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SECTION 2: HOW COMFORTABLE WERE
THE LIVES OF RICH TUDOR PEOPLE?
How the poor lived
A poor family’s house was usually one small room with a hole in the wall for a window
(which might have a closing wooden shutter). They slept on straw or straw-filled mattresses with only a blanket to keep themselves warm. Furniture was simple; a wooden
table, some stools and maybe one wooden bed, and a one or more wooden chests to
keep everything in. Really poor people’s homes were made of cob (mud).
They would also have an iron cooking pot, to hang/sit over the fire and some wooden
bowls and mugs. The cottage floor was usually just beaten earth. The poor often had to
share their home with their animals. The houses were damp and draughty and filled with
smoke as they had no chimneys. The smoke went out through a hole in the thatch.
The only water would come from a well or stream and would have to be fetched in buckets, this made it difficult to keep everything (including themselves) clean.
The toilet would be a hedge or an outside hut away from the house and rubbish was just
thrown onto a ‘midden’ where the pigs and hens would find anything worth scavenging.
There were many farm labourers who either rented a cottage and got paid wages by the
farmer or got a cottage in return for working for the farmer. A farm labourer was paid 6d a
day (2p) and a loaf 2d (1p). You would get up when the sun came up and go to bed when
the sun set.
The only light in your house came from the fire or from rushlights (candles made from
reeds dipped in animal fat) which gave off very little light and stank.
© The Falstaff Experience 2009
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How the rich lived
Wealthy Tudor homes were made of timber or, if you were really wealthy, of brick or
stone. The walls of rooms were lined with oak panelling to keep out drafts and wooden
floors. People slept in four-poster beds hung with curtains to reduce drafts. In the 16th
century some people had wallpaper but it was very expensive. Other wealthy people
hung tapestries or painted cloths on their walls.
In Tudor England carpets were a luxury only the richest people could afford. They were
too expensive to put on the floor! Instead they were hung on the wall or over tables.
People covered the floors with rushes, reeds or straw, which they strew with sweet
smelling herbs. Once a month the floor covering was changed.
In the rich people lit their homes with beeswax candles. However they were expensive.
The rich had clocks in their homes and the very rich had pocket watches although most
people relied on pocket sundials.
Rich Tudors were also fond of gardens. Many had mazes, fountains and topiary
(hedges cut into shapes).
The rich ate vast amounts of meat. However they rarely ate vegetables. They were also
fond of sweet foods and sugar was very expensive. In the 16th century new foods were
introduced from the Americas. Many Tudors, such a Elizabeth I, had rotten teeth due to
the sugar. Turkeys were introduced into England about 1525. Potatoes were brought to
England in the 1580s but at first few English people ate them.
Rich people liked to show off their gold and silver plate. The middle classes would have
dishes and bowls made of pewter. There were no forks in Tudor times. People ate with
knives and their fingers or with spoons. Wealthy people had silver or pewter spoons.
© The Falstaff Experience 2009
MUSEUM
PUPIL ACTIVITY SHEET
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Label the different materials (wood, brick, slate, glass)
Label the different rooms.
Label the different activities.
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Here we have the outside and inside of three houses—a poor Tudor’s
house, a rich merchant’s house and a palace. Can you label which is which?
© The Falstaff Experience 2009
MUSEUM
PUPIL ACTIVITY SHEET
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LOOK AT THE OUTSIDE OF THE MUSEUM
Is it old or is it new?
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What is it made of? (brick, stone, slate, wattle-and-daub, wood)
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Would this have been owned by a rich person or a poor person?
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LOOK AT THE INSIDE OF THE MUSEUM
Is it old or is it new?
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What is it made of? Look at the floor, ceiling and walls. (brick, stone, slate, wattle-anddaub, wood)
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© The Falstaff Experience 2009
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SECTION 3: WHAT CAN INVENTORIES TELL
US ABOUT THE LIVES OF PEOPLE AT THIS TIME?
Most people like to leave their possessions and property to family and friends when
they die. To make sure that their wishes are known and followed, people write down
their bequests in a document known as a will. However, some people die without making a will and others have so many things that the executors (the people in charge of
making sure the terms of the will are carried out) find their job very difficult. In cases
like this, an inventory can be drawn up.
The inventory is a list of all the property and goods owned by a person - it even includes debts! In the past, inventories were drawn up by friends of the person who had
died or people who worked in the same kind of job. There were no rules about what
had to be included in an inventory so some are very long and give details about every
possession whilst others are very short.
A large number of inventories from the Tudor period
have survived and they can tell us a lot about the
people who were living at that time.
Although they look quite boring they contain very useful information, such as how people dressed, what
things they used, how many rooms they had in their
houses, what they did for a living, what animals they
kept and what kind of things could be bought in a
shop.
Beds would often be left in a will as
they were very expensive items of
furniture. Shakespeare left his wife
the ‘second best bed’.
© The Falstaff Experience 2009
The only trouble is that not everyone left an inventory.
In fact, it was only people who had anything worth
something that left a will or an inventory - in other
words, it was just rich people. But, just like today,
there were big differences in the lifestyles of different
rich people in the Tudor period.
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WILL SHAKESPEARE’S WILL (EXCEPT)
DISCUSSION POINTS
In what ways would his will be useful in finding out about the life and times of
William Shakespeare?
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BACKGROUND TO WILLIAM ROGERS (AKA JOHN FALSTAFF)
AND HIS INVENTORY
In the 16th century the Shrieve’s House and Barn (now Tudor World) was a tavern called
The Three Tunns run by William Rogers and his wife Elizabeth. William Rogers was a
mercer and also kept a tavern on the property. From the many dishes mentioned on his
inventory taken after his death, it is clear that food as well as drink was served.
William Rogers married Elizabeth Walker. During the forty-six year tenancy of Elizabeth
Rogers (1578-1624) it is not unreasonable to assume the playwright spent time within its
walls. Her nephew, William Walker, was Shakespeare's godson, bequeathed twenty shillings in the author's will. Added to that her son-in-law, Matthew Morris and also her
cousin John Greene, were co-Trustees of the Bard's property in Blackfriars.
The Shakespeare connection continued with Elizabeth Roger's daughter (also Elizabeth)
who is thought to have met her husband, Matthew Morris through their mutual association with Susannah Shakespeare (the poet's daughter) and her husband, Dr John Hall.
In fact Susannah and her husband and Elizabeth Morris and her husband were so close
they named their children after each other. Shakespeare is said to have based many of
the characteristics of his famous character, Sir John Falstaff, on William Rogers the redfaced, over-weight publican - who appears as an aging soldier in The Merry Wives of
Windsor and Henry IV part I.
William Rogers died in 1597, living his wife Elizabeth to run the tavern and his 8 surviving children.
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WILLIAM ROGERS INVENTORY ON HIS DEATH IN 1597
William Rogers, Sergeant-at-Mace, 1597
A true and perfect inventory of all the goods, chattels and credits of
William Rogers one of the Sergeants at Mace of Stratford-Upon-Avon
within the county of Warwick, late deceased, taken by Mr George
Badger, William Wyatt, William Smarte, Gilbert Charnock, Ananyas
Nason & others and praised thee 25 day of January in the 49 year of
the reign of our sovereign lady Elizabeth the Queen Majesty that now
is anno domini 1596.
th
th
WILLIAM ROGER’S INVENTORY CAN BE FOUND IN THE MUSEUM.
HOWEVER, IF YOU WOULD LIKE A COPY PRIOR TO YOUR VISIT,
WE WILL BE HAPPY TO EMAIL THIS 5-PAGE DOCUMENT TO YOU
(WHICH INCLUDES SOME TRANSLATIONS).
© The Falstaff Experience 2009
MUSEUM
PUPIL ACTIVITY SHEET
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When did William Rogers die?
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Can you list the rooms/areas that are included on the inventory?
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How many mattresses and beds can you count?
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How many plates can you count?
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Why are the windows on the inventory?
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What sort of place is this?
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What does it tell you about William Rogers.
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Why don’t we have inventories for the poor people?
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© The Falstaff Experience 2009