Family Life

Question 1

When did men usually get married?

Answer 1

Men usually got married in their late twenties

Question 2

When did women usually get married?

Answer 2

Women usually got married in their mid-twenties

Question 3

Why did gentry couples marry at a younger age than poorer couples?

Answer 3

Gentry couples married younger because they were richer and could afford it

Question 4

Even though there was no reliable contraception, why were illegitimate babies uncommon?

Answer 4

Illegitimate babies were uncommon because the Church forbade sex outside marriage

Question 5

If a women fell pregnant she had to…

Answer 5

Marry the father of the child

Question 6

Up to _____ of brides were pregnant at their wedding

Answer 6

Up to 30% of brides were pregnant at their wedding

Question 7

Why did a young person need permission to marry in a wealthy family, whereas the poor did not?

Answer 7

Wealthy families had to give their approval of a partner because property and status mattered. Young people in middling or labouring families could marry whoever they pleased

Question 8

Elizabethan society was a __________ society, where men had more power than women

Answer 8

Elizabethan society was a patriarchal society, where men had more power than women.

Question 9

What did Elizabethans disapprove of in husbands and wives?

Answer 9

They disapproved of violent husbands and scolding, domineering wives

Question 10

Where wives of husband in middling and poor households expected to work or to stay at home?

Answer 10

The wives often helped their husbands in their work

Question 11

Could couples divorce?

Answer 11

Yes, but divorce was difficult and required an Act of Parliament. Couples could separate informally but marriages often ended in death

Question 12

Did people remarry?

Answer 12

Yes, when a spouse died remarrying was common. Many children were brought up by their step-parents

Question 13

Why were families small?

Answer 13

Families were small because a quarter of all children died before the age of ten. Only nobles and gentry had big families

Question 14

What relationship did parents have with their children?

Answer 14

Children were expected to be obedient and to respect their parents, however parents formed strong emotional bonds with their children

Question 15

Which children attended school?

Answer 15

Rich children attended schools from the age of seven. Poorer children did not.

Question 16

Were children physically punished?

Answer 16

At school beating was common, however at home there is little evidence of parents being cruel towards their children

Question 17

When did poor children start to work?

Answer 17

Poor children started to work at home or on the farm from the age of seven. At the age of thirteen many left home to become apprentices or servants. They learnt skills to prepare them for adult life

Question 18

Was extended family important?

Answer 18

Households rarely included members outside the nuclear family (a couple and their children). Sometimes an elderly parent or orphaned child was taken in

Question 19

Did extended family live in the same village or town?

Answer 19

Often young people left home to work, so most families were scattered. People usually had relatives nearby but not in the same village

Question 20

Who did people turn to instead of their families?

Answer 20

Their neighbours

Question 21

Did people have family living abroad?

Answer 21

Very rarely