Life in the 1500's
author unknown
Life in the 1500's, something
interesting to ponder. Those were not "the good old days"!
- Lead cups were used to drink
ale or whiskey. The combination would sometimes knock them out for a
couple of days. Someone walking along the road would take them for dead
and prepare them for burial. They were laid out on the kitchen table
for a couple of days and the family would gather around and eat and
drink and wait and see if they would wake up. Hence the custom of holding
a "wake."
- England is old and small, and
they started running out of places to bury people. So, they would dig
up coffins and would take their bones to a house and reuse the grave.
In reopening these coffins, one out of 25 coffins were found to have
scratch marks on the inside and they realized they had been burying
people alive. So they thought they would tie a string on their wrist
and lead it through the coffin and up through the ground and tie it
to a bell. Someone would have to sit out in the graveyard all night
to listen for the bell. Hence on the "graveyard shift" they would know
that someone was "saved by the bell" or he was a "dead ringer."
- Most people got married in
June because they took their yearly bath in May and were still smelling
pretty good by June. However, they were starting to smell, so brides
carried a bouquet of flowers to hide the b.o.
- Baths equaled a big tub filled
with hot water. The man of the house had the privilege of the nice clean
water, then all the other sons and men, then the women and finally the
children. Last of all the babies. By then the water was so dirty you
could actually lose someone in it. Hence the saying "Don't throw the
baby out with the bath water."
- Houses had thatched roofs.
Thick straw, piled high, with no wood underneath. It was the only place
for animals to get warm, so all the pets... dogs, cats and other small
animals, mice, rats, bugs lived in the roof. When it rained it became
slippery and sometimes the animals would slip and fall off the roof.
Hence the saying, "It's raining cats and dogs."
- There was nothing to stop things
from falling into the house. This posed a real problem in the bedroom
where bugs and other droppings could really mess up your nice clean
bed. So, they found if they made beds with big posts and hung a sheet
over the top, it addressed that problem. Hence those beautiful big 4
poster beds with canopies. I wonder if this is where we get the saying
"Good night and don't let the bed bugs bite"...
- The floor was dirt. Only the
wealthy had something other than dirt, hence the saying "dirt poor."
The wealthy had slate floors which would get slippery in the winter
when wet. So they spread thresh on the floor to help keep their footing.
As the winter wore on they kept adding more thresh until when you opened
the door it would all start slipping outside. A piece of wood was placed
at the entry way, hence a "thresh hold."
- They cooked in the kitchen
in a big kettle that always hung over the fire. Every day they lit the
fire and added things to the pot. They mostly ate vegetables and didn't
get much meat. They would eat the stew for dinner leaving leftovers
in the pot to get cold overnight and then start over the next day. Sometimes
the stew had food in it that had been in there for a month. Hence the
rhyme: peas porridge hot, peas porridge cold, peas porridge in the pot
nine days old."
- Sometimes they could obtain
pork and would feel really special when that happened. When company
came over, they would bring out some bacon and hang it to show it off.
It was a sign of wealth and that a man "could really bring home the
bacon." They would cut off a little to share with guests and would all
sit around and "chew the fat."
- Those with money had plates
made of pewter. Food with a high acid content caused some of the lead
to leach onto the food. This happened most often with tomatoes, so they
stopped eating tomatoes...for 400 years.
- Most people didn't have pewter
plates, but had trenchers - a piece of wood with the middle scooped
out like a bowl. Trenchers were never washed and a lot of times worms
got into the wood. After eating off wormy trenchers, they would get
"trench mouth.
- Bread was divided according
to status. Workers got the burnt bottom of the loaf, the family got
the middle, and guests got the top, or the "upper crust".
SPECIAL NOTE!
This is all hogwash... It's just a fun read. As with all such viral emails, check Snopes for the facts. |
The Bards Market
Save on Ren Faire Music

A Faire To Remember
Folk & Celtic music of some of the most popular songs at Renaissance festivals worldwide!
"Bottling the spirit of a live performance within the confines of a studio album" --Greenman Reviews
Buy Now! (CD)
|
|
|