Daily Life in Shakespeare's Time

Here are some facts about life in Shakespeare's time...

• Queen Elizabeth reigned from 1558 to 1603; she came to the throne at 25.


• Boys began grammar school at the age of 7 and continued there, learning Latin and mathematics, until the age of 15. Especially bright, older pupils learned Greek, too.


• Only with a few very special exceptions, girls were not educated. Girls were trained to be capable housekeepers, learning cooking, sweing, herbs and cures, and household accounting.


• Everyone knew how to sing, read music, and dance.


• There were no rules of grammar or spelling until the 18th century. Shakespeare himself spelled his name differently at different times!


• Although there were medical doctors in Shakespeare's time, housewives were supposed to cure mild illnesses. They used the herbs they grew themselves, either mixed together in a "compound" or by themselves as a "simple."


• Sanitation was minimal, especially in big cities, and there were open sewers in the streets. People bathed on average once a year. (Queen Elizabeth's doctors feared for her life because she bathed monthly!)


• Average life expectancy was 35. Queen Elizabeth died at 70.


• Since infant mortality was so high, parents would have many children and often give more than one child the same name, knowing that child would probably die at an early age.


• An outbreak of the bubonic plague struck London between 1592 and 1594 and then again in 1603, when over 30,000 people died (in a population of only 200,000). The disease was caused by rats bitten by fleas. It could spread easily through a crowd, and during particularly bad outbreaks of plague, the theatres were closed.


• Elizabethans did not understand germ theory; they thought diseases were spread by bad smells. They tried to prevent disease by keeping bad smells away. Women would carry small bouquets of herbs and flowers to cover their noses with when near odors.


• Houses were built of wood and wattle-and-daub, many with thatch roofs, making fire a constant concern. In 1666, the Great Fire destroyed about 2/3 of the city of London.


• Elizabethans loved fine clothes. Some of Queen Elizabeth's dresses weighed as much as 200 pounds! She had to be carried on a small trolley in these garments.


• Special laws, known as "sumptuary laws," restricted what kind of clothing you could wear, depending upon your class. Queen Elizabeth restricted the wearing of certain colors and fabrics, especially imported wool or silk, to people above a certain rank.


• The standard form of execution for treason was hanging, drawing, and quartering. The victim was hanged until almost dead, then the ribcage was cut open and the heart cut out, and then the body cut into four pieces. The four body parts were then stuck on poles on top of the four gates leading into the city of London.


• London Bridge was the only bridge across the Thames, and the heads of traitors were stuck on top of its gate as a warning to possible traitors.


• People believed in witches. King James I wrote a book on the evils of witchcraft, and many people think Shakespeare wrote Macbeth with James I in mind.

Adapted from "Shakespeare Steps Out," published by the Folger Shakespeare Library, 1997.