Summary of Ruth Goodman's How To Be a Tudor

Everest Media

Description

Please note: This is a companion version & not the original book.
Sample Book Insights:
#1 The cockerels began their morning chorus and people began to wake up. The vast majority of people lived a rural life and kept their own chickens and pigs in the yard out the back. Cattle and sheep grazed on town commons.
#2 Tudor beds were usually made of straw, and people would sleep on them in their clothes if they had to. They were not very comfortable, and they could become compacted and lumpy if not looked after.
#3 The word bed in Tudor England meant something close to what we today mean by the word mattress, so the straw-filled sack was called a straw bed. Many people carefully selected not just the main bulk of the straw, but also additional stuffing from the straw of particular plants to aid a good night’s sleep.
#4 The floors of English houses were often laid with white clay and covered with rushes, which were problematic for the actors at the Globe Theatre. They became caught up in the skirts of the men playing female characters. The rushes were then cut into shorter lengths, which helped.

Sujets

• 16th Century
• Modern
• Modern history
• Obermodern-Zutzendorf

Informations

• Publié par: Everest Media LLC
• Date de parution: 27 avril 2022
• Nombre de lectures: 0
• EAN13: 9781669393177
• Langue: English
• Poids de l'ouvrage: 1 Mo

Extrait

Insights on Ruth Goodman's How To Be a Tudor
Contents Insights from Chapter 1 Insights from Chapter 2 Insights from Chapter 3 Insights from Chapter 4 Insights from Chapter 5 Insights from Chapter 6 Insights from Chapter 7 Insights from Chapter 8 Insights from Chapter 9 Insights from Chapter 10 Insights from Chapter 11
Insights from Chapter 1

#1

The cockerels began their morning chorus and people began to wake up. The vast majority of people lived a rural life and kept their own chickens and pigs in the yard out the back. Cattle and sheep grazed on town commons.

#2

Tudor beds were usually made of straw, and people would sleep on them in their clothes if they had to. They were not very comfortable, and they could become compacted and lumpy if not looked after.

#3

The word bed in Tudor England meant something close to what we today mean by the word mattress, so the straw-filled sack was called a straw bed. Many people carefully selected not just the main bulk of the straw, but also additional stuffing from the straw of particular plants to aid a good night’s sleep.

#4

The floors of English houses were often laid with white clay and covered with rushes, which were problematic for the actors at the Globe Theatre. They became caught up in the skirts of the men playing female characters. The rushes were then cut into shorter lengths, which helped.

#5

As the sixteenth century rolled on, fewer and fewer people slept on the floor. Chimneys began to dominate the skyline, and as they were installed and homes were divided up into more rooms, there were far worse draughts at floor level.

#6

A flock bed was a step up from a straw bed. It was a tightly woven sack stuffed with sheep’s wool rather than straw. It was well worth taking the time to make a proper flock bed, as it would last longer than a straw bed.

#7

The best Tudor bed was made of a wooden frame with posts at all four corners, a substantial wooden headboard, a thick fabric top, and heavy full curtains all around. It would have had tightly pulled ropes across the bottom, and a thick fresh rush mat.

#8

There were a lot more beds in the Tudor period than there were in the medieval period, and they were used by wealthier people than those of modest means. The rooms of Katherine Salisbury’s house were inventoried one by one. Her own room contained both a bedstead and a truckle bed, but the maid’s room was conspicuously without a bedstead.

#9

The prayer at first waking was a personal affair, done alone and privately. It was a constant throughout the Tudor era, though the language and content of that prayer would undergo a fundamental change. Christianity was almost entirely unchallenged as an explanation of the universe, but the nature of Christianity was the hottest of all topics.

#10

The idea of morning prayer held strong during the Protestant reformers’ reign, but the recitation of fixed prayers was beginning to lose its centrality in the daily practice of morning prayer. People were beginning to free-form pray, and they believed that this could offer a deeper spiritual experience.
Insights from Chapter 2

#1

The body was prepared for the day’s activities by washing it with hot soapy water, which was a dangerous and stupid thing to do in a world where disease entered the body through the open pores of the skin.

#2

The body was seen as being in a constant state of imbalance, and sickness was caused by an outside agency that entered the body through the pores of the skin. The body produced its own filth, which needed to be removed as quickly and fully as possible.

#3

The morning routine for a man should include a session in which he rubs his body with a course linen cloth, first gently and easily, and then more and more aggressively until his flesh swells and turns red. This helps draw out the body’s toxins through the open pores.

#4

The clothing of the wealthy was different from that of the poor. Aristocrats and wealthy gentlemen had several dozen shirts and changed at least once a day, with additional changes if they had been engaged in strenuous exercise. Servants, on the other hand, usually only had the wages due to them.

#5

The Tudor era was known for its cleanliness, but how clean was it really. We know that some people followed the full hygiene regime, but we don’t know how many people followed it.

#6

The sixteenth century believed in the cleansing power of linen, but in practice it had some truth to it. The laundry made a vast difference. The smell of the past was not the same as the smell of the present, but we must be aware that cleanliness and being neat and sweet-smelling were important issues for Tudor people.

#7

The public baths in Tudor England were open for business until 1546, and even some people bathed. They were seen as places rife with infection both moral and physical, and their link with the sex trade made them doubly dubious.

#8

The bath was a therapeutic experience that was limited to the gentry and a few aspirational merchants. It was not a everyday experience even within this elite group.

#9

The smell of herbs and flowers was extremely important for the health of the Elizabethan body. The smell of rosemary was believed to strengthen the brain, while lavender was thought to help calm and cool an overheated brain.

#10

Perfume came from natural sources for most people. Rosemary was used at weddings and funerals, and in homes to drive out sloth and idleness.

#11

The smell of incense was used in church, and its cost restricted its use in rural parishes to twice-yearly experiences around the feasts of Easter and Christmas.