Tudor+life

=Tudor Life=

=**Who were the Tudors?**=

=The Tudors were a Welsh-English family that ruled England and Wales from 1485 to 1603 - one of the most exciting periods of British history. **They ruled for 118 years** and during their reign encouraged new religious ideas, overseas exploration and colonisation.=

=Why are they so famous?=

=They are famous for many things, including the Henry VIII and his six wives, the exploration of America and the plays of William Shakespeare.= =During the sixteenth century, England emerged from the medieval world. It was a time of great change, most notably it marked the end of the Catholic church in England. Great naval exploits began the great English seafaring tradition.=

=What did the Tudors do for Britain?=

===**During 118 years of Tudor rule, England became richer than ever before. As the country became wealthier, towns grew, beautiful houses were built and schools and colleges were set up. Arts and crafts flourished too. England was home to great painters, writers and musicians.** ===

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=What was life like during Tudor times?=

=Life in Tudor Britain was harsh - the average life expectancy was just 35 years.= =Most Tudor people lived in the countryside, but some people lived in towns or big Tudor cities like London, Bristol or Norwich.= =Tudor England was a farming society. Most of the population (over 90 %) lived in small villages and made their living from farming. Under Tudor rule England became a more peaceful and richer place. Towns grew larger and the mining of coal, tin and lead became very popular.=

=Tudor Food=

=The Tudor people ate a lot of fresh food because there was no way of storing food to be eaten later. There was no such thing as freezers or fridges in the Tudor times.= =They ate with fingers, knives and spoons. There were no forks.=

=Meat= =People kept animals all year round and would kill them just before they needed to be eaten. This meant that the meat was always fresh.= =To improve the flavour of games, such as deer, pheasant and rabbit, it was hung from the ceiling in a cold room for several days before eating.=

= = =Food for the poor= = = =Poor people ate a herb-flavoured soup called **pottage** which would be served with bread. It was made of peas, milk, egg yolks, breadcrumbs and parsley and flavoured with saffron and ginger.= =They also ate chickens which they could rear themselves, beef from the local market when they had the money, and rabbits which they could catch for themselves.=

=Drink= =Instead of drinking water with their meals, they often drank ale and the rich drank wine. Water was often unfit for drinking because it as contaminated with sewage.=

=**Fish**=

=Fish was eaten by people living near rivers and the sea. The fresh water fish included eels, pike, perch, trout, sturgeon, roach, and salmon.=

=**Fruit and vegetables**=

=Fruit and vegetables were mostly eaten when they were in season and soon after picking. They ate fruits such as pears, apples, plums and cherries. Bananas and other fruits only grown abroad were not heard of during the Tudor times.=

=**Bread**=

=Bread was eaten at most meals. You could tell the class of a person by the bread they ate. Rich people ate bread made from white of wholemeal flour where as poor people ate bread made from rye and even ground acorns.= = = =Poor Tudors=

=The poor had to work hard and struggled to survive. Many poor people lives lived in villages doing farm work or making cloth in their own homes for very little pay. They worked six days a week and only had holy days and public holidays off work.= =When the harvest failed it was tempting for poor people to steal food. When people did break the law, they risked public flogging or being hanged.=

=**Food and drink**=

=The poor living in cities survived on bread made from flour in mills alive with rats, and pies filled with spiced meats to disguise the fact that the meat was 'off'. Those living in the country had a little more choice because they could at the wheat and oats grown in the fields and fresh meat from hares and rabbits.= =Meat was a luxury but poor people sometimes kept animals to provide milk, cheese and eggs. Both rich and poor ate fish, which was packed in barrels of salt to stop the fish going rotten.= =Honey was used instead of sugar to sweeten desserts such as fruit pies.= =Water was too polluted to drink, so the poor drank 'small beer' - watered ale - while the rich drank wine and sherry.=

**By Mfon**
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