Popular culture revision Flashcards
What was social status like ?
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
What were peasants like during this time ?
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
What was the status of women like at the time ?
At all levels , women were subordinate to legal systems
Most denied right to own property / own a business yet some managed to bypass this
What was life like in villages ?
Village life was changing as many moved to cities due to growing wealth
What was life like in cities ?
Urban life was fragmented , disorganised and unpersonal
Better employment and literacy rates leading to an increase in books + newspapers
What was crime and punishment like at the time ?
Crime became the only alternative for the poor
This was before the police existed -tourture was an acceptable punishment
What was Charivari ?
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
What is Peter Burke’s thoughts on popular culture ?
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
What were the four sorts of people at the time ?
Gentlemen
Yeomen
Husbandmen
Labourers
What was a gentleman ?
Nobility , people who had their own land and got others to work on it
What was a Yeoman ?
People who owned sufficient freehold to land to be fully independent , they too employ workers on the land
What was a husbandman ?
Person who owns a home but possesses less land ( mostly leased )
What was a labourer ?
The people who worked on someones land
What was geographical popular culture like during this time ?
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
What was middling culture like at the time ?
This is between merchants and professional men and substantial farmers ( not elite or popular )
Equally distant between the poor and the rich
What was elite culture like at this time ?
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
What was urban culture like at this time ?
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
What was common culture like at this time ?
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
What were some issues with common popular culture at the time ?
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
What was gender culture like at the time ?
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
What was hardship culture like at the time ?
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
What was Carnival ?
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
What was the feast of fools ?
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
How many festivals took place at this time ?
There were 17 festivals annually not including saint days
What was the impact of festivals ?
Opportunities for excess ( valentines day , may day , carnival )
Guild’s would organise them who would benefit from advertising + demand for labour
Who were some critics of carnival ?
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
