The Life in the 1500's! What a time it was.
The next time you complain about taking a cold shower because there is not enough hot water, or you don't have enough soap to clean yourself- stop and think- HTF did they ever do it in the 1500's without any hot water or soap? If they managed, so can you.
Thanks to this interesting site
ThatsWeird.Net, this is what I had read about how people survived in the 1500's. I am gonna write down what was listed on that page about life lived in that time frame. The red comments below each fact are mine. Here it goes-
Fact #1- Most people married in June because they took their yearly bath in May and still smelled pretty good in June. However, they were starting to smell so brides carried a bouquet of flowers to hide the body odor. Hence the custom of carrying a bouquet when getting married.
First of all--- a yearly bath?? That sounds just disgusting nowadays! But who am I to judge? They had their reasons, and rituals, and whatever to take one bath in May. Besides hygiene was not a priority in those days. Thank goodness everything evolves over time (in most places anyway), and thank goodness for deodorant, soap, mouthwash, toothpaste, and shampoo. 'Cause honestly, I doubt a bouquet of flowers actually did a whole lot to hide the smell. And I also thought people liked the idea of a June wedding because of the June Full Moon- the Honeymoon!
Fact#2 Baths consisted of a big tub filled with hot water. The man of the house had the privilege of the nice clean water, then all the sons and other men, then the women, and finally the children - last of all the babies. By then, the water was so dirty you could actually lose someone in it; hence the saying, "don't throw the baby out with the bath water."
Okay, so whenever they took baths which was obviously not all that often, the males were entitled to so first. And the women took them second, and then the children? The baths were so scuzzy that they took a risk in losing a baby in the disgusting water. That sounds so---- primitive and yes, in many ways that timing was quite primitive. That is how anyone who lived in the 20th or is living in the 21st century would see it anyway. Shows you again how much we have evolved over the last 500 years. First of all, we can take our baths and showers whenever we please- regardless of who is taking the bath- if it's the man, woman or child. Before the children are old enough to bathe themselves, the parents bathe them first, before they bathe themselves. Times sure have changed- so much to the point that personal hygiene has become a very important issue- RIGHTFULLY SO! Because EWWWW now, but in the 1500's, it was not a big deal to be yuk! They were used to it. Funny where the term "don't throw the baby out with the bathwater" came from.
Fact #3- Houses had thatched roofs; thick straw, piled high, with no wood underneath. It was the only place for animals to get warm, so all the dogs, cats and other small animals (mice, rats, and bugs) lived in the roof. When it rained, it became slippery and sometimes the animals would slip and fall off the roof; hence the saying "it's raining cats and dogs." There was nothing to stop things from falling into the house. This was a real problem in the bedroom, where bugs and other droppings could really mess up your nice clean bed. A bed with big posts and a sheet over the top afforded some protection. That's how canopy beds came into existence.
It is certainly hard to imagine putting your pets inside the roof to live. But considering the circumstances as the time, it was the best thing for them. But those poor animals falling off of the roof? Quite brutal for them and really sad to think about. At least I know where the saying "it's raining cats and dogs" came from. At the same time, it is understandable that if it rained, insects and other things would ruin the beds, so that is interesting how canopy beds started. Sad to read about what happened when it was "raining cats and dogs", but still quite fascinating to know where this stuff came from.
Fact #4- The floor was dirt. Only the wealthy had something other than dirt; hence the saying, "dirt poor."
The wealthy of course would have something better than dirt, no kidding. Again, interesting how that term came into place.
Fact #5- The wealthy had slate floors that would get slippery in the winter when wet, so they spread thresh on the floor to help their footing. As the winter wore on, they kept adding more thresh until it would all start slipping outside when you opened the door. A piece of wood was placed in the entranceway, a "thresh hold."
Thresh hold, never thought of where that came from, interesting though.
Fact #6- In those days people cooked in the kitchen with a big kettle that always hung over the fire. Every day they lit the fire and added things to the pot. They ate mostly vegetables and did not get much meat. They would eat the stew for dinner, leaving leftovers in the pot to get cold overnight, then start over the next day. Sometimes the stew had food in it that had been there for quite a while; hence the rhyme, "peas porridge hot, peas porridge cold, peas porridge in the pot nine days old."
Thanks for clarifying where that rhyme came from since I had often wondered about that one. Another thing now I wonder is how often did they get food poisoning from eating nine-day old stew, regardless of how often it was fired up? Shudder to know that.
Fact #7- Sometimes they could obtain pork, which was quite special. When visitors came over, they would hang up their bacon to show off. It was a sign of wealth that a man "could bring home the bacon." They would cut off a little to share with guests and would all sit around and "chew the fat."
Interesting to know. Never knew where the term came from earlier but the idea of it is quite nauseating. Not to mention, I guess they would not have known a thing about how bad bacon grease was back then- nor would they have cared. Eating pork meant that they were special, and that is all that mattered. Since then egos starting getting fatter too right?
Fact #8- Those with money had plates made of pewter. Food with a high acid content caused some of the lead to leach onto the food, causing lead poisoning and death. This happened most often with tomatoes, so for the next 400 years or so, tomatoes were considered poisonous.
Good to know they had fixed the problem with tomatoes.
Fact #9- Most people did not have pewter plates, but had trenchers, a piece of wood with the middle scooped out like a bowl. Often trenchers were made from stale bread which was so old and hard that it could be used for quite some time. Trenchers were never washed. Sometimes worms and mold got into the wood and old bread. After eating off wormy, moldy trenchers, one would get "trench mouth."
Lovely thought of the day.
Fact #10- Bread was divided according to status. Workers got the burned bottom of the loaf, the family got the middle, and guests got the top, or "upper crust."
Lead cups were used to drink ale or whiskey. The combination would sometimes knock people out for a couple of days. Someone walking along the road would take them for dead and prepare them for burial. They were laid out on the kitchen table for a couple of days and the family would gather around and eat and drink and wait and see if they would wake up; hence the custom of holding a "wake."
Good they did that. If they didn't wait, I say "oh yuck". If the drunk sobered up while being stuffed in some wooden box because of being thought of as dead- they say "oh fuck".
Fact #11- England is old and small, and they started running out of places to bury people. So they would dig up coffins and take the bones to a "bone house" and reuse the grave. When reopening these coffins, 1 out of 25 were found to have scratch marks on the inside, and they realized they had been burying people alive. So they would tie a string on the wrist of the corpse, lead it through the coffin and up through the ground, and tie it to a bell. Someone would have to sit out in the graveyard all night (the "graveyard shift") to listen for the bell; thus someone could be "saved by the bell" or was considered a "dead ringer."
Bone house? What a lovely thought. Opening up coffins to dig up bones? What a lovely job but someone had to do it. Too bad no one RIP all that much in those days. I guess drinking ale or whiskey from a lead cup knocked some out longer than expected. What a potent mix. Everyone got tired of eating, drinking and waiting for some miraculous resurrection. Then figured that it was time for a funeral when in reality it was not. What a fun job working an original graveyard shift. Too bad 4% of the time the ringer was either not loud enough for the graveyard shift worker was daydreaming or asleep. How traumatic for the dead ringer. Did that happen to me in a previous life? Yes. Now that explains why I am so claustrophobic.
And that's the truth, the whole truth and nothing but the truth...whoever said history was boring?
Not me!! I love this stuff.
