Our Legal Heritage: The First Thousand Years: 600 - 1600: King Aethelbert - Queen ElizabethReilly, S. A.
History
Our Legal Heritage: The First Thousand Years: 600 - 1600: King Aethelbert - Queen Elizabeth
Reilly, S. A.
Law -- England -- History
William Shakespeare, a glove-maker's son, wrote plays about
historical events and plays which portrayed various human
personalities and their interactions with each other. They were
enjoyed by all classes of people. His histories were especially
popular. The Queen and various earls each employed players and
actors, who went on tour as a troupe and performed on a round
open-air stage, with people standing around to watch. In London,
theaters such as the Globe were built specifically for the
performance of plays, which had been performed at inns. There
were costumes, but no sets. Ordinary admission was 2d. Before
being performed, a play had to be licensed by the Master of the
Revels to make sure that there was nothing detrimental to the
peace and public order. The common people still went to
morality plays, but also to plays in which historical personages
were portrayed, such as Richard II, Henry IV, and Henry V. Some
plays were on contemporary issues. Musicians played together as
orchestras. Music and singing was a popular pastime after
supper; everyone was expected to participate. Dancing was
popular with all classes. Gentlemen played cards, dice, chess,
billiards, tennis, and fenced and had games on horseback. Their
deer- hunting diminished as forests were cut down for agriculture
and the deer was viewed as an enemy eating crops. Falconry
diminished as hedges and enclosures displaced the broad expanses
of land. With enclosure there could be more innovation and more
efficiency. It was easier to prevent over-grazing and half-
starved animals as a result.
Country people had music, dancing, pantomime shows with masks,
riddles, wrestling, hurling, running, swimming, leap frog,
blindman's buff, shovelboard played with the hands, and football
between villages with the goal to get the ball into one's own
village. There were many tales involving fairies, witches,
devils, ghosts, evil spirits, angels, and monsters enjoyed by
adults as well as children. Many people were still
superstitious, believed in charms, curses, divination, omens,
fate, and advice from astrologers. The ghosts of the earth
walked the earth, usually because of some foul play to be
disclosed, wrong to be set right, to warn those dear to them of
peril, or to watch over hidden treasure. Fairies blessed homes,
rewarded minor virtues, and punished mild wrongdoing. When
fairies were unhappy, the weather was bad. There were parties
for children.
The merry guild-feast was no longer a feature of village life.
There were fewer holydays and festivals. The most prosperous
period of the laborer was closing. An agricultural laborer's
yearly wage was about 154s., but his cost of living, which now
included house rent, was about 160s. a year. In 1533, daily wages
in the summer for an agricultural laborer were about 4d. and for
an artisan 6d. In 1563 in the county of Rutland, daily wages for
laborers were 7d. in summer and 6d. in winter; and for artisans
were 9d. in summer and 8d. in winter.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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