Daily Life in Elizabethan England (24 page)

The homes of the wealthy, lavishly endowed with windows, were airy and bright; but in poorer houses, where glass was too expensive, window-openings had to be few and small to conserve heat; such houses were dim even in the daytime. After dark, light was provided by beeswax or tallow candles. Wax burned more brightly and cleanly but was expensive. Tal-Material Culture
115

low was a cheaper alternative, being derived from animal fats that were a natural byproduct of food production.

Candles were not as simple to use as they are today. As the candle burned down, the wick remained long and the candle receded from the flame, which became progressively weaker. To keep the light strong, the wick had to be trimmed at least every half-hour or so. This was a tricky procedure, as trimming it too close would bring the flame too near the candle, melting the candle and wasting precious fuel; one could even put the flame out in the process (the wicks in modern candles are designed to curl as they burn, so the end is burned away and the candle trims itself).

Materials for candlesticks included silver, pewter, brass, clay, and wood.

Other forms of light were the oil lamp, also fueled with animal fats, and the
rushlight,
an iron clip holding a rush that had been dried and soaked in grease. To provide light outdoors, people used torches (called
links
), or lanterns fitted with panes of horn. Artificial light was dim (as anyone who has tried to read by candlelight knows), and it cost money, so most people followed the schedule of the sun, the only source of light that was cheap and undeniably effective.

The late 16th century was a period of generally cool and wet weather, falling within what climatic historians call the Little Ice Age. Not only was the weather cold, but houses were drafty and poorly insulated—windows had no double glazing. Nor was there central heating: heat was provided by fireplaces burning wood or coal. Coal was cheaper but produced a foul smoke. Wood fuel was often in the form of bundles of smaller branches rather than heavy logs. Large trees were a valuable resource, so wood was often cultivated by techniques called coppicing and pollarding, cutting back trees at the stump or trunk to allow new shoots to emerge—this provided a renewable source of wood, although in small diameters. The best houses had fireplaces in as many rooms as possible, but most people were unlikely to have more than one or two. Hot coals from the fire might be placed in an earthen vessel to bring a source of warmth to other parts of the house, although this could run the risk of fire.

Starting a fire from scratch began with a flint and steel—a sharpened piece of flint could strike minute fragments from a U-shaped piece of steel held in the hand, heating them white-hot to create sparks. By catching the sparks in a readily combustible material such as tow (a byproduct of linen making), a smoldering fire could be generated. This could ignite an actual flame with the help of a match, a sliver of cardboard coated in sulfur. This match would burn much like its modern equivalent (although with an intense acrid smell—the smell of
brimstone
that people associated with the fires of hell). People were naturally inclined to avoid this complex and sometimes frustrating process if they could—if there were no fires alight in the house, people visited a neighbor to ask for some hot coals to kindle their fire the quick way.

116

Daily Life in Elizabethan England

Furnishings

To the modern eye, an Elizabethan home would seem sparsely furnished.

Much of our furniture today serves to store our personal possessions, and ordinary Elizabethans owned far fewer things—a person who has only two changes of clothing doesn’t need a lot of wardrobe space. Furniture was mostly of oak and other hardwoods—pine had to be imported to Elizabethan England. Elizabethan furniture was quite durable, since old oak becomes almost as hard as metal.

Construction was of two general types. The cheapest furniture was

boarded,
consisting mostly of boards pegged together with wooden dow-els. Quality furniture was
joined,
assembled with mortice and tenon joints.

The wood might be carved or inlaid, and the surface was often painted in bright colors.

The Hall

The sparseness of furniture is illustrated by the inventory of a tanner in 1592, whose hall was furnished with a table, five joint stools, a chair, a bench, and painted cloths to hang on the walls.4 Most people sat on stools or benches. Chairs (distinguished by having a back) were relatively rare: as in the tanner’s hall, there was often just one, reserved for the head of the household or a privileged guest (for this reason the term
chair
is sometimes used today to designate a position of authority, as in
chairman
). The nicest chairs were upholstered, but this was a luxury seen only in wealthy homes; cushions were the more usual means of making a seat comfortable.

In the Middle Ages, chairs always had arms as well as backs, but the 16th century saw the emergence of the
farthingale
chair: fashionable women wore large hoop-skirts (farthingales) that were too big to fit between the arms of a chair, so the farthingale chair was made without arms. There were also benches with backs, called
settles.

The tanner’s table mentioned above was probably a permanent and sta-tionary piece of furniture, although in some houses they were still using medieval-style trestle tables—essentially a table-top mounted on two trestles that could be put up and taken down at will. This style was especially useful in small spaces and in large dining halls that sometimes had to be cleared for other uses.

In addition to the items listed in the tanner’s inventory, the hall might have a cupboard or shelves for storing table gear. Open shelving was favored as a way to display the household’s best tableware. In a small home the hall would also serve as a kitchen and would be equipped accordingly.

The Bedchamber

Like the hall, the typical bedchamber was sparsely furnished. The tanner’s inventory listed a table, an old carpet (probably used to cover the
Material Culture
117

POSTMORTEM INVENTORY OF HENRY BACKER

OF CHIPPING NORTON, OXFORDSHIRE, 1588

In the Hall

2 long table boards and one frame, 3 short forms [benches], 10 joint stools, one bench with a chair, one cupboard, . . . an almain rivet [munitions-grade armor], one caliver [musket], and furnishings to the same, . . . one cleaver, one chopping knife, a toasting iron, a lantern, a pair of balances and weights, with other small implements, £1 6s. 8d.

In the Buttery

2 dozen of pewter vessels, 2 brass pots . . . one chafing-dish, 4 candlesticks, 3 salts [saltcellars], 4 pottage dishes of pewter, 4 kettles, 2 pans, 6 barrels, . . . 2 broaches [spits], 2 pair of pot-hooks, gridiron, with other small implements, £3 7s. 8d.

In the Kitchen

A table board, a bench, one bedstead, one flock bed, a twill cloth, 2 little pillows, . . . a cheese press, one bushel [basket], with other implements, 13s.

4d.

In the Chamber

2 bedsteads, one feather bed, one flock bed, 2 bolsters, 2 pillows, 2 coverlets, 2 chests, one coffer, with other small implements £3. . . .

His apparel: 2 gowns, 3 coats, 3 doublets, one cloak, 3 pair of hose, a cap and a hat, 2 pair of stockings, 2 pair of shoes, 3 shirts, a purse, and a girdle, with 2s. 4d. in his purse, £3 6s. 8d.

M. A. Havinden, ed.,
Household and Farm Inventories in Oxfordshire, 1550–1590
(London: HMSO, 1965), 259–60.

table), two joint stools, two chairs, a clothespress, two linen chests, three painted cloths to hang on the walls, a bed, a flock-bed, a featherbed, two bolsters, a pillow, four blankets, and a coverlet.

The tanner’s clothespress was a kind of armoire, fitted with shelves for storing clothes—the chest of drawers was a later development. Otherwise, clothes would be kept in a chest, the commonest form of storage furniture.

The simplest style was the boarded chest, consisting of boards nailed or pegged together. A more sophisticated design was the
paneled
chest, contrasted of a jointed frame filled in with thin panels. This was considerably lighter than a boarded chest and less subject to cracking—the panels were set in grooves in the frame so they could freely expand and contract with changes in temperature and humidity. A chest might have a small lockable
118

Daily Life in Elizabethan England

box, or
till,
set inside at the top; otherwise, valuables could be stored in a small coffer.

The tanner’s bed fittings were typical for a well-to-do tradesman. The bed mentioned in the inventory was probably his wooden bedstead,

which would support the mattress on slats of wood, on heavy webbing-type cloth, or—most likely—on a woven lattice of rope topped with a straw mat. The bedstead would probably be of the four-poster type, designed to be draped about with a canopy and curtains. These could provide some privacy if there were children or servants sleeping in the same room. Most importantly, they kept out the night air, which was considered unhealthy—rightly so, since there was no heating in the room at night. Curtains reduced the likelihood of catching a chill.

The tanner’s
flock-bed
would be made of ticking fabric stuffed with wool; if quilted, it might be called a mattress. This particular tanner was fairly prosperous, since on top of his flock-bed he had a featherbed, another mattress stuffed with feathers, which was much more comfortable than the flock-bed alone. Someone who lacked a featherbed might have a flock bed resting on a
pallet,
a bed stuffed with straw, or a
chaff bed,
filled with oat or wheat chaff. Poor people slept on the pallet or chaff bed by itself, which might lie directly on the ground. Ticking was of canvas or heavy linen, and was characteristically striped, as it has remained for centuries.

The tanner’s bolsters were a kind of oversized pillow made like the flock-bed. A bolster went across the head of the bed, with the pillow (probably stuffed with feathers) on top. A person would sleep between two linen sheets covered by blankets or quilts, his back supported on the bolster and his head resting on the pillow. The bed was often covered with a decorative and protective coverlet. Because nights were so cold, people sometimes used a
warming pan,
a covered metal pan fitted with a handle and filled with warm coals, to heat up the bed before climbing in at night.

A full bedstead might have a
trundle
or
truckle
bed
underneath for a servant or children; this could be rolled underneath the main bed during the day.

A bed might also be shared for reasons of space and economy—a pair of brothers or sisters often share a bed, and servants might likewise have to share their beds.

Water, Washing, and Waste

One major difference between Elizabethan home life and our own was the lack of running water. In the country, water was fetched from a stream or well. In larger towns, there were public fountains fed by water conduits; professional water carriers filled large containers at the fountains and brought water door to door for sale. Some very privileged families in London had pipes leading from the public conduits to their houses, providing a modest supply of running water—a typical
quill,
as it was called, might deliver three gallons in an hour. Most towns also had stream
Material Culture
119

or river water, but townsfolk used it only for purposes like washing or laundering—water from inside the town was not healthy to drink. The house would have barrels or a cistern for storing water, from which the household could draw water as needed.

In the absence of faucets, people washed with a water-jug (called a
ewer
) and a basin. Those lucky enough to have servants could achieve the effect of running water by having it poured from the jug into the basin; otherwise you had to pour it yourself! Soap was a mixture of some sort of fat or oil with lye, an alkaline solution that the Elizabethans obtained by percolating water through wood ashes. Sometimes scents were added as well. After washing, people dried themselves with a linen towel. People were generally diligent about washing their face and hands, which they did every morning; they also washed their hands before a meal and after defecating.

Bathing the whole body was infrequent—this is hardly surprising considering the drafty rooms and very real danger of catching a chill, which could be deadly. When people did bathe, they used a wooden tub before the fire, allowing for warmth and a ready supply of hot water. Teeth were cleaned after meals with toothpicks. Some people occasionally used a linen tooth-cloth, and various recipes existed for liquids and powders to help in cleaning them.

The simplest Elizabethan equivalent of the modern toilet was the metal or clay chamber pot (commonly called a
jordan
), often stored next to the bed with a bit of water in the bottom of it. The chamber pot could be used when needed and emptied later into a cesspit. Slightly more elaborate was the close-stool, a small stool with a hole in the seat under which was placed a chamber pot. The close-stool was often built as a closed-in box to conceal the chamber pot within. The most substantial arrangement was the privy (also called a
jakes
or
house of office
); this was similar to a close-stool, but the seat was large, permanent, and set apart in a small room of its own (it was called a privy from the French word for
private
). Sometimes the privy would be built outdoors as an outhouse, with a cesspit underneath instead of a pot. Most rural homes had a privy of this sort, and many urban tenements had access to a similar privy at the base of their garden or in a shared courtyard, often with a stone-lined cesspit that facilitated cleaning. Large cities had public privies, though it was common for men to simply find a convenient wall to urinate against, and even in a house a man might urinate in the fireplace if a chamber pot was not readily accessible. The function of toilet paper could be served by some old straw or scrap paper, or a small piece of cloth, which could be washed.