‘As You Like It’ — THE ELIZABETHANS - AN OVERVIEW

The Elizabethan era, as it is commonly known, is named after Elizabeth I, The Virgin Queen (1533-1603), daughter of the second wife of King Henry VIII, who is best remembered for beheading most of his six wives. After the death of her older sister, Queen Mary, Elizabeth was crowned in 1558, and ruled England until she died in 1603. Under her rule England asserted itself vigorously as a major European power in politics, commerce, and the arts. Here are some interesting facts about life in England during the Elizabethan era.

Elizabethan society was in many ways still dominated by the feudal and manorial system inherited from the Middle Ages (roughly 1000-1500). In the country, a land "lord" inherited the right to occupy and use a certain amount of land. Most everyone else worked the land, usually farming or shepherding, to support the "lord's" manor.

Towns, on the other hand, had their own independent social structure. Towns had been established during the Middle Ages to encourage commerce. They were independent of the feudal hierarchy, owing allegiance directly to the King or Queen, and they enjoyed extensive privileges of self-government. Townspeople were typically craftsmen and tradesmen who had their own shops and businesses.

Schooling was basically for boys. Boys who attended school usually did from age 7 to roughly 15. They studied Latin and math, and sometimes Greek. Girls usually stayed at home and learned housekeeping skills.

Elizabethan literature is considered to be the finest in the history of the English language. The Elizabethan age saw the flowering of poetry (the sonnet, the Spenserian stanza, dramatic blank verse), the golden age of drama, and a wide variety of wonderful prose (historical chronicles, versions of the Holy Scriptures, literary criticism, and the first English novels). Writers such as Sir Philip Sidney ("Arcadia"), Edmund Spenser ("The Faerie Queen"), Christopher Marlowe ("Faust"), and Shakespeare (plays, poems, sonnets) flourished.

Plays were not the only entertainment. Audiences also flocked to such bloody spectacles as public hangings, bear and bull baiting, and cockfights.

The Elizabethans knew little about healthy eating. The upper classes consumed huge quantities of meat but not a lot of fruits and vegetables. This made them liable to suffer from scurvy and other diseases. Poorer people usually ate what they could, pigeons and rabbits, and bread made from barley or rye.

Most people bathed only once a year. Elizabeth herself was said to have worried her doctors because she took a bath once a month.

The Elizabethans didn't know much about sanitation. They dumped garbage into city streets and open ditches. This ruined the water sources and caused plagues and epidemics. They didn't connect diseases with trash. It was "common knowledge" that diseases were spread by bad smells. Therefore people usually carried herbs and flowers to sniff when bad smells came their way.

According to Elizabethan physiology, a "humor" was one of four elemental bodily fluids-phlegm, black bile, blood, and yellow bile - each relating to a specific temperament or mood. Diseases and emotions were determined by the balance of the humors, the ideal state occurring when all four were in proper proportion to the others (what we would call "homeostasis" today). When one humor dominates, a person is unbalanced, exhibiting one mood or quirk to the exclusion of others. A person suffering from an excess of phlegm is sluggish, pale and slow; the splenetic or choleric person (black bile) is quick to anger and unmerciful; the sanguine person (blood) is excessively jovial and lusty; and the melancholic person (yellow bile) is maudlin, lovesick, and languid. The doctrine of humors was an obvious influence on Shakespeare in creating character, most notably the malcontent Jaques in "As You Like It."

Sample Prices of Goods and Services: 1 penny = $2 today; 1 shilling (12 pennies) = $25 today; 1 pound (20 shillings) = $500 today; Loaf of bread = 1 penny; Cherries 1 lb. = 3 pennies; Fresh salmon = 13 shillings; Cheese 1 lb. = 1 1/2 pennies; Beef 1 lb. = 3 pennies; Ale 1 quart = 1/2 penny; Sugar 1 lb. = 20 shillings; Cloves 1 lb. = 11 shillings; Bible = 2 pounds; Soap 1 lb. = 4 pennies; scissors = 6 pennies; Tooth pulled = 2 shillings; Theater ticket = 1, 2, or 3 pennies; Horse = 1-2 pounds

What they earned: Shepherd: 6 pennies per week with food; Craftsman: 4-10 pounds per year; Esquire: 500-1000 pounds per year; Knight: 1000-2000 pounds per year; Nobleman: 2500 pounds per year. (From: Daily Life in Elizabethan England)

Construct a Shakespearean insult

To construct an insult that would have been hurled during Shakespeare's day, take one word from each of the three columns below, and preface it with "Thou."