and do their own book-keeping.
The investor John Lok's accounts from the voyages of the explorer Martin
Frobisher still survive and include everything down to the cost of nails.
Grammar schools (like Henry VIII School in Coventry) taught boys to be
able to go on to university or join a profession.
Everybody else learned what they could, but most laymen were illiterate
because they had
Similar Books
