HISTORY AND CULTURE OF ENGLAND FROM 1500-1800

England is a country that lies within the British Isles. It borders Scotland and Wales. The table below shows its Monarchs from 1500-1800.

Traditionally, the people of England used meat at every main meal, which they customarily ate at midday. Fish and meat casseroles were popular delicacies eaten along the main meal. They also consumed gravies, heavy sauces, puddings, stews, and soups. Besides eating vegetables like turnips, cabbage, carrots and potatoes, they also loved salad vegetables, pies, and pasties. Their breakfast either consisted of tea, hot cereals, steak, kidneys, or toast and marmalade. Although all social classes drank tea, only the working classes drunk beer. The middle and upper classes could drink any other alcoholic beverages. They ate fruits too although in small quantities.

From 1500 to 1600 men wore tunics and doublets stretching to the knee.  These were typically belted at the waist then stuffed in the upper sleeves and chest. They wore full shirts gathered at the necks and wrists, together with flat, wide hats. Later on, they started wearing corsets. This acquired them a v-shaped waistline. Peascod doublets, leg-of-mutton sleeves, and short capes were popular. Men peasants wore plain boots, a vest, a shirt, and breeches. Peasants’ clothing was made of rough and natural materials like wool, linen, woven cotton, flax, raw silk, and leather.

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Women wore long-sleeved shirts and long, full skirts. Their attire had very dull colors like brown, rust and gold. The upper and middle class lavished their outfits with jewels, ribbons, lace and embroidery.

Young children simply wore a muslin cap and a long shirt while those a little older dressed up as adults.

England’s population was stratified into three. Firstly, the upper class which consisted of royalty and nobility. Secondly,  the middle class composed of the royal family, the lords spiritual and temporal, high officers in the government and those above the baronet. The middle class was made up of shopkeepers, bankers, factory owners, engineers, merchants, lawyers, and other professionals. This was further divided into middle upper and middle lower classes. The lower class usually contained men, women, and even children performing various types of labor. They included factory workers, dress makers, sweepers, miners, and the like.

The Renaissance marked the rebirth of learning. It is a period characterized by writers like William Shakespeare, Sir Thomas More, John Milton, Christopher Marlowe, Edmund Spenser, Francis Bacon, Sir Philip Sidney and architects such as Inigo Jones, and art composers William Byrd, Thomas Tallis and John Taverner.

During this period, there was increased vernacular teaching and rigidity of the traditional institutions to embrace a changing economy and an expanding culture. Moreover, many performing schools were passed to private benefaction.

Apprenticeships and chivalry, followed by the concept of universal education set in. By early 18th century, the curriculum was beginning to assume a modern form with the inclusion of physical sciences, mathematics, modern languages, and geography. By late 18th century, the Industrial Revolution spurred the state into offering a national education system.