This has been a firm belief of mine ever since I made the mistake 40-odd years ago of paying a return visit to my old school. Quite the most unsettling, disturbing action I ever took. Perhaps I should make clear that I mean returning after a long interval is bad, regular returns are easier.
I am reminded of this by reading Ian Mortimer's superb book The Time Traveller's Guide to Elizabethan England. As something of a Shakespeare fan I have often wondered (or perhaps wondered 'many a time and oft''!) what life was like in Stratford and London in those times? Well, based on Mortimer's description the only words that spring to mind are 'bloody awful'! Life, compared to today, was lived at snail's pace. For everyone, bar the wealthy, if you wanted to go anywhere you walked - and walking in those days was definitely not a pleasure! Water was scarce and had to be queued for and then carried. You dare not drink it! In the cities and towns the stench was abominable. Personal hygiene was minimal to nil the further down the social scale you went and it wasn't too brilliant amongst the upper classes.
If today you are worried about HMG storing your e-mails, then Elizabethan England is not for you. Attendence at Church every Sunday and Holy Days was compulsory and absence was always reported by vigilant priests or nosey neighbours and the result, at best, was a hefty fine. If your were Catholic - God help you! And if the government didn't get you then the plague or general starvation during bad harvest times would. If you were tempted to get away from it all by running off to sea, forget it! A sailor's life was such that I suspect the near certainty of an early and unpleasant death was actually a comfort!
No, I think I'll stick to the 21st century and if Mortimer's descriptions are accurate - and I am certain they are - then I promise never to complain about anything ever again. (Well, up until my next blog post, I suppose!) One thing's for sure, you can stick 'Merrie Olde England' where the sun don't shine!
Treat yourself to Mortimer's book, it is truly fascinating.
Well. Aside from your description of that time's "life at sea" Elizabethan England sounds alot like modern Arkansas.
I do wonder though, would one of the best lines for picking up women in Elizabethan England've been the same as in modern-day Arkansas, "My what a beautiful tooth you have!" ?
Posted by: JK | Tuesday, 10 April 2012 at 16:56
The answwer to that, JK, is definitely 'yes', according to Mr. Mortimer!
Posted by: David Duff | Tuesday, 10 April 2012 at 17:24
I'd like to have gone back to my old school a couple of years after I left to thank, especially, the two best teachers I'd had (Maths and English - quite outstanding). Alas, they'd left the year before I did. I should have written but I never did. Shame on me. (Particularly since, at a 25 year re-union of pupils, the old maths teacher had written a nice letter where he let slip that he still remembered one of my class room impromptus.)
Posted by: dearieme | Tuesday, 10 April 2012 at 21:21
The Roman Catholics didn't get it too bad under Elizabeth - mainly she wanted them to shut up, keep their heads down, and attempt no conversions. James I planned to be even gentler until a few activists (copyright, the BBC) tried to blow him up along with the Lords and Commons.
But, yes, in many ways England was more backward than Roman Britain. Hell, in some ways it was more backward than neolithic Britain. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Skara_Brae
Observe: "A sophisticated drainage system was even incorporated into the village's design, one that included a primitive form of toilet in each dwelling."
Posted by: dearieme | Tuesday, 10 April 2012 at 21:32
Well David, given your reply and added to my unusual circumstances, any chance the Royal Navy has any openings for say, Captaining a rowboat dinghy? I realize berths in your "fleet" are hard to come by (unless one is an Admiral).
Far as visiting my "old school and chums" it would appear nobody but me left when electricity came to Arkansas.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TBnUC8p2wgw
Posted by: JK | Tuesday, 10 April 2012 at 21:42
To be fair, DM, building and operating a controlled water system in London in the 1500s would have been fairly tricky. However, the subject of water and its eventual control and then public access to it reminds me of a thought imparted to me by Peter Watson, author of a book called "Ideas: A History from Fire to Freud". In it, he proposed that one of the central ideas of Man which was utterly crucial to his subsequent development was that of controlling fire. Obvious when you think about it, which I hadn't until then! But similarly, I reckon the control of water was of equal importance.
Posted by: David Duff | Wednesday, 11 April 2012 at 14:44