The volume debunks and explains various myths about the period. Its aim was to separate the ‘poor, aged and impotent [i.e. This woodcut shows the lavish spectacle prepared on Edward Seymour’s estate for a visit by the Queen. For the more fashionable, the bodice was stiffened to lie flat across the bosom, and skirts were often divided in front to show an underskirt. Teachit English; Teachit Maths; Teachit Science; Teachit Languages; Teachit Geography; Teachit Primary; Sign up; Log in ; Advanced search; Resources. Created by the Institute of Historical Research and the History of Parliament Trust. British Library 96 Euston Road London NW1 2DB. This fashionable lady was soon to become a maid of honour at Elizabeth I’s court. Choose Yes please to open the survey in a new browser window or tab, and then complete it when you are ready. The doublet was cut tight across the chest, swelling out at diaphragm level and back again, making an ugly – to our eyes – ‘peasecod’ shape, unrelated to the natural body. The system became more and more complicated, but it functioned, in its own way. ‘Except it were a dog in a doublet you shall not see any so disguised as are my countrymen of England’, wrote a contemporary historian, and indeed the Elizabethan era saw men’s clothes depart more widely from their physique than in any other time. Huge collection, amazing choice, 100+ million high quality, affordable RF and RM images. Jahrhundert prägten. Usage terms © Victoria and Albert Museum, LondonHeld by© Victoria and Albert Museum. Only barons and others of high degree could wear 'golde' or 'tinseld sattern'. The informal book is confined to the 14th century in England… At least if you had good legs – and they were important – you could show them off up to crotch level. There were places in educated families for ‘governors’ – tutors – but not for governesses: daughters were taught by their mothers. As ruler of the country, iconography, glamour and displays of wealth were important tools of propaganda for Queen Elizabeth. Pembroke, a favourite at King James’s court, wears a handsome white ruff. But the overland route to the East was too … But how often was it used? Usage terms © Portrait of Queen Elizabeth I (1533-1603) in Ceremonial Costume (oil on canvas), Zuccari, or Zuccaro, Federico (1540-1609) / Pinacoteca Nazionale, Siena, Italy / Bridgeman Images. Outside the glittering court circles, the merchants led comparatively quiet lives. If you were going to a party you would carry your ruff – also known as a ‘band’ – in a bandbox, and get your maid to pin it on when you got there. Sie befindet sich in London und ist eine der bedeutendsten Forschungs- und Universalbibliotheken der Welt. The Muscovy Company, incorporated in 1555 as the first English joint-stock company, pushed south to Astrakhan, and on to Persia, trading English cloth for oriental silks and spices arriving via the Silk Road. Little has changed? Welcome to LSE Library: The British Library of Political and Economic Science. There were the very rich, and the very poor. A knight’s eldest son could wear velvet doublets and hose, but his younger brothers couldn’t. Explore our unique collections and learn more about our services. The English Renaissance was a cultural and artistic movement in England from the early 16th century to the early 17th century. Early Modern English or Early New English is the stage of the English language from the beginning of the Tudor period to the English Interregnum and Restoration, or from the transition from Middle English, in the late 15th century, to the transition to Modern English, in the mid-to-late 17th century. At first they sagged limply round the neck, until someone hit on the idea of starching them – an art in which the Dutch excelled. The Tiger Who Came to Tea by Judith Kerr: sketches and original artwork, Sean's Red Bike by Petronella Breinburg, illustrated by Errol Lloyd, Unfinished Business: The Fight for Women's Rights, The fight for women’s rights is unfinished business, Get 3 for 2 on all British Library Fiction, Discovering Literature: Shakespeare & Renaissance. By 1569 some sort of welfare system was in place in the City of London, an example followed nationally by a general Act of 1572 which formed the basis of the national Poor Law until 1834. Elizabeth I issued numerous proclamations about clothing. British History Online Digital library containing some of the core printed primary and secondary sources for the medieval and modern history of the British Isles. Saved by British Library There could be no mistaking who she was. The quickest route to such honour, and influence, and power, and wealth, was via the court, and the best way of succeeding there was to attract the Queen’s attention. The life of an apprentice was not always enjoyable. Other stones might be worn as charms. The poor were not, in theory at least, left to starve. Elizabeth I of England: preted Elizabeth's reign as a golden age of progress.||[193]|| Neale and Rowse also idealised the Qu... World Heritage Encyclopedia, the aggregation of the largest online encyclopedias available, and the most definitive collection ever assembled. Queen Elizabeth proclaimed a set of laws designed to maintain order and contribute to the general good of the kingdom: the English Poor Laws. The Queen relied increasingly on ceruse. The livery companies, in short, had Elizabethan trade sewn up. The ensemble was completed by a hat or cap with a feather or a jewel, and a cloak, varying from a useless waist level to a practical full length. She thought that he’d had a big influence on craftsmen in Elizabethan England, because he wrote the introduction to a book on Euclid, which has quite a bit about architecture in it (which she was one of the first people to notice). Ceruse, a thick white toxic paste containing mercury, gave a smooth complexion until it melted and turned grey, shiny and smelly. British Library 96 Euston Road London NW1 2DB. “I may have the body of a weak and feeble woman, but I … Ruffs were worn by both sexes, by old and young, courtiers and working people. Some who had learned enough marketable skills decided to try their luck in the provinces, after several years of near-servitude in London. The fashionable Elizabethan could opt for short ‘hose’ (breeches), at groin level: or longer ones covering his thighs, or even down to knee level. The British Empire was the largest empire in history and had a massive impact on the history of the world. Only earls could wear cloth of gold, or purple silk. A visitor up from the country might be accosted by a ‘whipjack’ with a sad story of destitution after shipwreck, or a woman ‘demander for glimmer’ begging because she’d been burned out of house and home. From the frequent references to apprentices brawling and rioting and attending playhouses, one suspects that the strict rules preventing them from almost any normal enjoyment were often flouted. Usage terms NPG L114 The Earl of Southampton (1573–1624) was well-known for his showy, expensive clothes. Liza Picard describes how, between the Queen at the top and the beggars at the bottom, there was jockeying for position in the different levels of Elizabethan society. × Close. Sir Francis Drake, one of the commanders in the defeat of the Spanish Armada, was one of the founders of England’s naval tradition. The Time Traveller's Guide to Medieval England: A Handbook for Visitors to the Fourteenth Century is a handbook about Late Medieval England by British historian Ian Mortimer. Both doublet and hose were decorated by ‘pinking’: slits cut in the fabric, in a pattern, with a differently coloured lining pulled through the slits in little puffs. Sleeves were swollen far beyond the shoulder line, kept that shape by mountains of stiffening and padding (‘bombast’). She rode on horseback, or on a litter, carried above the eye-level of the crowd. Hooray! Cloth of gold and silver, tinselled satin, woollen cloth embroidered with gold and silver, sables and other furs… the clothes worn by the rich make any fashionista’s mouth water. ‘Except it were a dog in a doublet you shall not see any so disguised as are my countrymen of One essential garment for the English climate had not yet been invented: the raincoat. A young man would be apprenticed to a master belonging to a livery company, to learn the trade. Sie beherbergt mit über 170 Millionen Werken den weltweit größten Medienbestand aller Bibliotheken. The invention of the printing press made books available to a growing audience. She kept the furs but refused the proposal. Elizabeth and her favourite the Earl of Leicester enjoyed the softness of sables. Es war die Periode nach der Reformation und vor den späteren Auseinandersetzungen zwischen Protestanten und Katholiken sowie dem Parlament und der Monarchie, die das 17. Your views could help shape our site for the future. But that list was taken from one of a series of Proclamations against 'excess of apparel'. She had hers from an unexpected source – Ivan the Terrible, Tsar of Russia, who sent them, as well as two ermine gowns, with a proposal of marriage. Literature and ideas began to spread rapidly; however, the public performance of plays was still the main method of reaching the … Usage terms © Colin Willoughby / ArenaPal. She spent many years working in the office of the Solicitor of the Inland Revenue and lived in Gray’s Inn and Hackney, before retiring to live in Oxford. In 1601, England was experiencing a severe economic depression, with large scale unemployment and widespread famine. Description Of Elizabethan England, 1577 Elizabethan England × Close. Tues – Sat – Galleries, Reading Rooms, shop and catering opening times vary Full Opening Times > The Roman Catholic Church was under attack. William Camden's Annales Rerum Anglicarum et Hibernicarum Regnante Elizabetha (commonly known as Camden's Annals) is one of the most valuable yet neglected sources on early modern Britain. The doublet had a skirt, of varying length, under which were ties (‘points’), or hooks, onto which the breeches were tied or hooked. Rich men maintained huge households. Why not take a few moments to tell us what you think of our website? The Earl of Oxford came on a social visit to London in 1562 with 140 mounted retainers, all wearing his livery to show their allegiance. The Queen was always pleased to accept presents of valuable garments, such as a pair of sleeves embroidered with pearls, or a ruff with matching cuffs. Just keep walking… Why you need to protect your intellectual property, Creative Commons Attribution Non Commercial No Derivatives licence, Royal Collection Trust/© Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II 2016. A deodorant could be made from camomile, wormwood and alum, which may have worked. Liza Picard researches and writes about the history of London. For those who had not managed to climb on to the livery company ladder, finding a job was more complicated. STC 23401.5 Used by permission of the Folger Shakespeare Library under a Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International License. The following diagram shows the changes influencing the Elizabethan age: WILLIAM CAXTON brought printing from Germany and Flanders to England. Queen Elizabeth was at the top of the social pyramid. The Library is now located in a purpose-built building on the north side of Euston Road in St Pancras, London (between Euston railway station and St Pancras railway station), and has a document storage centre and reading room near Boston Spa, near Wetherby in West Yorkshire. When she chose to show herself to her subjects she glittered with jewels and gold like an icon. In this painting, he wears a silk doublet, hose, coloured garters and embroidered gloves. A really fastidious person might clean her teeth with burned rosemary wood, to ‘make the teeth white and flee (drive out) the worms in them’, which as everyone knew caused holes and toothache. Mark Rylance dresses for the role of Olivia, showing the many parts of an Elizabethan woman’s outfit. Great offence was caused by prostitutes who dared to flaunt themselves in rich garments. The Elizabethan age (1558–1603) is named after the reign of England’s last Tudor monarch, Queen Elizabeth I. The monasteries used to look after them, but no longer. ELIZABETHAN REALMS This book re-evaluates the nature of Elizabethan politics and Elizabeth’s queenship in late sixteenth-century England, Wales and Ireland. He had no right to pay, although his master might voluntarily recognise his usefulness if he stayed the course and proved his worth. The Resource Elizabethan England Elizabethan England. Many an aspiring young man mortgaged his family estates in the country, spent the proceeds on ultra-fashionable garments, and set out for London. No wonder that the drop-out rate was so high, often around 50 per cent. He could not hope to be released until he was at least 24. Usage terms © Photo of John Tramper, courtesy of Shakespeare's Globe. But for many people life was very different. Choose Yes please to open the survey in a new browser window or tab, and then complete it when you are ready. Another joint stock company, the Turkey Company, opened trading relations with Baghdad, and prospected an overland route to Bengal, Burma and Siam. A hooded cloak would keep off the worst, but unless it had been made colour-fast by that elusive alum, you risked arriving in a puddle of leaking dye. An advice book of 1547 suggests that after you’ve got out of bed and stretched, and coughed, and spat, and defecated, and put your breeches on, ‘comb your head… and wash your hands and wrists, your face and eyes and your teeth with cold water’ – and that was that. She thought that Elizabethan craftsmen, including the carpenters who built the theatres, used John Dee’s library, which was quite possible, I think. Skirts were held out on a frame or ‘farthingale’. What happened to the poor, the people who could find no work, or were too disabled to work? Queen Elizabeth in a lavish gown with ruff and jewellery. Donate this book to the Internet Archive library. The Queen was ‘the fount of honour’. Königin Elisabeth konnte zumindest für die Dauer ihrer Herrschaft die Konflikte zwischen den Glaubensric… They began as a simple frill at the neck of a full-cut shirt, where it was gathered into a neck band. She spent many years working in the office of the Solicitor of the Inland Revenue and lived in Gray’s Inn and Hackney, before retiring to live in Oxford. Crime and punishment in Elizabethan England - The British Library The British Empire was when England began to extend their borders and take over other countries. Prior to 1973, the Library was part of the British Museum. Private collection; on loan to the National Portrait Gallery, London. Designer Jenny Tiramani took inspiration from contemporary portraits to create costumes that resembled fashions for young men in c. 1600. published in 1611-12. For a modern lavatory, read ‘close stool’: a padded box with a hole in it, the lid making a comfortable back. It took place between the late 16th and early 18th centuries. The Elizabethan era in the 16th century was one of adventure, intrigue, personalities, plots and power struggles. Usage terms Creative Commons Attribution Non Commercial No Derivatives licence In the countryside, there was usually seasonal work to be had. For lavatory paper, read ‘old linen rags’. They were not to know that the glamour of her richly embroidered and bejewelled clothes was frugally maintained by constant refurbishing and altering – she even wore refurbished robes that had belonged to the previous queen, Mary Tudor. Young apprentices who were supposed to dress in modest blue were apt to burst out in colours, such as popinjay blue or lusty-gallant red. If she accepted, an immense expenditure on house and grounds would be needed, which would be wasted, if in the end the royal visit never happened. The Elizabethan period in England was a time of growing patriotism: a feeling of pride in being English. It was first published on 2 October 2008 by The Bodley Head, and a later edition with more pages was released on 29 February 2012. The focus of their ambition was to be the lord mayor of London, elected by the aldermen. This item is available to borrow from 1 library branch. Its pallor could be corrected by a round dab of vermilion on the cheeks. – Except perhaps, that the rich people were so oblivious to the poor, and the poor had so few prospects of ever being rich. No need to register, buy now! Wednesdays, Fridays and Saturdays were fish days, so was the whole of Lent and various other days almost a third of the year. Nabil Nayal delved into Elizabethan history at the British Library to inspire his Spring collection. Who was allowed to wear what was supposed to be strictly controlled. The mayor was powerful enough, on occasion, to oppose the monarch, for example, when the City insisted that theatres should be closed during an epidemic of plague in London, although Elizabeth would have preferred them to continue since she enjoyed a good play. Elizabethan England often conjures images of the Royal Court with splendid costumes, banquets and extravagant entertainment. They culminated in the astonishing structures worn by Elizabeth in her state portraits. There were nearly a hundred companies in London, of which 12 were ‘Great companies’, controlling between them almost everything that was bought and sold in London, from pins – the Haberdashers – to wine – the Vintners. Working women wore fitted bodices and long full skirts. Appalling social conditions prompted an uprising of 1,000 apprentices in London. disabled]’ people, whom the state could and should help, from the thriftless and work-shy, whom the state would not help. Southampton was well-known at Elizabeth’s court for his flamboyant looks and clothing. Furs in bewildering variety were similarly controlled. It is associated with the pan-European Renaissance that is usually regarded as beginning in Italy in the late 14th century. Proclamations do not always change human behaviour. Usage terms Royal Collection Trust © Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II, 2016 / Bridgeman Images. As in most of the rest of northern Europe, England saw little of these developments until more than a century later. (They still flourish, and still wield enormous influence in the City.) Why not take a few moments to tell us what you think of our website? Once the apprentice had completed his term, he became a freeman of London. Die British Library ( BL) ist die Nationalbibliothek des Vereinigten Königreichs. Small families employed one or two serving men and servant maids. She bought the six ropes of pearls that had belonged to Mary Queen of Scots. Blue seems to have been reserved for prostitutes. Usage terms © Portrait of Queen Elizabeth I (1533-1603) in Ceremonial Costume (oil on canvas), Zuccari, or Zuccaro, Federico (1540-1609) / Pinacoteca Nazionale, Siena, Italy / Bridgeman Images. You've discovered a title that's missing from our library. Liza Picard takes a look at crime in Elizabethan England and describes the brutal punishments offenders received, from whipping and public humiliation to hanging and burning at the stake. Please consider the environment before printing, All text is © British Library and is available under Creative Commons Attribution Licence except where otherwise stated. If you had good legs, you could show them off up to crotch level. It was essential that the Queen’s subjects should know their place, and dress accordingly, so that no one could be misled. Enclosure of land cause massive hardship and poverty for labourers in rural England. English Poor Laws: Historical Precedents of Tax-Supported Relief for the Poor . A starched ruff would collapse if it got wet. The period is often referred to as a ‘Golden Age’ of history: England became a major European power in politics, exploration, trade and the arts, while Elizabeth I’s long rule created stability after the shorter, tumultuous rules of her siblings, Edward VI and Mary I. The Carpenters regulated the building trade as all new buildings used timber. Why you need to protect your intellectual property, Shakespeare and gender: the ‘woman’s part’, Women playing Shakespeare: The first female Desdemona and beyond, Amusements and pastimes in Elizabethan England, The social structure in Elizabethan England, Exploration and trade in Elizabethan England, Crime and punishment in Elizabethan England, Glove design in Costume Bible from Shakespeare's Globe's production of, Photograph of Mark Rylance applying makeup for Shakespeare’s Globe production of Twelfth Night, 2002, First use of the word 'nunnery' to mean 'brothel', 1593, Description of the Jewish Ghetto and the courtesans of Venice in, Galleries, Reading Rooms, shop and catering opening times vary. The breeches of a working man were baggy and knee-length, like old-fashioned plus fours. A baron’s eldest son’s wife could wear gold or silver lace, forbidden to women below her in the pecking order. But he was disgraced after marrying Elizabeth Vernon, one of the Queen’s maids of honour. Liza Picard researches and writes about the history of London. The Goldsmiths supervised the quality of gold and silver articles, which had to be marked in their Company’s hall (‘hall-marked’) before they could be sold. Public Domain in most countries other than the UK. It came, at first, and cynically, in the shape of begging licences, limited to an area, such as a parish, and a period, between six months and two years. The Clothworkers controlled the finishing processes of cloth, the Ironworkers supplied iron bars for the building trade, and iron rims for wheels. The apprenticeship lasted at least seven years, sometimes longer, during which the young man was bound to ‘serve his master faithfully and keep his (trade) secrets’. Sapphires and unicorn’s horn averted the plague, coral was useful against witchcraft. Tues – Sat – Galleries, Reading Rooms, shop and catering opening times vary Full Opening Times > Our collection of CPD materials – written by leading practitioners, speakers, authors and academics – includes essential advice on wellbeing and teaching and learning. Please consider the environment before printing, All text is © British Library and is available under Creative Commons Attribution Licence except where otherwise stated. Swords, such as this ornate rapier, were an important part of male dress. CPD wellbeing support. Successive restorers of portraits have made all the ruffs in ancestral portraits a uniform white, but in fact they were tinted pink or yellow, much more becoming. Former ages were rarely keen on washing. Clothing in Elizabethan England Liza Picard describes the laws, trends and standards of hygiene that determined who wore what in Elizabethan England. Elizabeth I (7 September 1533 – 24 March 1603) was Queen of England and Ireland from 17 November 1558 until her death on 24 March 1603. Causes of poverty. But for those that did, including Christopher Hatton, Francis Drake and Elizabeth’s godson John Harrington, royal favour could provide a good, if precarious, living.