Family Life During The Elizabethan Era

The father’s job was to be the head of the household, with the mother as his main assistant. Under the father's authority, she took care of the house and the children. Most of the men along with their sons spent days in the fields working while younger children were in school. People who had more money could send their children to school, but the people with less money were forced to make their sons/children work. On the other hand, mothers in more rural areas (where poorer people lived) farmed with the men, while richer woman stayed home and took care of the household along with their children. No matter what social class the mothers were, they all knitted and sewed. Their husbands were chosen by their parents. Children had few toys in their homes and boys played sports with their family. During their free time the girls played with dolls. The wealthier families had enough money to buy their daughter's porcelain

Family used to be a single unit, consisting of a husband, wife and children. This unit was widely thought as a group based on marriage and biological parenthood as sharing a common residence and

Although there were no wars during the Elizabethan era, life was hard for most people. There were four different social classes determined by how much money people had and what they did for a living (Lace 42-46). There was trash in the streets and poor sanitation. Boys went to school while girls stayed home and learned how to run the house from their mothers (Davis 91). People generally worked long hours during the week and spent the weekends doing activities and attending plays (Davis 341). Generally the Elizabethan era was good for wealthy people and could be a struggle for poor people (Lace

Queen Elizabeth came to be known as one of the greatest rulers of the English empire. Under the reign of Queen Elizabeth I, a more efficient government was created. The church was unified, the English empire was expanded, and language, literature, and theater flourished to a greatness that would be impossible for almost any other period of English history, or any other European empire, for that matter, to match. Although there was a great rise in literature,it was theater that catapulted to greatness during Elizabeth's reign. Out of Elizabeth's era came Elizabethan theater. Elizabethan theater has such a variety of topics, that would make it virtually impossible to talk about in ten pages.

In the Elizabethan period, women were subordinate to men. They were considered to be ‘inferior' beings who were controlled by their husbands, fathers or any other men in the family. Women were not allowed to hold their own opinions, views or lifestyles. Men had control of everything, some of these included money, politics, work, children, women and home.

Summary: This website tells the history of food at the time of the Elizabethan Era.Poor people had unvaried diets consisting largely of bread, fish, cheese and ale, but the rich of Elizabethan England ate well.All kinds of meats were served to the rich people of Elizabethan England.Vegetables and fruits were regarded with some suspicion and was far more common for roasted and boiled meat to be accompanied with bread.Tudors were fond of desserts.Sometimes wine glasses, dishes, playing cards and trenchers were made out of a crisp modeled sugar called sugar-plate which would be elaborately decorated.

On a normal day during the Elizabethan Era you would pass the town square to find someone screaming bloody murder and begging for mercy. There were public executions that many people took a day off of their jobs to go see. Torture devices were a big part of Elizabethan Crime and Punishment. There was a specific punishment for everything from begging to high treason. If a peasant stole anything worth more than five pence, which was the currency of the time period they were hanged, anyone who committed a capital offense was quartered, and the queen’s guards were not allowed to wear cloaks. Crime and punishment of the Elizabethan era was brutal and ruthless compared to this day in time.

This article’s purpose is to express the danger of breaking the law in England. Most of the punishments of our time are deemed cruel and unusual. The death penalty can no longer be enacted in cases of theft or highway robbery. The following paragraphs will describe the various instruments of punishment (torture) of the period.

The way of life was mainly determine by wealth. The members of a family who is not wealthy normally live in rural areas, and are responsible for household chores and small family businesses. As for the families who is rich in wealth, the chores were taken care of by hired servants and the family business where marshaled by the father.

Each member of a household had certain duties: men worked in fields, directing slaves and sons in producing tobacco and grain, women cultivated vegetables, made clothes and candles, kept house and children.

Children were taught to always respect and obey their parents. The wealthy children, both boys and girls would be punished for any sort of bad behavior (“Elizabethan Family Life”). Whenever children misbehaved there was immediate discipline. The parents’ discipline was usually physical which included spanking (Stewart 28). This is unusual today because parents don’t physically punish their kids, it more of taking away privileges. “Elizabethan Family Life” points out that “the children were almost considered servants to the adults in the family.” According to many historians, children were treated as small adults instead of children (Stewart 28). The children were mature at a younger age than they are nowadays. Stewart adds that “Children were expected to be well behaved, especially in dealing with parents and other adults. Parents taught their children the proper forms of address such as ‘sir’ and ‘madam’ for person of a higher rank” (28). Stewart analyzes, “Most couples wanted children, if not for sentimental reasons then for economic ones. Even though it certainly cost more to expand the household, children could help out a great deal as they got older” (28). With a high death rate, an average woman was pregnant at least six times during her lifetime (Stewart 27). The love for children almost wasn’t shown like it is today; they were almost taken care of as property. When babies

Due to her greatly influential decisions, “the latter half of the sixteenth century in England was known as the Elizabethan Age” as quoted from A1. During her reign, she improved many of the government functions by adding trusted advisors, and made strict decisions that helped the workforce run more efficiently. William Cecil was one of Elizabeth’s closest advisors due to

The elizabethan era was a pretty tough time to be alive, and so crime was rampant in the streets. But no amount of crime was worth the large assortment or punishments that were lined up for the next person who dared cross the line.

The role of the people in family basically stayed the same for most of the generations with a little change in the later generations. Earlier the males were the only ones that worked in the family and the wife stayed at home and took care of the house and

Over the years, society has created and recreated different ideas of what is considered socially acceptable and what customs to follow on a daily basis. These ideas are constantly changing and renewing themselves, making even last year’s behavioral habits seem crude. For instance, life in Elizabethan England contrasted with how life is now because people acted differently, dressed differently, spoke differently, and in a general, broader sense, they lived differently. Because people grow and change and learn from their previous mistakes, Elizabethan customs are practically obsolete due to their lack of effectiveness or rather the lack of need for them to continue.