Launton Historical Society reporting . . .

Life in Tudor times

What a treat. Martin Sirot Smith came to speak about Daily Life in Tudor Times. He emerged from the storeroom of the Hall in full Tudor garb, in the persona of Lawrence Washington, who acquired the manor of Sulgrave and Stuchbury from Henry VIII, built Sulgrave Manor House and was the three times great grandfather of George Washington, first President of the United States. Martin gave us so much gripping detail, this is just a snippet.

The Tudor period lasted from 1485 to the early 1600s. If you think you fancy a slice of Tudor life, as seen all clean and glamorous on TV, see what you reckon to this.

6% of the population were ‘civilised’ or educated, 94% were peasants, totally uneducated and lived in hovels. They were dependent on the local manor for work. Life was a daily struggle for them. Four out of ten babies died on the day of birth. Two more were dead by the end of the first year. Of the four surviving, only one lived to ‘old age’, ie age 40.

The Church provided the comfort, kept people going. Life on earth was seen as a testing ground, so you could prove you were good enough for heaven. The foot of the ladder was earth, the top was heaven, with angels and saints. Not everyone could attain that or the ladder would be unbalanced. God put the rulers in place, to control society.

Did everyone look glamorous? No. Clothes cost a lot, even for the aristocracy, and you wore the same costume for weeks. Rich men wore trunk hose, attached to the doublet and padded with wool (Blackadder’s puffle pants I think). As well as warmth, the trunk hose provided upholstery - the furniture had none (it would have been eaten by rats) so you had to upholster yourself.

It was treasonous to wear purple. Aristocrats could wear red and blue. You could have fur if it was trapped on your own estates. Garters gave status. A feather in the cap could only come from your own estate. Ladies had thick dresses and wore a coif, a close fitting cap which kept the hair’s wildlife under control. At night a nightcap was worn lest more wildlife descend from the roofing.

You would carry your own eating implements with you - a knife like a dagger and a spoon. No forks as yet, these appeared first in Italy then France. Everyone ate vast amounts of stonebaked bread, about 5 loaves a day per adult. The poor might have a small bowl of potage, a stew of peas and beans, and they might have meat if they killed their pig. But the pig was your bank - you could mortgage half a pig. The rich had vast amounts of meat from hunting, shooting, trapping. Many died of heart attacks in their 40s. Vegetables were for animals and fruit was bad for you, though it could be boiled down into sugar. Teeth suffered, the worst in history. The diet had no Vitamin C, so when disease hit, it was lethal.

There was no drinking water - it was horribly polluted. The streets were running sewers. Much beer was drunk - mashing the beer killed off impurities, so beer was safer than water. The rich drank wine - after all, we owned half of France. There was no understanding of the importance of milk - it wasn’t possible to chill it, so it was turned into cheese. Hardly any calcium in the Tudor diet, so most people were under 5ft with weak bones. Broken bones were a death sentence and the second biggest killer in Tudor times was gangrene. Homes were pretty smelly with rush flooring, rat droppings and food chucked on the floor for dogs.

Anyone for time travel to the Tudor period?

We will miss Martin. He has spoken to LHS on a number of  occasions and we thank him for entertaining and informing us. Mrs Sirot Smith has suggested that, with the passing of the years, he spend more time indoors.

By the time you read this we will have heard Gillian Cane talk about Bletchley Park, then we have a July outing to that very place. August brings a social at Pat’s house and on 25 September we reconvene to hear Dick Richards talk about The Commonwealth War Graves Commission. All are welcome.

Gwen Skinner