If you got into a time machine and travelled back to Tudor England, here's the basic information that you would need to take with you about that time period -
Population - England 2 million (1520); 4 million (1600) (nowadays, the population of England is 50 million and the UK is 60 million). 10% of the population lives in towns, and half of this number is always in London (nowadays, around 98% of the population lives in towns and cities).
Government - Absolute monarchy. This was before the English Civil War when Oliver Cromwell helped to bring about today's democratic Constitutional Monarchy.
Dynasty - The Tudors: Henry VII (1485-1509); Henry VIII (1509-47); Edward VI (1547-53); Mary I (1553-58 ); Elizabeth I (1558-1603).
Note: Edward VI is nine years old when he succeeds his father, Henry VIII, so during his reign England is actually governed by a lord protector, first Somerset (1547-49) and then Northumberland (1549-53).
Religion - Catholic until the Reformation in the 1530s, then Protestant until Mary I's reign, during which it is Catholic again, and then reverts back to Protestant during Elizabeth I's reign.
Currency - Pounds, shillings and pence. The '£' (a fancy L) is used for pound (from the Latin libra, meaning pound weight), the 's' is used for shilling (an ancient English value) and 'd' is used for penny (from the Latin denarius).
The penny is the basic unit of currency. Twelve pence make a shilling and 20 shillings a pound, with 240 pence to the pound.
A huge variety of coins are in circulation: the royal, a gold coin valued at 10 shillings, introduced by Henry VII; the double royal worth 20 shillings, introduced by Henry VIII; the half laurel worth 10 shillings, introduced by Henry VIII; the angel, a gold coin worth 10 shillings, introduced by Edward IV; gold and silver crowns worth 5 shillings; as well as half angels, half crowns and silver shillings, plus silver sixpences, threepences, groats and farthings.
The coinage is debased by the habit of monarchs reducing the amount of precious metals in the coins.
Forgery The penalties for tampering with coins by cutting off their edges and using the metal to make new coins are severe, but do not stop people from doing it.
What is money worth?
Because of galloping inflation during Tudor times, it's hard to give a good indication of what money is worth in today's terms.
• In times of inflation, some men and women do a day's work for board and lodging, with no payment.
• In the 1550s, a labourer can make 1 shilling a day.
• Poor relief in some parishes is 6 pence a week.
• The staple diet of the poor is a halfpenny loaf of bread, which feeds two people.
• A Tudor soldier's daily rations – if they arrive – are 32oz (910g) of meat, 24oz (680g) of bread, 16oz (455g) cheese and 5 pints (2.8 litres) of beer.
• On 6 January 1508, to mark the end of the 12 days of Christmas, the duke of Buckingham gives a feast for 460 people. The menu includes swans, herons and peacocks, 680 loaves, 260 flagons of ale, 400 eggs, 200 oysters, 12 pigs and 10 sheep. The total cost is £7 – more than a year's pay for a labourer.
• In 1597, the year when the poor are in greatest need because of widespread famine, one courtier lavishes £2,000 on his mistress. And Mrs Ratcliffe, one of Elizabeth I's maids of honour, appears at court wearing a dress of cloth of silver costing £180.
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Anglican - When Elizabeth I becomes queen in 1558, she wants to avoid the bloodshed caused by religious arguments, and to end the constant tension between extreme Protestants and militant Catholics. So she creates an English – Anglican – Church, which combines Protestant and Catholic beliefs. The Elizabethan Settlement of 1559 compromises over the theological question of whether Christ is a 'real presence' during communion but promotes the English translation of the Bible and The Book of Common Prayer.
Iconoclasm - During the reign of Edward VI, Henry VIII's son, there is an upsurge of radical Protestantism among the population. One of the ways it manifests itself is by iconoclasm – the smashing of paintings and images in churches. Militant Protestants see these as 'craven images' and unholy. In 1549, for example, the entire cloister of St Paul's cathedral is demolished and the materials are used by Lord Protector Somerset to build Somerset House in the Strand. In London's Grey Friars church, more than 100 monuments and tombs are ripped out.
Privateer - A 'licensed' pirate – one who has either a commission from the monarch to carry out his piratical activities (with a share of the booty going to the crown) or, at the least, the ruler's tacit agreement. 'Sea dogs' such as Sir Francis Drake form themselves into private enterprise companies, with shareholders, and attack and loot Spanish ships and garrisons in the Americas. A typically Tudor mix of patriotism and greed.
Puritan - Radical Protestant. Influenced by European Protestants, and especially by John Calvin in Switzerland, Puritans emerge during the mid-1550s. They usually believe in a much stricter version of religion than ordinary folk, and like their worship to be pure, with no frills. They read the Bible a lot and give their children names such as Fear-God, Zealous and Perseverance. Often derided as killjoys because of their opposition to swearing, drunkenness and sexual licence, they are also iconoclasts, responsible for smashing much of England's heritage of medieval art. For more information, see Godly nation in the Stuart England travel guide.
Reformation - The complex process by which England stops being a Roman Catholic country and becomes Protestant. When Henry VIII becomes king in 1509, the head of the English Church is the Catholic pope, who controls religious affairs from Rome. In order to divorce his first wife, Catherine of Aragon, Henry breaks with Rome in the 1530s and makes himself supreme head of the Church in England. Under his son, Edward VI, radical reformers gain power and turn the country decisively Protestant, so that, when she comes to the throne, the Catholic Mary I is unable to reverse the process. Finally, Elizabeth I creates an Anglican Church that steers a middle way between the extreme evangelical Protestants – or Puritans – and some of the traditions of the Roman Catholic Church.
Renaissance - Meaning 'rebirth', this is the name given to the European trend, which lasts roughly from 1400 to 1600, in which intellectuals and artists develop a passion for the ancient civilisations of Greece and Rome. Originating in Italy, this movement of revived classical learning spreads all over Europe. Everywhere, the new ideas of humanism (which put the human being, rather than God or nature, at the centre of the universe) struggle with traditional superstition and plain ignorance.
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In William Shakespeare's 1601 play, Richard II, the ageing John of Gaunt has a speech in which he expresses both his love for England and his worries about the nation's future. Some of its lines – such as 'This royal throne of kings, this scepter'd isle,/This Earth of majesty, this seat of Mars,/This other Eden, demi-paradise ... This precious stone set in a silver sea' – aptly sum up how patriotic Elizabethan Englishmen see their country, which in the 16th century is an embattled island, threatened by invasion from without and rebellion from within.
Kingship and kinship
Most English people believe that the monarch is anointed by God and has to be obeyed at all costs. For this reason, the type of religion that the monarch chooses is followed by most subjects.
Politics are really personal, and are affected by the character of the king or queen, and by the temperament of aristocrats, known as 'overmighty subjects'. England is ruled by a small number of powerful families, and family jealousies and rivalries give political conflicts a bitter edge.
Of crucial importance is the ability of royal wives to bear children – particularly of the male variety. Because Henry VIII's first wife, Catherine of Aragon, does not bear him a son after 18 years of marriage, he breaks with Rome and provokes the change from Catholicism to Protestantism known as the Reformation. Because his second wife Anne Boleyn also does not have a son, Henry accuses her of adultery and has her executed.
The inability of the Catholic Mary I (Catherine of Aragon's daughter) to have any children at all means that England becomes Protestant when her younger sister, Elizabeth I, a Protestant, inherits the throne in 1558.
Humanism and hymns
Although, at the start of the 16th century, England is an insular nation, an island dangling on the edge of Europe, continental trends do affect the intellectual and cultural life of the country. Of prime importance is the Renaissance, an intellectual movement in which scholars rediscover the ideas of ancient Greece and Rome.
The new spirit of humanism results in works of art – such as the paintings of Holbein and the plays of Shakespeare – that put humans at the centre of the world and examine what makes them tick. An intellectual such as Sir Thomas More attacks stale traditional ideas. This intellectual ferment, in which old medieval theories are questioned, leads to the desire to reform the abuses of the Roman Catholic Church, which many people think is run by corrupt clergy and lazy monks, who just promote superstitious ideas.
But despite the preaching of many reformers, nothing happens until Henry VIII decides to divorce his first wife. But although he proclaims himself the supreme head of the English Church, he only makes small reforms.
Under his son, Edward VI, a devout Protestant, much deeper reforms are made, partly in response to a growing grassroots movement of evangelical Christians inspired by the teachings of European reformers such Martin Luther, Ulrich Zwingli and John Calvin.
When, however, the Catholic Mary I becomes queen, these reforms are reversed and Catholicism becomes the official religion. 'Bloody Mary' begins a counter-reformation that results in more than 300 Protestants being burnt at the stake. Under Elizabeth I, the official religion is once again Protestantism, and fear of Catholic plots becomes a central feature of politics.
Having grown up during her half-sister Mary's reign, Elizabeth is all too aware of the risks of religious fanaticism and decides early in her rule not 'to make windows into men's souls'. Instead, she tries to steer a middle course between the mass of conservative believers and the small band of radical reformers. The Anglican Church, which survives until modern times, is the result of this compromise.
Rogues and vagabonds
The main thing to remember about Tudor England is that the population doubles between the reigns of Henry VII and Elizabeth I. Along with this comes unemployment and rapid price inflation. During the 1530s, Henry VIII's dissolution of the monasteries results in, among other things, much Church land being put on the market, thousands of ex-monks being released into society and the end of career opportunities for well-off women who once lived in nunneries and monastic charity and welfare.
In 1566, London beggar Nicholas Jennings is caught with a bag of blood that he uses to paint fake injuries on his head. In a day, he makes 13s 2d – two weeks' workman's wages. He is severely punished. Beggars and vagrants are regularly put in cages or sent to London's Bridewell prison to be reformed by hard work. Although 16th-century England becomes increasingly rich, the population boom brings with it a dramatic rise in poverty and crime.
The main attempt to tackle these problems is the Poor Law Act, which in 1601 codifies previous Tudor legislation. This makes each parish responsible for its own poor, and parish vestries are authorised to raise a rate to pay for their relief. Care of the poor varies from place to place: in some areas, the homeless are housed in cottages or a poor house; in others, a dole in money or kind is given to poor people in their own homes.
More dangerous are itinerant 'rogues and vagabonds', who roam the highways begging and stealing. These are dealt with by savage punishments. Take care when travelling.
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When Elizabeth I is frustrated in politics, she boxes the ears of her ladies in waiting. Because the monarch has absolute power, over ministers and servants alike, the court is one of the most dangerous places to be. Many political careers finish on the block.
England is still recovering from the Black Death of a century and a half earlier. At least once a decade, there is a serious crop failure, often compounded by epidemics of disease – bubonic plague, pneumonia, smallpox and a viral disease called 'the sweat'.
Disease
High and low are equally affected by disease. Elizabeth I nearly dies of smallpox in 1562, and Lady Mary Sidney, who nursed the queen, is so pockmarked by the disease that she never shows her face in court again.
The first year of life is the most dangerous – one in every five newborn children dies before reaching its first birthday. About a quarter of children born between 1550 and 1600 fail to reach 10 years old. In the crowded London slums, mortality is even higher.
The Tudor century is the age of exploration, with more Europeans than ever before sailing all over the world. One of the things they export is European diseases such as smallpox. The New World may have struck back. Syphilis, a virulent form of yaws, appears in Europe soon after Christopher Columbus returns from his first voyage to America, and the 'pox' becomes epidemic in Italy by 1495.
Typhus comes to Europe from the Middle East and influenza from China. Leprosy is on the wane, but tuberculosis is rampant.
Personal hygiene is poor and most Tudor people are dirty and smelly. Beware of any road called Rose Alley – it's probably named after 'plucking a rose', the Elizabethan euphemism for urinating. Food takes up to four-fifths of an ordinary family's budget. The diet is generally rather basic: hunks of bread, coarse hard cheese, occasional meat and fish.
Most dwellings have dark and dingy interiors, lit by candles or rush torches, which are a big fire risk. There is no running water or proper drainage, and personal and domestic waste is dumped straight into the streets.
The poor live in homes that are little better than sheds. Usually, there is only one earthen-floored room downstairs for living and cooking; the upstairs loft is for sleeping in and storing hay. Peasants also keep animals in the house. Windows are shuttered and have no glass. Thatched roofs are a fire hazard and a nesting place for rats and insects.
Yeoman houses have some comforts – glass windows, chimneys, tiled roofs – but their servants sleep on straw mattresses in the kitchen.
Some things are slowly improving. By the 1580s, a few private houses are getting piped water supplies. In 1589, Sir John Harington of Kelston, Bath, installs the first water closet in his house.
Violence
Tudor England is a violent place. Many people have private arms, and nobles keep armed retinues. Duels are fought between swaggering swordsmen on points of honour – many people are very sensitive to the merest slights or insults.
Gangs roam the countryside. Riots are common. Murder rates are high and punishment is brutal. In prisons, people are 'kept lying in filthy straw, worse than any dog'.
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In the Tudor world, the monarch is the centre of the political universe – and much depends on their temper. Tudor kings and queens rule with the help of a small council, infrequent parliaments and a coterie of ministers.
• Henry VII (1457-1509) Son of Edmund Tudor and Margaret Beaufort, a descendant of the royal John of Gaunt. Raised in Wales by his uncle Jasper Tudor, he never forgets that other men have a better claim to the throne and that his rule depends solely on his victory at Bosworth. An example of his cunning is that he dates the start of his reign from the day before the battle – thus everyone who fights against him is a traitor. Henry marries Elizabeth of York, and ends the Wars of the Roses by uniting the two main rival families. Very religious, he attends Mass daily. Although he has no experience of government before becoming king, he is a diligent administrator and keen crime-buster. Because he uses crafty schemes to raise money, he is more feared than loved by his subjects.
Henry Tudor is challenged by pretenders to the throne. Because Richard III imprisoned the rightful king, Edward V, and his brother Richard, duke of York, in the Tower, and then may have had them secretly killed in 1483, some claimants to the throne are able to pretend to be one of the princes, although others prefer different identities:
• The son of an Oxford tradesman, 10-year-old Lambert Simnel pretends to be the earl of Warwick, a nephew of Richard III, and is proclaimed Edward VI in Dublin by Lord Kildare, the lord deputy of Ireland, in May 1487. A pawn in a bid by English and Irish nobles to defeat Henry VII, Simnel is supported by his 'aunt' Margaret of Anjou, widow of Henry IV, who sends 2,000 German mercenaries to help him. He is defeated by Henry VII at Stoke in Nottinghamshire on 16 June 1487, is pardoned and made a servant in the royal kitchens, where he lives for almost 40 years.
• Perkin Warbeck, the son of a Flemish tax collector, is supported by the king of France, the Holy Roman emperor and James IV of Scotland. He plots openly for seven years, pretending to be Richard, duke of York, who disappeared in the Tower. In 1491, Warbeck makes his bid, also gaining the support of Margaret of York, duchess of Burgundy and sister of Edward IV. In 1497, he is captured while trying to invade England and is executed for treason two years later.
• Henry VIII (1491-1547) The second son of Henry VII, he is 17 when his father dies but acts like a king from day one. He is boisterous and vindictive, but also keen to appear imperial. Deeply religious, he regularly listens to two-hour sermons, and his zeal in theological controversy earns him the title Defender of the Faith from the pope. A Renaissance man, he enjoys talking about art, philosophy and religion. Deeply troubled by the failure of his first wife, Catherine of Aragon, to bear him a son, he has several mistresses before failing in love with Anne Boleyn. The divorce from Catherine to marry Anne brings about the break with Rome. Suspicious and brutal, Henry disposes of Anne when she, too, fails to bear a son, and marries another four times.
Like his father, Henry VIII distrusts the hereditary nobility, preferring the advice of men of humble origins whose prime loyalty is to him:
• Thomas Wolsey (c.1472-1530) is the son of a poor Ipswich butcher. He studies at Oxford, and rises in the Church, becoming both cardinal and lord chancellor in 1515. A papal legate, Wolsey is England's effective ruler for 14 years. Proud and powerful, his household employs almost 1,000 people. He's nearly as rich as the king, and he founds colleges and entertains magnificently. But he fails to solve the king's 'great matter' – the annulment of his first marriage – and is sacked in October 1529. He dies on 24 November 1530 as he travels from York to London to answer treason charges.
• Thomas More (1478-1535) is a lawyer, humanist and theologian. A friend of Erasmus, his Utopia is a bestseller. His career takes off when he is knighted in 1521, and he succeeds Wolsey as lord chancellor in 1529. He tries to persuade Henry to take Catherine back, submit to Rome and to persecute heresy, but fails and is forced to resign. Unable to compromise his deepest beliefs, he opposes Henry's decision to become supreme head of the English Church and is executed on 6 July 1535.
• Thomas Cromwell (1485-1540) The son of a Putney cloth-worker, and a 'ruffian' in his teens, he works his way up the royal bureaucracy to become Henry VIII's most trusted adviser, appointed principal royal secretary in 1534. A brilliant administrator, he is responsible for drafting the Acts of Parliament that legalise Henry's break with Rome and is ruthless with opponents. He also supports ideas for social reform, especially improvements in poor relief. In 1540, he persuades Henry VIII to marry Anne of Cleves, hoping to further an international pro-Protestant policy. The marriage ends in disaster, and Cromwell is executed on 28 July 1540.
• Thomas Cranmer (1489-1556) is born to a gentry family in Nottinghamshire and studies at Jesus College, Cambridge. He rises to fame in 1529 when he suggests that Henry VIII should ask universities in Europe for their opinion on his marriage to Catherine of Aragon. In 1533, he becomes archbishop of Canterbury and presides over the court that annuls the royal marriage. Although deeply conservative, Cranmer is a Protestant, and on the accession of Edward VI, he issues a set of official Protestant sermons, homilies and The Book of Common Prayer, laying the basis for Anglican Church. When the Catholic Mary I comes to the throne, he recants his Protestant views, then changes his mind. He is burned for heresy on 21 March 1556, putting the hand that signed the recantation first into the flames.
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In May 1593, the poet and playwright Christopher Marlowe is killed in a pub brawl in Deptford. Although the cause seems to be a dispute about a bill, some people think he may have been disposed of because he knows too much – he once worked as a spy for the government, and has been charged with atheism.
If Marlowe's death is the result of a plot, no one would be surprised. Tudor England is thick with conspiracies. Sir Francis Walsingham, Elizabeth's principal secretary in the 1570s and 1580s, runs a network of spies who are constantly on the look out for plots and treason. Sometimes, they even fabricate the evidence.
At the root of most plots is a mixture of discontent with religion and fear of economic change. In Catholic Mary I's reign, for example, a dead dog with its ears cropped is thrown through the window of a royal palace with a note saying that all Catholic priests should be hanged.
At the same time, ordinary people become so desperate because of poverty or changes in religious practices that revolts are common. Most massive popular risings are very conservative in nature.
The Pilgrimage of Grace
While the Reformation policies of Henry VIII's government in London are popular in the south-east, other parts of the kingdom resent changes to their time-honoured lifestyle. The Pilgrimage of Grace begins with a 1536 revolt in Louth, Lincolnshire, and develops into a widespread northern rising against the new religious ideas.
Triggered by the dissolution of the smaller monasteries, it spreads to Yorkshire, Cumberland and Westmorland. It involves about 30,000 men, and is made up of an uneasy alliance of peers, gentry and peasants from the north of England, with Yorkshire clothiers soon coming to the fore. The rebels, who carry the symbol of the five wounds of Christ and call themselves 'pilgrims', are led by Robert Aske, a Lincolnshire attorney. They adopt the medieval approach to rebellion of protesting their loyalty to the king while, at the same time, attacking his 'evil counsellors'. But Henry VIII plays for time, offering pardons, and divides the gentry from the commoners. By spring 1537, most of the rebels have dispersed and Henry arrests and executes Aske. Some 74 other rebels were hanged.
Kett's rebellion
In 1549, there are two rebel armies in the field. One is in the west – a peasant rebellion that follows an uprising in Devon and Cornwall. It peters out after a few weeks.
Meanwhile, in East Anglia, a rebellion led by Robert Kett, a Norfolk tanner and small landowner, cries out for relief for 'your [Edward VI's] poor commons'. Anger at the dissolution of the monasteries and the exploitation of people by rich lords, who enclose common lands for their own use, boils over into a riot, which escalates into a full-scale uprising.
Unusually for a peasant rebellion, Kett imposes strict discipline on his forces, which camp at Mousehold Heath in Norwich for six weeks. But Protector Somerset sends troops to occupy the city, then an army – stiffened by foreign mercenaries – cuts the rebels to pieces at the battle of Dussindale. Kett is hanged at Norwich.
Wyatt's rebellion
In January 1554, as the nation hears rumours of Mary I's marriage to Philip II of Spain, she becomes unpopular – and fear of foreign domination spreads. Sir Thomas Wyatt, son of the poet (see The arts), raises a rebellion in Kent. Although other parts of the country fail to rise, Wyatt leads 3,000 rebels to London. He never manages to get past the City walls: Mary rallies support, the rebels are dispersed and he's executed on 11 April.
Letters from Wyatt to the 21-year-old Princess Elizabeth are discovered, and she is taken to the Tower of London. For two months, she is imprisoned, protesting her innocence, before finally being released. Moved to Woodstock, she scratches a message on a window: 'Much suspected of me: Nothing proved can be. Quoth Elizabeth, prisoner.' In the purge following the rebellion, Lady Jane Grey is executed.
Northern Rebellion
In 1569, there is yet another rebellion. Following the flight to England of Mary Queen of Scots the previous year, the duke of Norfolk and other nobles plan to depose Elizabeth I and make Mary queen. One of the most serious risings on behalf of the old Catholic religion, it is popular in the northern counties, where rebels again carry the banner of the five wounds of Christ, celebrate Mass in Durham cathedral and destroy Protestant Bibles. But it is put down, its leaders beheaded and 400 rebels hanged.
Throckmorton plot
The most dangerous of several conspiracies to free Mary Queen of Scots, this plot is hatched by Francis Throckmorton, son of a disgraced chief justice. He spends the early 1580s on the Continent, then returns to act as a go-between for Mary and Mendoza, the Spanish ambassador in London. In November 1583, he is betrayed and arrested. Papers discovered in his study, and confessions extracted on the rack, provide evidence of a plot to invade England. Throckmorton is executed.
Babington plot
In 1586, Anthony Babington – a young Catholic gentleman from Derbyshire who serves the imprisoned Mary Queen of Scots as a page – is contacted by John Ballard, a Catholic priest. His plan is to kill Elizabeth and free Mary. But the plot is monitored by spies working for Sir Francis Walsingham, who intercept the coded letters between Babington and Ballard. Gilbert Gifford, another Catholic, is recruited by Walsingham.
When enough evidence is amassed, Babington is executed, and the conspiracy is used by Elizabeth's councillors to persuade her that her cousin Mary Queen of Scots is an incorrigible plotter who must be tried for treason. Reluctantly, Elizabeth agrees and Mary is executed early the following year.
Essex's rebellion
On 7 February 1601, at the Globe theatre, the earl of Essex, a disgraced royal favourite, sponsors a performance of Shakespeare's Richard II, whose theme is the usurpation of royal authority. On the following day, soon after the Sunday sermon at St Paul's Cross, he blasphemously leads a 300-strong band of noble followers and their armed men from Essex House through Ludgate and into the City, shouting: 'Murder, murder, God save the queen!' Claiming that England is being sold to the Spanish, Essex hopes that Londoners will rally to help him in his bid to restore himself to royal favour. They don't.
More a failed demonstration than a rebellion, this is the era's last attempted coup. Essex is immediately arrested and is executed on Tower Hill less than a month later, while his old rival, Sir Walter Ralegh – who is captain of the Guard – looks on.
What a riot
In 1596, a Somerset crowd seizes a load of cheese, claiming that 'rich men had gotten all into their hands and will starve the poor'. Such small riots are a frequent occurrence. They tend to be quite orderly, and are only called riots because those involved are lower class and take the law into their own hands.
Tudor riots usually have specific local goals and are expressions of moral protest. They tend to be either food riots or enclosure riots.
Food riots target people who are believed to be hoarding food in times of scarcity or who are putting up prices unfairly. They generally involve a crowd grabbing food and punishing exploiters of the poor.
Enclosure riots are sparked off when greedy landlords enclose common land – previously used by poorer people to graze their animals – by planting hedges to keep people out. Usually, the riot involves tearing down hedges and grazing livestock on the lands.
Some reports suggest that women were also active in riots.
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When Elizabeth I has to set the date of her coronation, she asks 'her noble intelligencier', the astrologer John Dee. After casting a horoscope, Dee comes up with 15 January 1559. He is a mathematical whiz kid, who also studies astronomy, cartography and medicine. But his belief in the spirit world leads him to have conversations with angels, search for the fabled philosopher's stone.
For much of the 16th century, despite the technical achievements of the master craftsmen who build the ships that take on the Spanish Armada, modern science is in its infancy. For example, it is thought that toothache is caused by tiny worms. In the place of science, old-fashioned beliefs try to explain the nature of the world and our place in it.
Religion goes hand in hand with a belief in a spirit world and only the strictest Puritans make a clear distinction between the two. For most of the population, the use of charms, potions and horoscopes is an effective answer to the ills of the world.
Wise men and cunning women
Adam Squire, the master of Balliol College in Oxford between 1571 and 1580, nearly loses his job when he's accused of selling gamblers a 'fly', or familiar spirit, which he claims will guarantee them success at dice.
Tudor England is full of so-called 'wise men' and 'cunning women', white magicians who sell charms to help people overcome their problems or soothe their troubles. Typical are charms to ward off evil, stave off ruin or make money. Rings are sold to bring immunity in battle, keep off vermin and even make the wearer invisible. Magic is used to put out fires, make the kids sleep and avoid drunkenness.
In 1583, the churchwardens of Thatcham in Berkshire send for a cunning woman to find out who's stolen the church's communion cloth. Some white magicians were even more ambitious. In his Natural and Artificial Conclusions, a 1567 book that was so popular that no copies of the first two editions survive, Thomas Ross gave instructions for walking on water. While the seventh son of a seventh son is usually recognised as a white witch who can bring good magic and help people, in reality anyone can become a wise woman or man. Magical activities are a sideline and the job is not hereditary. Having a prominent birthmark or other physical blemish can help – but most white witches just need confidence and luck.
Before the Reformation, saints are believed to have the power to protect you. St Sebastian, because of his many wounds, protects against the plague; St Barbara, killed by her angry father, protects against thunder and sudden death (she's a favourite with soldiers and gunpowder makers); the Virgin Mary protects everyone.
The visionary nun, Elizabeth Barton, the Holy Maid of Kent, claims to have been visited by the Virgin Mary – and foresees disaster if Henry VIII divorces his first wife. For her pains, she is charged with treason and hanged at Tyburn.
In July 1507, a girl run over by a cart in Cheapside, London is lifeless, but revives and says she saw Our Lady of Barking lifting up the cart. Such 'miracles' are attacked by Protestants who say they are mere superstitions.
Witchcraft
George Gifford, an Essex preacher, writes that the common people think 'if there were no witches, there should be no plagues'. By blaming natural calamities, whose causes are not understood, on human beings, who are always suspected of evil, Tudor communities try to eradicate natural disasters by exterminating witches.
This century is not the first to believe in witches, but it is the first to try and wipe them out by judicial persecution. Acts of 1542 and 1563 make witchcraft a crime and lead to witch hunts. Hundreds of prosecutions follow, especially in Essex. In the 1580s, 13% of assize trials in that county are for witchcraft. Of 64 accused, 53 are found guilty.
Poor, old and/or unprotected women are the main victims. What seems to happen is that they ask for help from their neighbours, are refused and respond by cursing them. When any misfortune then befalls the neighbour, such as an accident or inexplicable crop failure, the curse is remembered and the poor woman is accused of witchcraft. She is tried for maleficium, the use of diabolical power to cause harm, not for heresy. Often, the accused confesses. For example, in 1566, Elizabeth Francis confesses that every time her cat (called Satan) performs a sinister service for her, she rewards him with a drop of her blood.
The execution of a witch is a ritual that has the approval of the whole village community. At a time when the old charitable institutions of the Roman Catholic Church have been destroyed and the new institutions of the Poor Law are not yet set up, witchcraft accusations are one way of dealing with guilt about not giving poor people charity – a new individualistic spirit is replacing traditional community care.
Astrology
On the eve of the Spanish Armada, England experiences strange eclipses and conjunctions of the planets. Astrologers expect something dramatic to happen.
Astrology is the most intellectually demanding of the many magical beliefs circulating in Tudor England. Based on ancient Babylonian, Greek and Roman learning, astrology tries to predict events on Earth from a study of the movements of celestial bodies such as planets and stars. There's a magnificent astrological clock in Hampton Court.
Since different signs of the zodiac are thought to rule different parts of the body, most astrologers have some medical knowledge as well as an awareness of astronomy.
For most of the Tudor era, English astrology is moribund – the predictions of court astrologers that Henry VIII will have a son are proved so often wrong that patrons lose faith in them. But astrology is revived in Elizabeth's reign by John Dee. By then, even the earl of Essex possesses a treatise on astrology.
Infant science
Although it is underdeveloped, the beginnings of modern science are in the air. On the roof of Sir Walter Ralegh's Durham House in London, Thomas Harriot points his telescope – the first in England – at the skies and finds, as Galileo did, that the moon is cratered. Abroad, science is helped by the discoveries of Nicholas Copernicus in astronomy and the inventions of Leonardo da Vinci. They embody the new growing spirit of research and experiment.
European sailors make great progress in shipbuilding, navigation and map-making. And the first fireworks display in England is held in 1572.
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Population - England 2 million (1520); 4 million (1600) (nowadays, the population of England is 50 million and the UK is 60 million). 10% of the population lives in towns, and half of this number is always in London (nowadays, around 98% of the population lives in towns and cities).
Government - Absolute monarchy. This was before the English Civil War when Oliver Cromwell helped to bring about today's democratic Constitutional Monarchy.
Dynasty - The Tudors: Henry VII (1485-1509); Henry VIII (1509-47); Edward VI (1547-53); Mary I (1553-58 ); Elizabeth I (1558-1603).
Note: Edward VI is nine years old when he succeeds his father, Henry VIII, so during his reign England is actually governed by a lord protector, first Somerset (1547-49) and then Northumberland (1549-53).
Religion - Catholic until the Reformation in the 1530s, then Protestant until Mary I's reign, during which it is Catholic again, and then reverts back to Protestant during Elizabeth I's reign.
Currency - Pounds, shillings and pence. The '£' (a fancy L) is used for pound (from the Latin libra, meaning pound weight), the 's' is used for shilling (an ancient English value) and 'd' is used for penny (from the Latin denarius).
The penny is the basic unit of currency. Twelve pence make a shilling and 20 shillings a pound, with 240 pence to the pound.
A huge variety of coins are in circulation: the royal, a gold coin valued at 10 shillings, introduced by Henry VII; the double royal worth 20 shillings, introduced by Henry VIII; the half laurel worth 10 shillings, introduced by Henry VIII; the angel, a gold coin worth 10 shillings, introduced by Edward IV; gold and silver crowns worth 5 shillings; as well as half angels, half crowns and silver shillings, plus silver sixpences, threepences, groats and farthings.
The coinage is debased by the habit of monarchs reducing the amount of precious metals in the coins.
Forgery The penalties for tampering with coins by cutting off their edges and using the metal to make new coins are severe, but do not stop people from doing it.
What is money worth?
Because of galloping inflation during Tudor times, it's hard to give a good indication of what money is worth in today's terms.
• In times of inflation, some men and women do a day's work for board and lodging, with no payment.
• In the 1550s, a labourer can make 1 shilling a day.
• Poor relief in some parishes is 6 pence a week.
• The staple diet of the poor is a halfpenny loaf of bread, which feeds two people.
• A Tudor soldier's daily rations – if they arrive – are 32oz (910g) of meat, 24oz (680g) of bread, 16oz (455g) cheese and 5 pints (2.8 litres) of beer.
• On 6 January 1508, to mark the end of the 12 days of Christmas, the duke of Buckingham gives a feast for 460 people. The menu includes swans, herons and peacocks, 680 loaves, 260 flagons of ale, 400 eggs, 200 oysters, 12 pigs and 10 sheep. The total cost is £7 – more than a year's pay for a labourer.
• In 1597, the year when the poor are in greatest need because of widespread famine, one courtier lavishes £2,000 on his mistress. And Mrs Ratcliffe, one of Elizabeth I's maids of honour, appears at court wearing a dress of cloth of silver costing £180.
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Anglican - When Elizabeth I becomes queen in 1558, she wants to avoid the bloodshed caused by religious arguments, and to end the constant tension between extreme Protestants and militant Catholics. So she creates an English – Anglican – Church, which combines Protestant and Catholic beliefs. The Elizabethan Settlement of 1559 compromises over the theological question of whether Christ is a 'real presence' during communion but promotes the English translation of the Bible and The Book of Common Prayer.
Iconoclasm - During the reign of Edward VI, Henry VIII's son, there is an upsurge of radical Protestantism among the population. One of the ways it manifests itself is by iconoclasm – the smashing of paintings and images in churches. Militant Protestants see these as 'craven images' and unholy. In 1549, for example, the entire cloister of St Paul's cathedral is demolished and the materials are used by Lord Protector Somerset to build Somerset House in the Strand. In London's Grey Friars church, more than 100 monuments and tombs are ripped out.
Privateer - A 'licensed' pirate – one who has either a commission from the monarch to carry out his piratical activities (with a share of the booty going to the crown) or, at the least, the ruler's tacit agreement. 'Sea dogs' such as Sir Francis Drake form themselves into private enterprise companies, with shareholders, and attack and loot Spanish ships and garrisons in the Americas. A typically Tudor mix of patriotism and greed.
Puritan - Radical Protestant. Influenced by European Protestants, and especially by John Calvin in Switzerland, Puritans emerge during the mid-1550s. They usually believe in a much stricter version of religion than ordinary folk, and like their worship to be pure, with no frills. They read the Bible a lot and give their children names such as Fear-God, Zealous and Perseverance. Often derided as killjoys because of their opposition to swearing, drunkenness and sexual licence, they are also iconoclasts, responsible for smashing much of England's heritage of medieval art. For more information, see Godly nation in the Stuart England travel guide.
Reformation - The complex process by which England stops being a Roman Catholic country and becomes Protestant. When Henry VIII becomes king in 1509, the head of the English Church is the Catholic pope, who controls religious affairs from Rome. In order to divorce his first wife, Catherine of Aragon, Henry breaks with Rome in the 1530s and makes himself supreme head of the Church in England. Under his son, Edward VI, radical reformers gain power and turn the country decisively Protestant, so that, when she comes to the throne, the Catholic Mary I is unable to reverse the process. Finally, Elizabeth I creates an Anglican Church that steers a middle way between the extreme evangelical Protestants – or Puritans – and some of the traditions of the Roman Catholic Church.
Renaissance - Meaning 'rebirth', this is the name given to the European trend, which lasts roughly from 1400 to 1600, in which intellectuals and artists develop a passion for the ancient civilisations of Greece and Rome. Originating in Italy, this movement of revived classical learning spreads all over Europe. Everywhere, the new ideas of humanism (which put the human being, rather than God or nature, at the centre of the universe) struggle with traditional superstition and plain ignorance.
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In William Shakespeare's 1601 play, Richard II, the ageing John of Gaunt has a speech in which he expresses both his love for England and his worries about the nation's future. Some of its lines – such as 'This royal throne of kings, this scepter'd isle,/This Earth of majesty, this seat of Mars,/This other Eden, demi-paradise ... This precious stone set in a silver sea' – aptly sum up how patriotic Elizabethan Englishmen see their country, which in the 16th century is an embattled island, threatened by invasion from without and rebellion from within.
Kingship and kinship
Most English people believe that the monarch is anointed by God and has to be obeyed at all costs. For this reason, the type of religion that the monarch chooses is followed by most subjects.
Politics are really personal, and are affected by the character of the king or queen, and by the temperament of aristocrats, known as 'overmighty subjects'. England is ruled by a small number of powerful families, and family jealousies and rivalries give political conflicts a bitter edge.
Of crucial importance is the ability of royal wives to bear children – particularly of the male variety. Because Henry VIII's first wife, Catherine of Aragon, does not bear him a son after 18 years of marriage, he breaks with Rome and provokes the change from Catholicism to Protestantism known as the Reformation. Because his second wife Anne Boleyn also does not have a son, Henry accuses her of adultery and has her executed.
The inability of the Catholic Mary I (Catherine of Aragon's daughter) to have any children at all means that England becomes Protestant when her younger sister, Elizabeth I, a Protestant, inherits the throne in 1558.
Humanism and hymns
Although, at the start of the 16th century, England is an insular nation, an island dangling on the edge of Europe, continental trends do affect the intellectual and cultural life of the country. Of prime importance is the Renaissance, an intellectual movement in which scholars rediscover the ideas of ancient Greece and Rome.
The new spirit of humanism results in works of art – such as the paintings of Holbein and the plays of Shakespeare – that put humans at the centre of the world and examine what makes them tick. An intellectual such as Sir Thomas More attacks stale traditional ideas. This intellectual ferment, in which old medieval theories are questioned, leads to the desire to reform the abuses of the Roman Catholic Church, which many people think is run by corrupt clergy and lazy monks, who just promote superstitious ideas.
But despite the preaching of many reformers, nothing happens until Henry VIII decides to divorce his first wife. But although he proclaims himself the supreme head of the English Church, he only makes small reforms.
Under his son, Edward VI, a devout Protestant, much deeper reforms are made, partly in response to a growing grassroots movement of evangelical Christians inspired by the teachings of European reformers such Martin Luther, Ulrich Zwingli and John Calvin.
When, however, the Catholic Mary I becomes queen, these reforms are reversed and Catholicism becomes the official religion. 'Bloody Mary' begins a counter-reformation that results in more than 300 Protestants being burnt at the stake. Under Elizabeth I, the official religion is once again Protestantism, and fear of Catholic plots becomes a central feature of politics.
Having grown up during her half-sister Mary's reign, Elizabeth is all too aware of the risks of religious fanaticism and decides early in her rule not 'to make windows into men's souls'. Instead, she tries to steer a middle course between the mass of conservative believers and the small band of radical reformers. The Anglican Church, which survives until modern times, is the result of this compromise.
Rogues and vagabonds
The main thing to remember about Tudor England is that the population doubles between the reigns of Henry VII and Elizabeth I. Along with this comes unemployment and rapid price inflation. During the 1530s, Henry VIII's dissolution of the monasteries results in, among other things, much Church land being put on the market, thousands of ex-monks being released into society and the end of career opportunities for well-off women who once lived in nunneries and monastic charity and welfare.
In 1566, London beggar Nicholas Jennings is caught with a bag of blood that he uses to paint fake injuries on his head. In a day, he makes 13s 2d – two weeks' workman's wages. He is severely punished. Beggars and vagrants are regularly put in cages or sent to London's Bridewell prison to be reformed by hard work. Although 16th-century England becomes increasingly rich, the population boom brings with it a dramatic rise in poverty and crime.
The main attempt to tackle these problems is the Poor Law Act, which in 1601 codifies previous Tudor legislation. This makes each parish responsible for its own poor, and parish vestries are authorised to raise a rate to pay for their relief. Care of the poor varies from place to place: in some areas, the homeless are housed in cottages or a poor house; in others, a dole in money or kind is given to poor people in their own homes.
More dangerous are itinerant 'rogues and vagabonds', who roam the highways begging and stealing. These are dealt with by savage punishments. Take care when travelling.
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When Elizabeth I is frustrated in politics, she boxes the ears of her ladies in waiting. Because the monarch has absolute power, over ministers and servants alike, the court is one of the most dangerous places to be. Many political careers finish on the block.
England is still recovering from the Black Death of a century and a half earlier. At least once a decade, there is a serious crop failure, often compounded by epidemics of disease – bubonic plague, pneumonia, smallpox and a viral disease called 'the sweat'.
Disease
High and low are equally affected by disease. Elizabeth I nearly dies of smallpox in 1562, and Lady Mary Sidney, who nursed the queen, is so pockmarked by the disease that she never shows her face in court again.
The first year of life is the most dangerous – one in every five newborn children dies before reaching its first birthday. About a quarter of children born between 1550 and 1600 fail to reach 10 years old. In the crowded London slums, mortality is even higher.
The Tudor century is the age of exploration, with more Europeans than ever before sailing all over the world. One of the things they export is European diseases such as smallpox. The New World may have struck back. Syphilis, a virulent form of yaws, appears in Europe soon after Christopher Columbus returns from his first voyage to America, and the 'pox' becomes epidemic in Italy by 1495.
Typhus comes to Europe from the Middle East and influenza from China. Leprosy is on the wane, but tuberculosis is rampant.
Personal hygiene is poor and most Tudor people are dirty and smelly. Beware of any road called Rose Alley – it's probably named after 'plucking a rose', the Elizabethan euphemism for urinating. Food takes up to four-fifths of an ordinary family's budget. The diet is generally rather basic: hunks of bread, coarse hard cheese, occasional meat and fish.
Most dwellings have dark and dingy interiors, lit by candles or rush torches, which are a big fire risk. There is no running water or proper drainage, and personal and domestic waste is dumped straight into the streets.
The poor live in homes that are little better than sheds. Usually, there is only one earthen-floored room downstairs for living and cooking; the upstairs loft is for sleeping in and storing hay. Peasants also keep animals in the house. Windows are shuttered and have no glass. Thatched roofs are a fire hazard and a nesting place for rats and insects.
Yeoman houses have some comforts – glass windows, chimneys, tiled roofs – but their servants sleep on straw mattresses in the kitchen.
Some things are slowly improving. By the 1580s, a few private houses are getting piped water supplies. In 1589, Sir John Harington of Kelston, Bath, installs the first water closet in his house.
Violence
Tudor England is a violent place. Many people have private arms, and nobles keep armed retinues. Duels are fought between swaggering swordsmen on points of honour – many people are very sensitive to the merest slights or insults.
Gangs roam the countryside. Riots are common. Murder rates are high and punishment is brutal. In prisons, people are 'kept lying in filthy straw, worse than any dog'.
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In the Tudor world, the monarch is the centre of the political universe – and much depends on their temper. Tudor kings and queens rule with the help of a small council, infrequent parliaments and a coterie of ministers.
• Henry VII (1457-1509) Son of Edmund Tudor and Margaret Beaufort, a descendant of the royal John of Gaunt. Raised in Wales by his uncle Jasper Tudor, he never forgets that other men have a better claim to the throne and that his rule depends solely on his victory at Bosworth. An example of his cunning is that he dates the start of his reign from the day before the battle – thus everyone who fights against him is a traitor. Henry marries Elizabeth of York, and ends the Wars of the Roses by uniting the two main rival families. Very religious, he attends Mass daily. Although he has no experience of government before becoming king, he is a diligent administrator and keen crime-buster. Because he uses crafty schemes to raise money, he is more feared than loved by his subjects.
Henry Tudor is challenged by pretenders to the throne. Because Richard III imprisoned the rightful king, Edward V, and his brother Richard, duke of York, in the Tower, and then may have had them secretly killed in 1483, some claimants to the throne are able to pretend to be one of the princes, although others prefer different identities:
• The son of an Oxford tradesman, 10-year-old Lambert Simnel pretends to be the earl of Warwick, a nephew of Richard III, and is proclaimed Edward VI in Dublin by Lord Kildare, the lord deputy of Ireland, in May 1487. A pawn in a bid by English and Irish nobles to defeat Henry VII, Simnel is supported by his 'aunt' Margaret of Anjou, widow of Henry IV, who sends 2,000 German mercenaries to help him. He is defeated by Henry VII at Stoke in Nottinghamshire on 16 June 1487, is pardoned and made a servant in the royal kitchens, where he lives for almost 40 years.
• Perkin Warbeck, the son of a Flemish tax collector, is supported by the king of France, the Holy Roman emperor and James IV of Scotland. He plots openly for seven years, pretending to be Richard, duke of York, who disappeared in the Tower. In 1491, Warbeck makes his bid, also gaining the support of Margaret of York, duchess of Burgundy and sister of Edward IV. In 1497, he is captured while trying to invade England and is executed for treason two years later.
• Henry VIII (1491-1547) The second son of Henry VII, he is 17 when his father dies but acts like a king from day one. He is boisterous and vindictive, but also keen to appear imperial. Deeply religious, he regularly listens to two-hour sermons, and his zeal in theological controversy earns him the title Defender of the Faith from the pope. A Renaissance man, he enjoys talking about art, philosophy and religion. Deeply troubled by the failure of his first wife, Catherine of Aragon, to bear him a son, he has several mistresses before failing in love with Anne Boleyn. The divorce from Catherine to marry Anne brings about the break with Rome. Suspicious and brutal, Henry disposes of Anne when she, too, fails to bear a son, and marries another four times.
Like his father, Henry VIII distrusts the hereditary nobility, preferring the advice of men of humble origins whose prime loyalty is to him:
• Thomas Wolsey (c.1472-1530) is the son of a poor Ipswich butcher. He studies at Oxford, and rises in the Church, becoming both cardinal and lord chancellor in 1515. A papal legate, Wolsey is England's effective ruler for 14 years. Proud and powerful, his household employs almost 1,000 people. He's nearly as rich as the king, and he founds colleges and entertains magnificently. But he fails to solve the king's 'great matter' – the annulment of his first marriage – and is sacked in October 1529. He dies on 24 November 1530 as he travels from York to London to answer treason charges.
• Thomas More (1478-1535) is a lawyer, humanist and theologian. A friend of Erasmus, his Utopia is a bestseller. His career takes off when he is knighted in 1521, and he succeeds Wolsey as lord chancellor in 1529. He tries to persuade Henry to take Catherine back, submit to Rome and to persecute heresy, but fails and is forced to resign. Unable to compromise his deepest beliefs, he opposes Henry's decision to become supreme head of the English Church and is executed on 6 July 1535.
• Thomas Cromwell (1485-1540) The son of a Putney cloth-worker, and a 'ruffian' in his teens, he works his way up the royal bureaucracy to become Henry VIII's most trusted adviser, appointed principal royal secretary in 1534. A brilliant administrator, he is responsible for drafting the Acts of Parliament that legalise Henry's break with Rome and is ruthless with opponents. He also supports ideas for social reform, especially improvements in poor relief. In 1540, he persuades Henry VIII to marry Anne of Cleves, hoping to further an international pro-Protestant policy. The marriage ends in disaster, and Cromwell is executed on 28 July 1540.
• Thomas Cranmer (1489-1556) is born to a gentry family in Nottinghamshire and studies at Jesus College, Cambridge. He rises to fame in 1529 when he suggests that Henry VIII should ask universities in Europe for their opinion on his marriage to Catherine of Aragon. In 1533, he becomes archbishop of Canterbury and presides over the court that annuls the royal marriage. Although deeply conservative, Cranmer is a Protestant, and on the accession of Edward VI, he issues a set of official Protestant sermons, homilies and The Book of Common Prayer, laying the basis for Anglican Church. When the Catholic Mary I comes to the throne, he recants his Protestant views, then changes his mind. He is burned for heresy on 21 March 1556, putting the hand that signed the recantation first into the flames.
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In May 1593, the poet and playwright Christopher Marlowe is killed in a pub brawl in Deptford. Although the cause seems to be a dispute about a bill, some people think he may have been disposed of because he knows too much – he once worked as a spy for the government, and has been charged with atheism.
If Marlowe's death is the result of a plot, no one would be surprised. Tudor England is thick with conspiracies. Sir Francis Walsingham, Elizabeth's principal secretary in the 1570s and 1580s, runs a network of spies who are constantly on the look out for plots and treason. Sometimes, they even fabricate the evidence.
At the root of most plots is a mixture of discontent with religion and fear of economic change. In Catholic Mary I's reign, for example, a dead dog with its ears cropped is thrown through the window of a royal palace with a note saying that all Catholic priests should be hanged.
At the same time, ordinary people become so desperate because of poverty or changes in religious practices that revolts are common. Most massive popular risings are very conservative in nature.
The Pilgrimage of Grace
While the Reformation policies of Henry VIII's government in London are popular in the south-east, other parts of the kingdom resent changes to their time-honoured lifestyle. The Pilgrimage of Grace begins with a 1536 revolt in Louth, Lincolnshire, and develops into a widespread northern rising against the new religious ideas.
Triggered by the dissolution of the smaller monasteries, it spreads to Yorkshire, Cumberland and Westmorland. It involves about 30,000 men, and is made up of an uneasy alliance of peers, gentry and peasants from the north of England, with Yorkshire clothiers soon coming to the fore. The rebels, who carry the symbol of the five wounds of Christ and call themselves 'pilgrims', are led by Robert Aske, a Lincolnshire attorney. They adopt the medieval approach to rebellion of protesting their loyalty to the king while, at the same time, attacking his 'evil counsellors'. But Henry VIII plays for time, offering pardons, and divides the gentry from the commoners. By spring 1537, most of the rebels have dispersed and Henry arrests and executes Aske. Some 74 other rebels were hanged.
Kett's rebellion
In 1549, there are two rebel armies in the field. One is in the west – a peasant rebellion that follows an uprising in Devon and Cornwall. It peters out after a few weeks.
Meanwhile, in East Anglia, a rebellion led by Robert Kett, a Norfolk tanner and small landowner, cries out for relief for 'your [Edward VI's] poor commons'. Anger at the dissolution of the monasteries and the exploitation of people by rich lords, who enclose common lands for their own use, boils over into a riot, which escalates into a full-scale uprising.
Unusually for a peasant rebellion, Kett imposes strict discipline on his forces, which camp at Mousehold Heath in Norwich for six weeks. But Protector Somerset sends troops to occupy the city, then an army – stiffened by foreign mercenaries – cuts the rebels to pieces at the battle of Dussindale. Kett is hanged at Norwich.
Wyatt's rebellion
In January 1554, as the nation hears rumours of Mary I's marriage to Philip II of Spain, she becomes unpopular – and fear of foreign domination spreads. Sir Thomas Wyatt, son of the poet (see The arts), raises a rebellion in Kent. Although other parts of the country fail to rise, Wyatt leads 3,000 rebels to London. He never manages to get past the City walls: Mary rallies support, the rebels are dispersed and he's executed on 11 April.
Letters from Wyatt to the 21-year-old Princess Elizabeth are discovered, and she is taken to the Tower of London. For two months, she is imprisoned, protesting her innocence, before finally being released. Moved to Woodstock, she scratches a message on a window: 'Much suspected of me: Nothing proved can be. Quoth Elizabeth, prisoner.' In the purge following the rebellion, Lady Jane Grey is executed.
Northern Rebellion
In 1569, there is yet another rebellion. Following the flight to England of Mary Queen of Scots the previous year, the duke of Norfolk and other nobles plan to depose Elizabeth I and make Mary queen. One of the most serious risings on behalf of the old Catholic religion, it is popular in the northern counties, where rebels again carry the banner of the five wounds of Christ, celebrate Mass in Durham cathedral and destroy Protestant Bibles. But it is put down, its leaders beheaded and 400 rebels hanged.
Throckmorton plot
The most dangerous of several conspiracies to free Mary Queen of Scots, this plot is hatched by Francis Throckmorton, son of a disgraced chief justice. He spends the early 1580s on the Continent, then returns to act as a go-between for Mary and Mendoza, the Spanish ambassador in London. In November 1583, he is betrayed and arrested. Papers discovered in his study, and confessions extracted on the rack, provide evidence of a plot to invade England. Throckmorton is executed.
Babington plot
In 1586, Anthony Babington – a young Catholic gentleman from Derbyshire who serves the imprisoned Mary Queen of Scots as a page – is contacted by John Ballard, a Catholic priest. His plan is to kill Elizabeth and free Mary. But the plot is monitored by spies working for Sir Francis Walsingham, who intercept the coded letters between Babington and Ballard. Gilbert Gifford, another Catholic, is recruited by Walsingham.
When enough evidence is amassed, Babington is executed, and the conspiracy is used by Elizabeth's councillors to persuade her that her cousin Mary Queen of Scots is an incorrigible plotter who must be tried for treason. Reluctantly, Elizabeth agrees and Mary is executed early the following year.
Essex's rebellion
On 7 February 1601, at the Globe theatre, the earl of Essex, a disgraced royal favourite, sponsors a performance of Shakespeare's Richard II, whose theme is the usurpation of royal authority. On the following day, soon after the Sunday sermon at St Paul's Cross, he blasphemously leads a 300-strong band of noble followers and their armed men from Essex House through Ludgate and into the City, shouting: 'Murder, murder, God save the queen!' Claiming that England is being sold to the Spanish, Essex hopes that Londoners will rally to help him in his bid to restore himself to royal favour. They don't.
More a failed demonstration than a rebellion, this is the era's last attempted coup. Essex is immediately arrested and is executed on Tower Hill less than a month later, while his old rival, Sir Walter Ralegh – who is captain of the Guard – looks on.
What a riot
In 1596, a Somerset crowd seizes a load of cheese, claiming that 'rich men had gotten all into their hands and will starve the poor'. Such small riots are a frequent occurrence. They tend to be quite orderly, and are only called riots because those involved are lower class and take the law into their own hands.
Tudor riots usually have specific local goals and are expressions of moral protest. They tend to be either food riots or enclosure riots.
Food riots target people who are believed to be hoarding food in times of scarcity or who are putting up prices unfairly. They generally involve a crowd grabbing food and punishing exploiters of the poor.
Enclosure riots are sparked off when greedy landlords enclose common land – previously used by poorer people to graze their animals – by planting hedges to keep people out. Usually, the riot involves tearing down hedges and grazing livestock on the lands.
Some reports suggest that women were also active in riots.
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When Elizabeth I has to set the date of her coronation, she asks 'her noble intelligencier', the astrologer John Dee. After casting a horoscope, Dee comes up with 15 January 1559. He is a mathematical whiz kid, who also studies astronomy, cartography and medicine. But his belief in the spirit world leads him to have conversations with angels, search for the fabled philosopher's stone.
For much of the 16th century, despite the technical achievements of the master craftsmen who build the ships that take on the Spanish Armada, modern science is in its infancy. For example, it is thought that toothache is caused by tiny worms. In the place of science, old-fashioned beliefs try to explain the nature of the world and our place in it.
Religion goes hand in hand with a belief in a spirit world and only the strictest Puritans make a clear distinction between the two. For most of the population, the use of charms, potions and horoscopes is an effective answer to the ills of the world.
Wise men and cunning women
Adam Squire, the master of Balliol College in Oxford between 1571 and 1580, nearly loses his job when he's accused of selling gamblers a 'fly', or familiar spirit, which he claims will guarantee them success at dice.
Tudor England is full of so-called 'wise men' and 'cunning women', white magicians who sell charms to help people overcome their problems or soothe their troubles. Typical are charms to ward off evil, stave off ruin or make money. Rings are sold to bring immunity in battle, keep off vermin and even make the wearer invisible. Magic is used to put out fires, make the kids sleep and avoid drunkenness.
In 1583, the churchwardens of Thatcham in Berkshire send for a cunning woman to find out who's stolen the church's communion cloth. Some white magicians were even more ambitious. In his Natural and Artificial Conclusions, a 1567 book that was so popular that no copies of the first two editions survive, Thomas Ross gave instructions for walking on water. While the seventh son of a seventh son is usually recognised as a white witch who can bring good magic and help people, in reality anyone can become a wise woman or man. Magical activities are a sideline and the job is not hereditary. Having a prominent birthmark or other physical blemish can help – but most white witches just need confidence and luck.
Before the Reformation, saints are believed to have the power to protect you. St Sebastian, because of his many wounds, protects against the plague; St Barbara, killed by her angry father, protects against thunder and sudden death (she's a favourite with soldiers and gunpowder makers); the Virgin Mary protects everyone.
The visionary nun, Elizabeth Barton, the Holy Maid of Kent, claims to have been visited by the Virgin Mary – and foresees disaster if Henry VIII divorces his first wife. For her pains, she is charged with treason and hanged at Tyburn.
In July 1507, a girl run over by a cart in Cheapside, London is lifeless, but revives and says she saw Our Lady of Barking lifting up the cart. Such 'miracles' are attacked by Protestants who say they are mere superstitions.
Witchcraft
George Gifford, an Essex preacher, writes that the common people think 'if there were no witches, there should be no plagues'. By blaming natural calamities, whose causes are not understood, on human beings, who are always suspected of evil, Tudor communities try to eradicate natural disasters by exterminating witches.
This century is not the first to believe in witches, but it is the first to try and wipe them out by judicial persecution. Acts of 1542 and 1563 make witchcraft a crime and lead to witch hunts. Hundreds of prosecutions follow, especially in Essex. In the 1580s, 13% of assize trials in that county are for witchcraft. Of 64 accused, 53 are found guilty.
Poor, old and/or unprotected women are the main victims. What seems to happen is that they ask for help from their neighbours, are refused and respond by cursing them. When any misfortune then befalls the neighbour, such as an accident or inexplicable crop failure, the curse is remembered and the poor woman is accused of witchcraft. She is tried for maleficium, the use of diabolical power to cause harm, not for heresy. Often, the accused confesses. For example, in 1566, Elizabeth Francis confesses that every time her cat (called Satan) performs a sinister service for her, she rewards him with a drop of her blood.
The execution of a witch is a ritual that has the approval of the whole village community. At a time when the old charitable institutions of the Roman Catholic Church have been destroyed and the new institutions of the Poor Law are not yet set up, witchcraft accusations are one way of dealing with guilt about not giving poor people charity – a new individualistic spirit is replacing traditional community care.
Astrology
On the eve of the Spanish Armada, England experiences strange eclipses and conjunctions of the planets. Astrologers expect something dramatic to happen.
Astrology is the most intellectually demanding of the many magical beliefs circulating in Tudor England. Based on ancient Babylonian, Greek and Roman learning, astrology tries to predict events on Earth from a study of the movements of celestial bodies such as planets and stars. There's a magnificent astrological clock in Hampton Court.
Since different signs of the zodiac are thought to rule different parts of the body, most astrologers have some medical knowledge as well as an awareness of astronomy.
For most of the Tudor era, English astrology is moribund – the predictions of court astrologers that Henry VIII will have a son are proved so often wrong that patrons lose faith in them. But astrology is revived in Elizabeth's reign by John Dee. By then, even the earl of Essex possesses a treatise on astrology.
Infant science
Although it is underdeveloped, the beginnings of modern science are in the air. On the roof of Sir Walter Ralegh's Durham House in London, Thomas Harriot points his telescope – the first in England – at the skies and finds, as Galileo did, that the moon is cratered. Abroad, science is helped by the discoveries of Nicholas Copernicus in astronomy and the inventions of Leonardo da Vinci. They embody the new growing spirit of research and experiment.
European sailors make great progress in shipbuilding, navigation and map-making. And the first fireworks display in England is held in 1572.
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