This Author's Website is http://ccrenfaire.com
Just about anything you could want to know about life in Elizabethan England is found in Maggie Secara’s book, Life in Elizabethan England – A Compendium of Common Knowledge.
Food, clothing, manners, religion, occupations … it’s all in there.
Here, for your reading pleasure and edification is a link to the entire book.
Enjoy!
If this is your first visit to our Renaissance Festival you probably won’t be in costume, and that is perfectly fine. However, if the Renaissance spirit grabs you, you’ll soon be longing for a costume to be more a part of the fantasy. Starting as a peasant is a good first step, as the clothes are relatively easy and inexpensive to make. Here are some suggestions:
WOMEN – the first layer of clothing was the long-sleeved shift (chemise), followed by at least two long, full skirts. The bodice, or vest, was either scooped or square necked, usually forming a point in front. These bodices were generally laced but could be buttoned. Sleeves are optional.
Accessories that add character are baskets, pewter or clay mugs, eating knives (forks were not common), and lots of leather belts and pouches. Women over 13 years old should cover their braided hair with a muffin or biggins cap. Stockings are optional. Appropriate shoes include leather sandals, clogs or plain cloth kung fu shoes.
MEN – Peasant men wore a whitish shirt, sometimes a shift, tucked into breeches. Over this they wore a vest that either laced or buttoned up the front. This vest (or jerkin) had sleeves optional. Breeches were generally somewhat baggy and ended just above or below the knee. The lower legs were covered with stockings, the coarser looking the better. I often use coarsely ribbed long johns.
The peasant man covered his usually unkempt hair with a biggins hat or cap of some kind.
Appropriate shoes for the peasant male include low or heel-less boots, clogs, sandals or “kung fu” shoes.
If you don’t want to sew your own, you will find all of these costume parts readily available and affordable from several vendors at the festival.
Accessories that add character include an eating dagger, pouch, leather belt, cape, and tools that pertain to his occupation (rake, wooden pitchfork, hammer, etc.). Peasant men were too poor to own swords, so don’t bother.
PEASANT CLOTH Peasants were usually poor, and they worked hard at manual tasks. Fabrics were coarse and rough; wool, linen and linen-wool combinations were common. Colors were subtle earth tones, as most dyes were obtained from natural sources, mostly vegetables. Try not to have your peasant clothes look too new or clean. Coffee, tea and mud stains add a lot of character.
Whether you come to the festival in costume or not, you will enjoy one of the most unique experiences the central coast has to offer.
This is not grammar you are taught in school, but simply the ordinary way people talk. Your excuse for incorrect usage cannot be that you were poorly educated.
Say:
“How art thou“, never “how are thee”
What wouldst thou have of me?
I will go with thee.
Thou art a rogue.
When the next word begins with a vowel, use thine for thy:
I like thy face.
but
I applaud thine effort.
The “-st” ending is only used with “thou” and only with verbs.
Say:
I did see him go with thee.
not I didst see him
and never I didst see-eth him
Wither thou goest I will go.
The “-eth” ending is only used with he, she, and it.
Say:
He loveth best that loveth well.
God knoweth why!
Thou and thee are familiar or informal forms of you. You use it to address your children, your servants, your wife, your most intimate friends, your dog, and God. (Hey, who knows you better than God?)
Use the more formal you when addressing your parents, your master, your social superiors, your patron, your customers, your officers, and your horse, who may be worth as much as you are.
Don’t panic: The familiar and formal forms (thou and you) get mixed in a sentence even in Shakespeare. But only downward or to an equal, never up.
That is, you might address your servant using both thou and you together, but he wouldn’t do that to you. Anger and strong feeling, of course, cancel other conventions.
Still, his lordship may take offense if his tenant chats him up using “thou”, or he may simply ignore it, but you never know!
From Life in Elizabethan England, A Compendium of Common Knowledge by Maggie Secara.
All coins are silver or gold, including the pennies.
In times not too long past, copper was used to extend (debase) the coinage without actually spending any more silver. But no money is actually minted as a copper coin. If someone gives you a modern copper penny, laugh and tell him to come back with some real money.
There is no paper money. You cannot, for example, have a 5-pound note.
The basic denominations are pounds, shillings, and pence.
In writing, the abbreviation for:
A sovereign is a gold coin worth 1 pound (but try to think of it as 20 shillings). There is no coin called a “pound” until after 1583, although that is the basic monetary unit.
The angel is one of the most common gold coins in circulation. An angel is worth 10 shillings (1/2 pound).
You would never say you owed somebody 6 angels. But you might say you gave your servant an angel to spend at the faire. To coerce someone’s servant, you might suggest that the sweet voice of an angel would convince him.
The crown is the most common coin in circulation. Worth 5 shillings, it is issued in both gold and silver.
The crown is also equal to a Venetian ducat, a Flemish gelder, or a French êcu (sometimes called a French crown).
Half-a-crown is worth 2 shillings 6 pence (sometimes expressed as “2 and 6″).
The shilling is a silver coin worth 12d.
The sixpence is a silver coin worth six pence.
A groat is a silver coin worth 4 pence.
The penny is a silver coin worth a penny (never a pence). You might have several pennies in your pocket, to the value of several pence.
The farthing is a 1/4-penny fragment so tiny as to be impractical, but still in circulation from less inflated times.
The guinea does not yet exist, and will not be minted till the late 17th century. Don’t refer to it.
The mark is “money of account”. That is, it is a value worth 2/3 of a pound (13s 4d) but there is no coin worth that amount in the 16th century. It is often used in high-level transactions, such as selling land, figuring feudal fines, or calculating dowries.
In practice, people seldom speak of ordinary amounts of money in terms of pounds, unless it was in thousands, like the annual value of an estate, or a special “voluntary” tax.
You probably think of ordinary, daily expenses in terms of shillings and pence. (“I lost 30 shillings last night at tables.”)
Money bought more in those days. Do not just substitute pounds for dollars. Try using shillings, or even pennies, depending on the item.
Thirty pounds for a pair of gloves is highway robbery. But 30 shillings for a pair of gloves doesn’t sound so bad, at least theatrically speaking. (Actually 7 shillings is closer to the truth, unless they are finely decorated.)
For smaller items, like food and drink, use pennies. A penny or two for a pot of ale is about right, where 2 pounds or even 2 shillings is unthinkable.
Tip a household servant no more than a few pence. Remember, he only makes £2-5 per year! (Note: that tip is called a vail.) A common vail is about a penny.
If you’re buying information or a favor from anybody besides a servant use gifts instead of money. For servants–use money!
From Life in Elizabethan England, A Compendium of Common Knowledge by Maggie Secara.
Elizabethan cookery is generally sweeter than today’s; meats are often cooked with fruits, producing a mix of sweet and savory.
Some medical texts advise against eating raw vegetables as engendering wind (gas) or evil humours.
It is important to remember that while many things were period somewhere, not everything was eaten in every part of the world. Things which are common in Constantinople may never make their way to England.
The potato is still a novelty. It is not yet a crop in Ireland, nor is it found in our stews. The turnip, which has that honour, is followed closely by the parsnip.
Tomatoes are considered doubtful, if not actually poisonous, although they have already begun to appear in some southern European cooking.
Chocolate has not yet come in, except for medicinal purposes. The Swiss have not yet added milk and sugar to it. If you have ever tasted chocolate (which is very doubtful) it was a thin and bitter drink, probably flavored with chiles.
The much-touted St. John’s Bread (carob) may taste somewhat like chocolate but is not being used as a flavoring in baked goods. Any brown cake on your table must surely be gingerbread.
Just to be fair, vanilla isn’t a period flavoring in Europe either.
Almond is the most common flavoring in sweets, followed by cinnamon, clove, and saunders (sandalwood). Almond milk—ground almonds steeped in honey and water or wine, then strained—is used as flavoring and thickener.
Coffee is period in the strictest sense, but has not arrived in England.
The law says we may not eat meat on Fridays and Saturdays. This is not a religious fast but a way of supporting the fishing industry. Exceptions are made by special license for the old, the very young, and the infirm, and anyone else who applies for the license.
A typical fish day meal can include eggs, butter, cheese, herring, cod or other whitefish, etc.
Sugar is available, but is rather more expensive than honey, since it has to be imported. Grown as sugar cane, it comes as a 3- or 4-pound square or conical loaf, and has to be grated or pounded into useful form.
From Life in Elizabethan England, A Compendium of Common Knowledge by Maggie Secara.
