Elizabethan Education and Leisure Flashcards
Describe features of Actors during this time
- Acting was a male only profession
- Actors such as William Kempe and Richard Burbage were particularly famous and
performed roles many times over - Theatre troupes, such as Shakespeare’s Lord Chamberlain’s men, performed many of
the plays
Describe features of theatres during this time
- Both rich and poor could attend performances
- The rich sat in covered galleries, while the poor stood in the pit
- The stage was decorated with scenery, and the rood “The Heavens” housed ropes and
pulleys for dramatic effect - The Queen had 50 singers in her personal choir and saw several performances of
Shakespeare’s Twelfth Night
Why was the theatre very popular?
- It was affordable for all, and served as an exciting occasion
- Many plays carried political messages and hidden critiques of the ruling classes
(Some disaffected nobles paid Lord Chamberlain’s men 40 shillings to perform Richard
III, a play about the removal of a monarch)
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Describe opposition to the theatre
- Puritans believed that the theatre distracted people from prayer, while some though it
was sinful - Many thought that large crowds at the theatre spread disease
- Theatres could be dangerous, as many audience members were drunk and crimes
were committed
How many people attended Elizabeth’s royal court, and who did they include?
Around 1000, including her personal servants, members of the privy council, nobles, ambassadors and other foreign visitors
What were some leisure activities that only the rich could partake in?
Hunting - Deer and other wild animals were hunted as a form of entertainment, but also as an important source of food for the court, mostly nobility
Hawking - The Queen was skilled at hawking, spending many hours with her trained falcons as they hunted. Training Falcons was an expensive process, which only the rich could afford
Fencing - Elizabeth’s courtiers were expected to be skilled at Fencing, and practiced from a young age. Tennis and bowls were also becoming increasingly popular. Equipment for these sports was very expensive
Reading - some upper class was literate, printing press led to more books being available, classical books such as Canterbury Tales was read
Describe the features of leisure time for working class people
- Many people worked Monday to Saturday, with Sunday for church, so many people
didn’t have time for leisure activities - Football was a popular sport (Believed to have started in 1481). Local teams would play
each other, but many people didn’t have time. Player numbers were unlimited to games
often ended in brawls and fights, some monarchs banned it due to the high death toll - animal fights - baiting involved training dogs to attack bears and bulls, bets were placed on the outcome of the fights
- cockfighting, special arenas were built to see cockerels fight each other, sometimes with metal spikes attacked to their beaks
Describe the features of early education
Children were taught about behaviour and religion at home
At age 6, they went to Sunday school
Rich children would have learned with a private tutor, while poor children were trained in housekeeping and basic manual labour
- no national education system, had to pay to go skl so only rich could attend
- schools were provided by wealthy benefactors, the church and volunteers
- schools were meant to prepare people for their role in life, so included practical skills, some very basic numeracy, rarely a bit of literacy
Describe features of petty schools
They taught maths, reading and writing
There was no official curriculum and most schools didn’t have many resources
There were no year groups, students joined age 6, became literate and then left
The schools were often owned by wealthy people or priests
Describe the features of grammar schools
They were for upper class children aged 7-14
Lessons focused on Latin, Greek and arithmetic
They often used hornbooks, which were cheap ways to teach children how to read and
write
The best (male) students went to Oxford and Cambridge (only two unis in England at the time). All studies in Oxbridge were in Latin
Poorer attendees who would’ve gotten in through scholarships, were only taught in reading writing and maths
how many elizabethans could read and write at the beginning of her reign
15%
How did the spread of Protestantism improve education
- idea came that people should be able to read at least the Bible
- A group of people called Humanists argued that education had value in itself and not just as a way to prepare people for work
How did the invention of printing press improve education
books were becoming cheaper
- people were also beginning to trade, and therefore needed to be able to count
How did education improve under Elizabeth
- more schools were opened, giving more people to receive an education
depending on class, how did children move through the school system
Rich- Rich children usually had a private tutor, often at around the age of 7 boys would be sent to other noble famillies to learn battle skills and land management
Poorer but not poor - these children may attend a parish school which was funded by the Church and priests and monks usually taught lessons. this provided children of land owning farmers and craftsmen basic literacy and numeracy, so they could manage their businesses along with teaching Bible studies
