Popular culture revision

Question 1

What was social status like ?

Answer 1

Status was dependant upon education and wealth

Wealth was becoming a greater indicator due to growing middle class and their ability to use their wealth to gain political power

Limited social mobility due to wealth

Question 2

What were peasants like during this time ?

Answer 2

Famine and plague hit them the hardest

Only relief came from enlistment into the army or moving to a city

Increase in wealth didn’t help peasants / inflation and tax hit them the most

Question 3

What was the status of women like at the time ?

Answer 3

At all levels , women were subordinate to legal systems

Most denied right to own property / own a business yet some managed to bypass this

Question 4

What was life like in villages ?

Answer 4

Village life was changing as many moved to cities due to growing wealth

Question 5

What was life like in cities ?

Answer 5

Urban life was fragmented , disorganised and unpersonal

Better employment and literacy rates leading to an increase in books + newspapers

Question 6

What was crime and punishment like at the time ?

Answer 6

Crime became the only alternative for the poor

This was before the police existed -tourture was an acceptable punishment

Question 7

What was Charivari ?

Answer 7

During the dark times , rituals and holidays gave reassurance to the people

Rough music was an outlet for fears and angers

Folk customs to shame a member of the community / mocking / loud noise became a method of uniting the community

Question 8

What is Peter Burke’s thoughts on popular culture ?

Answer 8

Popular culture denotes those beliefs values and customs and practises belonging to the vast majority of ordinary Europeans who were non noble and non clerical commoners

Question 9

What were the four sorts of people at the time ?

Answer 9

Gentlemen
Yeomen
Husbandmen
Labourers

Question 10

What was a gentleman ?

Answer 10

Nobility , people who had their own land and got others to work on it

Question 11

What was a Yeoman ?

Answer 11

People who owned sufficient freehold to land to be fully independent , they too employ workers on the land

Question 12

What was a husbandman ?

Answer 12

Person who owns a home but possesses less land ( mostly leased )

Question 13

What was a labourer ?

Answer 13

The people who worked on someones land

Question 14

What was geographical popular culture like during this time ?

Answer 14

Southern Europe focused on the outdoors + less female freedom

West was more economically advanced compared to the less advanced in the east

Northern Europe was less exciting compared to the south

Question 15

What was middling culture like at the time ?

Answer 15

This is between merchants and professional men and substantial farmers ( not elite or popular )

Equally distant between the poor and the rich

Question 16

What was elite culture like at this time ?

Answer 16

Elites = nobles who owned a lot of land and had ties in government / UNI educated

There were 2 types of elites :

Those in the royal families had different cultures to just noble land owners

Elites divided on religious issues ( reformation and Catholicism )

Italy + dutch = strong city links + commercial activity / France , eastern Europe shunned commercial activity

Question 17

What was urban culture like at this time ?

Answer 17

Many large cities experienced growth e.g London by 1800 had over a million people as opposed to 50 k in 1500

London and paris became places of sophisticated life / social interaction

Families gather and read together / play music caused by an increase in education

Question 18

What was common culture like at this time ?

Answer 18

9/10 stayed in homesteads / villages

No longer serf’s and legally free / most occupied by selling crops ( livestock )

WE can see the entertainment culture of singing songs/ music / shows a glimpse into ordinary life ( BURKE )

Taverns became great places of mingling

Games that tested manhood were popular like football yet Tudor monarchs preferred archery / tried to ban ball games

Question 19

What were some issues with common popular culture at the time ?

Answer 19

In the west , peasants paid rent to a landowner technically still slaves due to interest

Religious tensions between ideologies ( Cath + Prot )

Youth culture may have been different

Question 20

What was gender culture like at the time ?

Answer 20

Women inferior to men at the time / Excluded from politics and many professions

In parts of Europe , middle class women were house bound

Man’s role was to provide and the Woman’s role was to look after the home

Women would gather by a well and gossip / a good weapon for defending a family name by mocking or shaming a person for performing naughty acts

Question 21

What was hardship culture like at the time ?

Answer 21

Due to a lack of tech advances , many relied on the harvest ( the main source of economy ) , meat was a luxury

Poor diet and working conditions and a lack of medicine caused issues

European elites were guarded in large houses with good food yet still could face epidemics and poor child birth numbers for both rich and poor

1/3 of kids reached 5 years old

Poor sanitary conditions in cities lead to plagues which could kill 1/3 of the population

Question 22

What was Carnival ?

Answer 22

A celebration starting in Jan / Feb across Europe ( eating , drinking , dancing , sex before lent )

They mock the conventions and was centred around the world flipping over ( men to women )

Examples would be may day and midsummer in northern Europe

Question 23

What was the feast of fools ?

Answer 23

Feast held in December / January

Lord of misrule was elected and had power to command anyone in the festival

Participants mocked those in important roles ( drank in church )

By the mid 15th century it was frowned upon via reformation

Question 24

How many festivals took place at this time ?

Answer 24

There were 17 festivals annually not including saint days

Question 25

What was the impact of festivals ?

Answer 25

Opportunities for excess ( valentines day , may day , carnival )

Guild’s would organise them who would benefit from advertising + demand for labour

Question 26

Who were some critics of carnival ?

Answer 26

Usually educated elite opposed overindulgence / immorality

Sebastian Brant considered Drinking , Gambling etc … the ruin of people - his book “Ship of fools”

May day 1517 ended up causing trouble in cities many became anti catholic

Erasmus saw it a pagan and unchristian