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How to Be #2
How To Be a Tudor: A Dawn-to-Dusk Guide to Tudor Life
Alternate cover edition can be found here
From an historian who advised on the BBC’s Wolf Hall, an erudite romp through the intimate details of life in Tudor England.
On the heels of her triumphant How to Be a Victorian, Ruth Goodman travels even further back in English history to the era closest to her heart, the dramatic period from the crowning of Henry VII to the death of Elizabeth I. Drawing on her own adventures living in re-created Tudor conditions, Goodman serves as our intrepid guide to sixteenth-century living. Proceeding from daybreak to bedtime, this charming, illustrative work celebrates the ordinary lives of those who labored through the era. From sounding the “hue and cry” to alert a village to danger to malting grain for homemade ale, from the gruesome sport of bear-baiting to cuckolding and cross-dressing—the madcap habits and revealing intimacies of life in the time of Shakespeare are vividly rendered for the insatiably curious.
From an historian who advised on the BBC’s Wolf Hall, an erudite romp through the intimate details of life in Tudor England.
On the heels of her triumphant How to Be a Victorian, Ruth Goodman travels even further back in English history to the era closest to her heart, the dramatic period from the crowning of Henry VII to the death of Elizabeth I. Drawing on her own adventures living in re-created Tudor conditions, Goodman serves as our intrepid guide to sixteenth-century living. Proceeding from daybreak to bedtime, this charming, illustrative work celebrates the ordinary lives of those who labored through the era. From sounding the “hue and cry” to alert a village to danger to malting grain for homemade ale, from the gruesome sport of bear-baiting to cuckolding and cross-dressing—the madcap habits and revealing intimacies of life in the time of Shakespeare are vividly rendered for the insatiably curious.
464 pages, ebook
First published November 5, 2015
750 people are currently reading
8441 people want to read
About the author
Ruth Goodman
14 books711 followersRuth Goodman is a social and domestic historian working with museums, theatre, television and educational establishments. She has presented (and consulted on) several highly successful television series including “The Edwardian Farm”, “The Victorian Farm”, “Victorian Farm Christmas” “Tales from the Green Valley” and “The Victorian Pharmacy” (all for primetime BBC Two) as well as presenting a variety of films for The One Show and Coast. “The Victorian Farm” was one of BBC Two’s biggest hits in 2009 and was nominated for a Royal Television Society Award. The book of the series, also called “The Victorian Farm” went to No. 1 in The Sunday Times’s best seller list. These were followed by The Wartime Farm which regularly attracted up to 3 million viewers per week and was also accompanied by a successful book of the same title. In 2013 she presented Tudor Monastery Farm and earlier in the year ‘The Wonder of Dogs’ (BBC 2). She was the Judge on BBC 1’s ’24 Hours in the Past’ and is the historical expert on BBC 2’s “Inside the Factory: How our Favourite Foods are Made (now in its 8th series). Ruth is currently Presenter on Channel 5’s “On the Farm”.
As well as her tv tie-in books, she has published “How to be a Victorian” and “How to be a Tudor” (Pub: Penguin Viking) both critically and commercially successful in the UK and abroad including the US and China. Her most recent books are “How to Behave Badly in Renaissance Britain” was published in 2018 by Michael O’Mara and “The Domestic Revolution – How the introduction of Coal into our homes changed Everything” was published in 2020.
As well as her television work, Ruth offers advisory services, lectures and holds practical workshops around the country. As a social historian she works with a whole range of people, institutions and museums such as The Weald and Downland, The Globe Theatre, Shakespeare’s Birthplace Trust, the National Trust and the heritage and drama departments of several universities.
Her particular interest is the domestic; how we lived our daily lives and why we did the things we did. Also how seemingly little things change the world. Our day to day routines have a huge cumulative effect on the environment; our shopping habits can sway the world’s patterns of trade and how we organise and run our family life sets the political tone of nations.
As Ruth says “We matter. How our ancestors – ordinary men, women and children – solved the nitty gritty problems of everyday life made the world what it is today”.
Ruth’s consultancy work covers media (including assisting make up artists with Elizabethan cosmetics in ‘Shakespeare in Love’, information on personal hygiene practices for Channel 4’s Colonial House), interpretation for museums and heritage sites, designing exhibitions and training staff. Her courses and lectures cover everything from ‘History of Eating’, ‘Victorian Cleaning’, ‘The Cycle of Life’, ‘Babies and Birth’, ‘Medicine – A Consumer’s Guide’ and ‘A Good Death’. Her favoured periods are Tudor, Edwardian, Elizabethan and Victorian.
As well as her tv tie-in books, she has published “How to be a Victorian” and “How to be a Tudor” (Pub: Penguin Viking) both critically and commercially successful in the UK and abroad including the US and China. Her most recent books are “How to Behave Badly in Renaissance Britain” was published in 2018 by Michael O’Mara and “The Domestic Revolution – How the introduction of Coal into our homes changed Everything” was published in 2020.
As well as her television work, Ruth offers advisory services, lectures and holds practical workshops around the country. As a social historian she works with a whole range of people, institutions and museums such as The Weald and Downland, The Globe Theatre, Shakespeare’s Birthplace Trust, the National Trust and the heritage and drama departments of several universities.
Her particular interest is the domestic; how we lived our daily lives and why we did the things we did. Also how seemingly little things change the world. Our day to day routines have a huge cumulative effect on the environment; our shopping habits can sway the world’s patterns of trade and how we organise and run our family life sets the political tone of nations.
As Ruth says “We matter. How our ancestors – ordinary men, women and children – solved the nitty gritty problems of everyday life made the world what it is today”.
Ruth’s consultancy work covers media (including assisting make up artists with Elizabethan cosmetics in ‘Shakespeare in Love’, information on personal hygiene practices for Channel 4’s Colonial House), interpretation for museums and heritage sites, designing exhibitions and training staff. Her courses and lectures cover everything from ‘History of Eating’, ‘Victorian Cleaning’, ‘The Cycle of Life’, ‘Babies and Birth’, ‘Medicine – A Consumer’s Guide’ and ‘A Good Death’. Her favoured periods are Tudor, Edwardian, Elizabethan and Victorian.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 660 reviews
March 2, 2024
Just like with her How to Be a Victorian, Ruth Goodman is going for the immersive everyday experience of what life in another often-depicted historical period in Britain would be actually like. This time it’s Tudor England - and we get to read about clothes, food, education, hygiene, work, entertainment. Some of these things she actually tried out in historical recreations and therefore can give actual real-life account (our superior attitude with frequent water/soap washes does not really decrease the smelliness much compared to the Tudor linen-based hygiene, and soot for toothpaste works just great).
In our time of overall plentiful and cheap food it’s easy to not realize that the majority of people’s income was spent on food which was very expensive, and making that food was not easy. And clothes - the sheer amount of work and resources that went into making them, and how much use a garment left in a will could be. It’s hard to imagine floors covered in rushes, or all the work that would go into making a bed, and how the idea of sleeping arrangements evolved over time (no, bequeathing his second-best bed to his wife in no means signified that Shakespeare didn’t care, but was a decent bequest). And how important your appearance was in determining your standing in the society - “clothes make the man” indeed, with not only sumptuary laws but also emphasis on proper “current” way to walk and stand and generally fashionably peacock around (can’t have your fancy gait be mistaken for that of a lowly plowman!). Oh, and codpieces, of course. And dancing.
When it came to education, I found it pretty amazing that learning reading and writing was not done together; reading was done first and only then (and not for everyone either) came the writing. And you had to make your own ink and writing implements. Forget about the misconception of child brides - the average marrying age for women was 24 and 26 for men. And I never had a reason to contemplate the difference between using oxen and horses for plowing. Baking in Tudor ovens also seems to have been a special skill. And if you were poor, your meals were pretty much bread with bread and some bread with that - for breakfast, dinner and supper.
It’s a very practical book full of common sense and yet with a peppering of humor throughout, and, just like her Victorian book, puts a lot of emphasis on women and classes other than the upper crust of the society. Just like Ian Mortimer’s “Time Traveler’s Guides”, Ruth Goodman’s books are great in making you appreciate what it would feel like to actually live in the depths of history. But it does go a bit overboard on detail in some sections which may be a bit too much for those of us not as well-versed in the minutiae of Tudor life re-enactments — but then Goodman does manage to compensate for her detail overload with her sincerely genuine unbridled enthusiasm.
4 stars.
——————
Also posted on my blog.
In our time of overall plentiful and cheap food it’s easy to not realize that the majority of people’s income was spent on food which was very expensive, and making that food was not easy. And clothes - the sheer amount of work and resources that went into making them, and how much use a garment left in a will could be. It’s hard to imagine floors covered in rushes, or all the work that would go into making a bed, and how the idea of sleeping arrangements evolved over time (no, bequeathing his second-best bed to his wife in no means signified that Shakespeare didn’t care, but was a decent bequest). And how important your appearance was in determining your standing in the society - “clothes make the man” indeed, with not only sumptuary laws but also emphasis on proper “current” way to walk and stand and generally fashionably peacock around (can’t have your fancy gait be mistaken for that of a lowly plowman!). Oh, and codpieces, of course. And dancing.
When it came to education, I found it pretty amazing that learning reading and writing was not done together; reading was done first and only then (and not for everyone either) came the writing. And you had to make your own ink and writing implements. Forget about the misconception of child brides - the average marrying age for women was 24 and 26 for men. And I never had a reason to contemplate the difference between using oxen and horses for plowing. Baking in Tudor ovens also seems to have been a special skill. And if you were poor, your meals were pretty much bread with bread and some bread with that - for breakfast, dinner and supper.
It’s a very practical book full of common sense and yet with a peppering of humor throughout, and, just like her Victorian book, puts a lot of emphasis on women and classes other than the upper crust of the society. Just like Ian Mortimer’s “Time Traveler’s Guides”, Ruth Goodman’s books are great in making you appreciate what it would feel like to actually live in the depths of history. But it does go a bit overboard on detail in some sections which may be a bit too much for those of us not as well-versed in the minutiae of Tudor life re-enactments — but then Goodman does manage to compensate for her detail overload with her sincerely genuine unbridled enthusiasm.
4 stars.
——————
Also posted on my blog.
February 8, 2017
This review is about football mostly. The book had quite an original format as the author delineated what the average Tudor citizen would be doing at that hour. There are so many books on the Tudors that I wasn't surprised I didn't learn much but what I did learn was that the most popular sport then was still the most popular sport in the UK. But although the name is the same, the game is quite different.
Back then the pitch was the common ground between two villages. The object was to capture the ball by any means necessary including extreme violence resulting in broken bones sometimes like broken necks and backs resulting in death, and bring it home to your own village. There was a referee but if he couldn't keep up with this fast-moving game, he wouldn't necessarily be where the action was.
The team was as many of the males of the village who wanted to play and there was no time limit. If it was a holiday then the match could go on all day.
Eventually the game was outlawed. Not because it was so violent but because it distracted men from the important sport of archery. Bows and arrows were the infantry's weapons of the day.
Some things change and some don't. Governments still ban things that people want to do and people still carry on doing them. But football is a mild-mannered no-contact game that's all over in less than two hours with no bones broken unless it's American Football which is possibly closer to the Tudor game than the British one.
The book was enjoyable, just not brilliant. It was well-written and being mostly about domestic life, a change from the aristocrats and politicians all of whom seemed to want more money, more power and kow-towing from the common man. That's another thing that hasn't changed.
A 4-star read, almost.
Back then the pitch was the common ground between two villages. The object was to capture the ball by any means necessary including extreme violence resulting in broken bones sometimes like broken necks and backs resulting in death, and bring it home to your own village. There was a referee but if he couldn't keep up with this fast-moving game, he wouldn't necessarily be where the action was.
The team was as many of the males of the village who wanted to play and there was no time limit. If it was a holiday then the match could go on all day.
Eventually the game was outlawed. Not because it was so violent but because it distracted men from the important sport of archery. Bows and arrows were the infantry's weapons of the day.
Some things change and some don't. Governments still ban things that people want to do and people still carry on doing them. But football is a mild-mannered no-contact game that's all over in less than two hours with no bones broken unless it's American Football which is possibly closer to the Tudor game than the British one.
The book was enjoyable, just not brilliant. It was well-written and being mostly about domestic life, a change from the aristocrats and politicians all of whom seemed to want more money, more power and kow-towing from the common man. That's another thing that hasn't changed.
A 4-star read, almost.
August 11, 2022
It was easy to determine that among my GR friends there are many that enjoy historical fiction – the chance to live vicariously in a different time and place. But it’s one thing to have someone appropriate the trappings of a period and another thing to actually have the details of what life was really all about. Ruth Goodman has done a deep dive into Tudor England and that includes everything from clothing and hygiene to food and cooking to social life and culture.
When I tell you she dives deep, that includes periods of actually living the way the people did at that time. Here is an example of the beliefs and practices concerning the uses of linen cloth:
"In addition to providing clean clothes, linen could also be employed to cleanse the body actively. In Sir Thomas Elyot’s book The Castel of Helth (1534), he recommends that the morning routine should include a session whereby a man was to ‘rubbe the body with a course lynnen clothe, first softely and easilye, and after to increase more and more, to a harde and swyfte rubbynge, untyll the fleshe do swelle, and be somewhat ruddy, and that not only downe ryghte, but also overthwart and round’. This would ensure that ‘his body is clensed’. This vigorous rubbing, especially if done after exercise, was intended to help draw out the body’s toxins through the open pores, with the unwanted bodily matter then being carried away by the coarse linen cloth. ‘Rubbing cloths’ or ‘body cloths’, despite their very low financial value, occasionally turn up in inventories of people’s goods. Most people seem to have owned only two or three sets of underwear."
"Did people in the Tudor era stink to high heaven? Were they endangering their health as they tried paradoxically to preserve it from evil miasmas or foul air? I have twice followed the regime. The first time was for a period of just over three months, while living in modern society. No one noticed! It helps, of course, if you wear natural-fibre clothes over the top of your linen underwear. I used a fine linen smock, over which I could wear a modern skirt and top without looking odd, and I wore a pair of fine linen hose beneath a nice thick pair of woollen opaque tights (these, of course, did contain a little elastane). I changed the smock and hose daily and rubbed myself down with a linen cloth in the evening before bed, and I took neither shower nor bath for the entire period. I remained remarkably smell-free – even my feet. My skin also stayed in good condition – better than usual, in fact. This, then, was the level of hygiene that a wealthy person could achieve if they wished: one that could pass unnoticed in modern society."
"A friend and colleague has also tried it the other way around, washing his body but not the underwear. The difference between the two was stark and revealing. He continued with a full modern hygiene routine, showering at least once a day and using a range of modern products, but wore the same linen shirt (and outer clothes) for several months without washing them at all. The smell was overpowering, impossible to ignore. He looked filthy too."
I don’t even have to use the fingers of a single hand to count the times where authors have discussed what it really took to bake food in a Tudor period oven, but Goodman goes through the whole process. Here is a small sample:
"Each oven is a little different from any other, so it takes a few firings to really pin down the exact shape of the heat of each one, but experience can make one a very accurate judge of temperatures and cooking times for a range of different breads. Once the correct temperature has been reached, you must quickly rake the fire out of the oven, move the hot ashes away to one side – or into the ash hole beneath the oven – speedily flick a damp mop over the oven floor to clean the worst of the remaining ash out, then slip the bread in, put the door in place and seal around it with a small sausage of flour-and-water paste to keep the heat in. This is all a hurried, urgent business. As soon as the fire is out, the oven is losing heat, so speed is the name of the game. No time to rest, however, once the oven is sealed: you have just forty minutes to prepare the next round of baking. When the first batch of bread emerges from the oven, the temperature will have fallen, but it will by no means be cold. If your first oven-load was large loaves of basic household bread, the reduced heat will now be perfect for pies and pasties, small buns and cakes. An hour later these too will be cooked, and now your oven will have cooled to the ideal heat for setting custards and giving biscuits their second baking. Each firing of the oven can, if you have the ingredients and the organization, cook three oven-loads of food."
The book is organized by time of day: 1. At Cock’s Crow 2. To Wash or Not to Wash 3. Dressing 4. Breakfast 5. Education 6. Dinner 7. Men’s Work 8. Women’s Work 9. A Time to Play 10. Supper 11. And so to Bed"
Surprising; Delightful; Thought-provoking. I found it very helpful.
When I tell you she dives deep, that includes periods of actually living the way the people did at that time. Here is an example of the beliefs and practices concerning the uses of linen cloth:
"In addition to providing clean clothes, linen could also be employed to cleanse the body actively. In Sir Thomas Elyot’s book The Castel of Helth (1534), he recommends that the morning routine should include a session whereby a man was to ‘rubbe the body with a course lynnen clothe, first softely and easilye, and after to increase more and more, to a harde and swyfte rubbynge, untyll the fleshe do swelle, and be somewhat ruddy, and that not only downe ryghte, but also overthwart and round’. This would ensure that ‘his body is clensed’. This vigorous rubbing, especially if done after exercise, was intended to help draw out the body’s toxins through the open pores, with the unwanted bodily matter then being carried away by the coarse linen cloth. ‘Rubbing cloths’ or ‘body cloths’, despite their very low financial value, occasionally turn up in inventories of people’s goods. Most people seem to have owned only two or three sets of underwear."
"Did people in the Tudor era stink to high heaven? Were they endangering their health as they tried paradoxically to preserve it from evil miasmas or foul air? I have twice followed the regime. The first time was for a period of just over three months, while living in modern society. No one noticed! It helps, of course, if you wear natural-fibre clothes over the top of your linen underwear. I used a fine linen smock, over which I could wear a modern skirt and top without looking odd, and I wore a pair of fine linen hose beneath a nice thick pair of woollen opaque tights (these, of course, did contain a little elastane). I changed the smock and hose daily and rubbed myself down with a linen cloth in the evening before bed, and I took neither shower nor bath for the entire period. I remained remarkably smell-free – even my feet. My skin also stayed in good condition – better than usual, in fact. This, then, was the level of hygiene that a wealthy person could achieve if they wished: one that could pass unnoticed in modern society."
"A friend and colleague has also tried it the other way around, washing his body but not the underwear. The difference between the two was stark and revealing. He continued with a full modern hygiene routine, showering at least once a day and using a range of modern products, but wore the same linen shirt (and outer clothes) for several months without washing them at all. The smell was overpowering, impossible to ignore. He looked filthy too."
I don’t even have to use the fingers of a single hand to count the times where authors have discussed what it really took to bake food in a Tudor period oven, but Goodman goes through the whole process. Here is a small sample:
"Each oven is a little different from any other, so it takes a few firings to really pin down the exact shape of the heat of each one, but experience can make one a very accurate judge of temperatures and cooking times for a range of different breads. Once the correct temperature has been reached, you must quickly rake the fire out of the oven, move the hot ashes away to one side – or into the ash hole beneath the oven – speedily flick a damp mop over the oven floor to clean the worst of the remaining ash out, then slip the bread in, put the door in place and seal around it with a small sausage of flour-and-water paste to keep the heat in. This is all a hurried, urgent business. As soon as the fire is out, the oven is losing heat, so speed is the name of the game. No time to rest, however, once the oven is sealed: you have just forty minutes to prepare the next round of baking. When the first batch of bread emerges from the oven, the temperature will have fallen, but it will by no means be cold. If your first oven-load was large loaves of basic household bread, the reduced heat will now be perfect for pies and pasties, small buns and cakes. An hour later these too will be cooked, and now your oven will have cooled to the ideal heat for setting custards and giving biscuits their second baking. Each firing of the oven can, if you have the ingredients and the organization, cook three oven-loads of food."
The book is organized by time of day: 1. At Cock’s Crow 2. To Wash or Not to Wash 3. Dressing 4. Breakfast 5. Education 6. Dinner 7. Men’s Work 8. Women’s Work 9. A Time to Play 10. Supper 11. And so to Bed"
Surprising; Delightful; Thought-provoking. I found it very helpful.
December 19, 2021
There are so many books on the Tudors but scant in terms of telling us how ordinary people used to live. In How To Be a Tudor, historian Ruth Goodman takes us through the life of ordinary people living in England during the period from 1485 to 1603. It is extremely engaging and informative and was an immense pleasure to read.
What I really loved the most is Goodman's own experiences doing the exact same things the Tudors did. She talks about sleeping on rushes and which ones she found the most comfortable. She, during her research, often recreated situations in order to enhance her experience and understanding of Tudor concepts of food, sleep, work, and religion. This is a far cry from dry academic historians who work through original sources. They are important, but this is a far more fun way of learning history.
Goodman gives detailed explanations and descriptions but sometimes, I am unable to visualise what she is exactly talking about. This is especially true when she describes hairstyles, how to tie knots, etc., and I sort of glazed over because of the excessive verbal detail. Some diagrams would have been very helpful. In fact, lack of good images is the only thing this book lacks. There are a few at the very end but these don't appear to be very important.
I wish there may be such interesting history books about India, but doesn't seem to be likely in the near future. However, I do still have Goodman's Victorian book left to read! Meanwhile, I highly recommend this one to everyone even mildly interested in history.
What I really loved the most is Goodman's own experiences doing the exact same things the Tudors did. She talks about sleeping on rushes and which ones she found the most comfortable. She, during her research, often recreated situations in order to enhance her experience and understanding of Tudor concepts of food, sleep, work, and religion. This is a far cry from dry academic historians who work through original sources. They are important, but this is a far more fun way of learning history.
Goodman gives detailed explanations and descriptions but sometimes, I am unable to visualise what she is exactly talking about. This is especially true when she describes hairstyles, how to tie knots, etc., and I sort of glazed over because of the excessive verbal detail. Some diagrams would have been very helpful. In fact, lack of good images is the only thing this book lacks. There are a few at the very end but these don't appear to be very important.
I wish there may be such interesting history books about India, but doesn't seem to be likely in the near future. However, I do still have Goodman's Victorian book left to read! Meanwhile, I highly recommend this one to everyone even mildly interested in history.
February 7, 2017
Excellent coverage of the Tudor day, from dawn to dusk. Covers everything from why inheriting the second best bed wasn't an insult (beds were very valuable items) to the Tudor belief in "female testicles." Since it covers a great range of subjects, I found some more interesting than others, but in general, a very entertaining and informative read.
July 4, 2023
Second time listening to this audiobook and it's still a 5 star read. So informative and easy to listen to. Was interesting to listen to as I'm currently reading a historical fiction series about the Tudor queens.
February 24, 2025
As with How to Be a Victorian, this is a highly informative and readable work of social history—the author has clearly done real research, as well as experimenting with and reenacting much of this herself. It’s well-written and thoughtful, with sound analysis, and I learned a lot. Here are some fun facts:
- Rushes strewn on floors: I always pictured this like fallen leaves on a sidewalk but no, we’re talking mats of rushes inches thick. The author found that at six inches the floors were comfortable for sleeping on, a plus since many people in the Tudor era did. Which had its perks: chimneys weren’t a thing in England yet (outside of castles), and central hearths meant houses were full of smoke which just slowly filtered out through the thatch. The cleanest air was on the floor. (Wouldn’t it feel like walking on gym mats all the time though?)
- Beds: the most coveted possession of the era was a big, four-poster, covered, canopied bed. It kept warmth in and (since everyone shared rooms) prying eyes out.
- Sumptuary laws dictated the type of clothing people could wear, down to the maximum cost per yard for materials. This was justified by concern about people pretending to be of a higher class than they were. Hard to enforce legally, though there was social pressure as well (servants often inherited their masters’ clothes but couldn’t appropriately wear them, so sold them on through the lively used clothing industry). Even physical stances and gaits were associated with particular social classes, and some had to be learned from childhood to pull them off.
- Because people were generally up at dawn and often didn’t eat breakfast, “dinner,” the big meal of the day, happened as early as 10 a.m.
- Tudors knew very well that teens tend to behave better for other people than their parents, which was part of the reason so many young men went into apprenticeships, involving service contracts to a craftsman for 7 years or more. Unsurprisingly given the length of time involved, 2/3 of apprenticeships were not completed. Young orphans were also sent into apprenticeships, creating potential for useful skill-building but also abuse.
- Marriage was expected for men just as much as for women: to occupy public office or take on an apprentice, men had to be married (the wife would also sign the apprenticeship contract and be responsible for moral instruction).
- Ovens: these were domed structures built on a pillar, larger outside than in. You built up the fire till it was hot enough (you had to know your oven; Goodman judged hers by the shape of the heat around it), then pulled the fire out, put the food in, stuck the wooden door in place, and put a flour and water paste around the door to hold it on—all as quickly as possible to avoid losing heat. If you did it right, you could get three rounds of food requiring increasingly lower temperatures before the oven cooled. If this sounds like a lot—well, most people didn’t have their own ovens, and many prepared dishes and then brought them to a baker.
- Tudor bread was also different: heavier, tastier and more filling, which is good since for many people it was their whole meal. If you want to read about all the different wheats that existed, and how to catch your own wild yeast if you don’t have a friend who can give you some, you will just have to read the book.
- Almost all food was seasonal, not just fruits and vegetables. Hens didn’t lay in winter (we induce this through artificial lighting) and cows only gave milk from spring to late September. Pork comes from young pigs and was a late spring meat, while bacon and ham come from adult pigs slaughtered at a different time. Bread was year-round though! (Just don’t grind your grain till you’re close to ready to use it, as it will spoil.)
- Ploughing happened year-round (except for August), not just to prepare the ground but as a method of weed control, drainage and fertilization too. Keeping a plough on track is heavy work and this was the quintessential job for adult men.
- Dairymaids apparently understood hygiene better than doctors did even hundreds of years later—while it wasn’t clear why, dairy products definitely spoiled if the dairy wasn’t kept scrupulously clean.
- Archery on Sundays was a government-mandated sport, to keep the population prepared for war—there doesn’t seem to have been any enforcement, but it also wasn’t necessary, because for men it was a fun social activity.
- Ale was the traditional drink, often replacing water, but beer arrived and made inroads in England during this period. It kept better than ale (which only lasted a few days to a couple weeks depending on the temperature), which suited large-scale enterprises well.
- Blood sports like bull-baiting were considered the best method of slaughtering older animals because of the theory of the four humors, which posited that getting an animal riled up right before it died would tenderize the meat.
- Both men and women were intended to enjoy sex, which was considered an essential aspect of marriage—but only marriage. Illegitimacy rates were low, with most of the judgment falling on unmarried women, who in a rural society with strict gender roles were unable to support themselves alone and thus depended on the parish. This in turn affected local tax rates, giving the community an incentive to prevent illegitimate births. (On the positive side, this incentive meant parishes also engaged in what today we would call vocational rehabilitation, getting families set up with work so they could support themselves.)
- Homosexuality was seen as an activity rather than an identity (and because all sexual deviance was lumped together, was thus to be expected from anyone engaging in adultery, rape, incest, “bestiality” which could be used to mean heterosexual anal sex, etc.). It was only really discussed as between men, where it was harshly condemned but hardly ever prosecuted—possibly because the harshness of the penalties made accusations serious business, or maybe because it was described in such wild terms (even werewolves were tied into this somehow) that people didn’t really connect it to their neighbors.
Clearly, a lot in here of interest! It’s notably shorter than Goodman’s book on the Victorians, perhaps due to more limited sources, but I’d have liked more: religion for instance is mentioned only in passing despite the religious upheaval of the period; likewise, there are various references to the justice system, which I wanted to know much more about. Much of what we know of people’s possessions comes from probate inventories, and I at least wanted to know what happened to this property when people died, but also what getting into trouble looked like, etc. This is more interesting to me than the long section on clothing at the beginning, though that section is quite informative for the interested. (Once you read this book you’ll know how to make and care for a Tudor ruff, should you choose to. Get your starch ready.) I’d also have liked to see some endnotes rather than just a general biography. That said, overall a great read, both entertaining and informative.
- Rushes strewn on floors: I always pictured this like fallen leaves on a sidewalk but no, we’re talking mats of rushes inches thick. The author found that at six inches the floors were comfortable for sleeping on, a plus since many people in the Tudor era did. Which had its perks: chimneys weren’t a thing in England yet (outside of castles), and central hearths meant houses were full of smoke which just slowly filtered out through the thatch. The cleanest air was on the floor. (Wouldn’t it feel like walking on gym mats all the time though?)
- Beds: the most coveted possession of the era was a big, four-poster, covered, canopied bed. It kept warmth in and (since everyone shared rooms) prying eyes out.
- Sumptuary laws dictated the type of clothing people could wear, down to the maximum cost per yard for materials. This was justified by concern about people pretending to be of a higher class than they were. Hard to enforce legally, though there was social pressure as well (servants often inherited their masters’ clothes but couldn’t appropriately wear them, so sold them on through the lively used clothing industry). Even physical stances and gaits were associated with particular social classes, and some had to be learned from childhood to pull them off.
- Because people were generally up at dawn and often didn’t eat breakfast, “dinner,” the big meal of the day, happened as early as 10 a.m.
- Tudors knew very well that teens tend to behave better for other people than their parents, which was part of the reason so many young men went into apprenticeships, involving service contracts to a craftsman for 7 years or more. Unsurprisingly given the length of time involved, 2/3 of apprenticeships were not completed. Young orphans were also sent into apprenticeships, creating potential for useful skill-building but also abuse.
- Marriage was expected for men just as much as for women: to occupy public office or take on an apprentice, men had to be married (the wife would also sign the apprenticeship contract and be responsible for moral instruction).
- Ovens: these were domed structures built on a pillar, larger outside than in. You built up the fire till it was hot enough (you had to know your oven; Goodman judged hers by the shape of the heat around it), then pulled the fire out, put the food in, stuck the wooden door in place, and put a flour and water paste around the door to hold it on—all as quickly as possible to avoid losing heat. If you did it right, you could get three rounds of food requiring increasingly lower temperatures before the oven cooled. If this sounds like a lot—well, most people didn’t have their own ovens, and many prepared dishes and then brought them to a baker.
- Tudor bread was also different: heavier, tastier and more filling, which is good since for many people it was their whole meal. If you want to read about all the different wheats that existed, and how to catch your own wild yeast if you don’t have a friend who can give you some, you will just have to read the book.
- Almost all food was seasonal, not just fruits and vegetables. Hens didn’t lay in winter (we induce this through artificial lighting) and cows only gave milk from spring to late September. Pork comes from young pigs and was a late spring meat, while bacon and ham come from adult pigs slaughtered at a different time. Bread was year-round though! (Just don’t grind your grain till you’re close to ready to use it, as it will spoil.)
- Ploughing happened year-round (except for August), not just to prepare the ground but as a method of weed control, drainage and fertilization too. Keeping a plough on track is heavy work and this was the quintessential job for adult men.
- Dairymaids apparently understood hygiene better than doctors did even hundreds of years later—while it wasn’t clear why, dairy products definitely spoiled if the dairy wasn’t kept scrupulously clean.
- Archery on Sundays was a government-mandated sport, to keep the population prepared for war—there doesn’t seem to have been any enforcement, but it also wasn’t necessary, because for men it was a fun social activity.
- Ale was the traditional drink, often replacing water, but beer arrived and made inroads in England during this period. It kept better than ale (which only lasted a few days to a couple weeks depending on the temperature), which suited large-scale enterprises well.
- Blood sports like bull-baiting were considered the best method of slaughtering older animals because of the theory of the four humors, which posited that getting an animal riled up right before it died would tenderize the meat.
- Both men and women were intended to enjoy sex, which was considered an essential aspect of marriage—but only marriage. Illegitimacy rates were low, with most of the judgment falling on unmarried women, who in a rural society with strict gender roles were unable to support themselves alone and thus depended on the parish. This in turn affected local tax rates, giving the community an incentive to prevent illegitimate births. (On the positive side, this incentive meant parishes also engaged in what today we would call vocational rehabilitation, getting families set up with work so they could support themselves.)
- Homosexuality was seen as an activity rather than an identity (and because all sexual deviance was lumped together, was thus to be expected from anyone engaging in adultery, rape, incest, “bestiality” which could be used to mean heterosexual anal sex, etc.). It was only really discussed as between men, where it was harshly condemned but hardly ever prosecuted—possibly because the harshness of the penalties made accusations serious business, or maybe because it was described in such wild terms (even werewolves were tied into this somehow) that people didn’t really connect it to their neighbors.
Clearly, a lot in here of interest! It’s notably shorter than Goodman’s book on the Victorians, perhaps due to more limited sources, but I’d have liked more: religion for instance is mentioned only in passing despite the religious upheaval of the period; likewise, there are various references to the justice system, which I wanted to know much more about. Much of what we know of people’s possessions comes from probate inventories, and I at least wanted to know what happened to this property when people died, but also what getting into trouble looked like, etc. This is more interesting to me than the long section on clothing at the beginning, though that section is quite informative for the interested. (Once you read this book you’ll know how to make and care for a Tudor ruff, should you choose to. Get your starch ready.) I’d also have liked to see some endnotes rather than just a general biography. That said, overall a great read, both entertaining and informative.
April 23, 2018
In the same vein as her earlier book "How to be a Victorian" and Ian Mortimer's "Medieval Time-Traveller", Ruth Goodman provides an insightful, interesting and at times funny and rather unsettling view of our ancestors' lives.
From rising from bed - which could be straw on a mud floor, a paillasse or a rope strung bed to a tester with curtains and feathers - until bedtime we get a birds-eye (or rather Tudor's eye) view of the life people led in this remarkable, influential and much written about period.
Where we benefit as a reader is that Ruth Goodman knows her stuff from her own long expertise gathered and garnered from years of experimenting and living like a Tudor. She binds this with many first-person accounts or valuable sources of ordinary folk to provide a rich and interesting canvas of life either in towns & cities or more commonly in rural villages and farms.
The use of religious tracts, diaries, court records, wills & testaments and indeed paintings and books really does offer information on washing and hygiene, food (growth, recipes, preparation, cooking, serving and costs) to dressing and fashion; education, work, leisure, prayer and sex before blowing out the candle to sleep.
There is much here to learn, savour, enjoy and also to thank one's lucky stars that it is history and not personal experience one is experiencing.
How to be a Tudor...yes but from a distance please.
From rising from bed - which could be straw on a mud floor, a paillasse or a rope strung bed to a tester with curtains and feathers - until bedtime we get a birds-eye (or rather Tudor's eye) view of the life people led in this remarkable, influential and much written about period.
Where we benefit as a reader is that Ruth Goodman knows her stuff from her own long expertise gathered and garnered from years of experimenting and living like a Tudor. She binds this with many first-person accounts or valuable sources of ordinary folk to provide a rich and interesting canvas of life either in towns & cities or more commonly in rural villages and farms.
The use of religious tracts, diaries, court records, wills & testaments and indeed paintings and books really does offer information on washing and hygiene, food (growth, recipes, preparation, cooking, serving and costs) to dressing and fashion; education, work, leisure, prayer and sex before blowing out the candle to sleep.
There is much here to learn, savour, enjoy and also to thank one's lucky stars that it is history and not personal experience one is experiencing.
How to be a Tudor...yes but from a distance please.
August 3, 2016
With so many books about the Tudor period available, there are surprisingly few which actually deal with the normal population. In fact, fiction is sometimes better than non-fiction in giving you an idea about how people lived – with authors such as C.J. Sansom and his Shardlake novels painting an evocative picture of the period. However, most of the history books I have read concentrate on the, admittedly, larger than life characters that were in power during those time. Ruth Goodman admits that she is also fascinated with this period, but she has not written a book about the great, or the powerful, but has, instead, painted a portrait of ordinary life from dawn to dusk.
We begin at cock’s crow, when people were ready to start another day; usually with a prayer. Religion was undoubtedly central to this period and, indeed, it was a tumultuous period. Still, Goodman concentrates wisely on the home in this book. So we are told about what the Tudor’s valued, how they washed, work, ate and dressed.
There are lots of fascinating snippets in this book. For example, the expression ‘sleep tight’ comes from Tudor beds, which had straps at the bottom which could sag if not tightened. Who knew that, even so long ago, back and eggs were already viewed as an unhealthy breakfast and associated with those who did manual work? These are just two examples of endless interesting facts within this book. Despite us imagining the past as a more simple time, it is obvious that the average Tudor had their own rules and etiquette to be followed – from what they were allowed to wear, to how they greeted each other and when they ate. This really does give a good insight into a period when people were all too recognisable, and understandable, despite the amount of time that has passed.
We begin at cock’s crow, when people were ready to start another day; usually with a prayer. Religion was undoubtedly central to this period and, indeed, it was a tumultuous period. Still, Goodman concentrates wisely on the home in this book. So we are told about what the Tudor’s valued, how they washed, work, ate and dressed.
There are lots of fascinating snippets in this book. For example, the expression ‘sleep tight’ comes from Tudor beds, which had straps at the bottom which could sag if not tightened. Who knew that, even so long ago, back and eggs were already viewed as an unhealthy breakfast and associated with those who did manual work? These are just two examples of endless interesting facts within this book. Despite us imagining the past as a more simple time, it is obvious that the average Tudor had their own rules and etiquette to be followed – from what they were allowed to wear, to how they greeted each other and when they ate. This really does give a good insight into a period when people were all too recognisable, and understandable, despite the amount of time that has passed.
March 15, 2016
This was an amazingly different book that was quite a fun read for nonfiction. Goodman takes research a step deeper than most, truly immersing herself in the Tudor lifestyle.
As the name of the book indicates, the book is set up like an outline of a typical day in the life of average Tudor era people. Beginning with waking up with the sun, Goodman discusses what people wore, what their beds were made out of, how they kept clean, and every other aspect of life. Well, maybe not every other aspect. If I have any complaint, it is that I wish she had included a few more topics, such as courting, worship, and other not necessarily daily parts of life.
Those habits and struggles that are explained are thoroughly delved into. Goodman does not simply describe what historians believe these people did, she went out and did it herself. When she talks about Tudor era people using linen clothes to clean their bodies rather than daily showers, she goes on to add that she tried this method for THREE MONTHS and nobody noticed! She has cooked food in Tudor era ovens, raised grain for authentic bread, brewed Tudor ale, and woven rush mats. Her experience and dedication are extraordinary and her insight is priceless.
This is a great resource for anybody writing about the Tudor era or who simply wishes to have a greater understanding of history.
As the name of the book indicates, the book is set up like an outline of a typical day in the life of average Tudor era people. Beginning with waking up with the sun, Goodman discusses what people wore, what their beds were made out of, how they kept clean, and every other aspect of life. Well, maybe not every other aspect. If I have any complaint, it is that I wish she had included a few more topics, such as courting, worship, and other not necessarily daily parts of life.
Those habits and struggles that are explained are thoroughly delved into. Goodman does not simply describe what historians believe these people did, she went out and did it herself. When she talks about Tudor era people using linen clothes to clean their bodies rather than daily showers, she goes on to add that she tried this method for THREE MONTHS and nobody noticed! She has cooked food in Tudor era ovens, raised grain for authentic bread, brewed Tudor ale, and woven rush mats. Her experience and dedication are extraordinary and her insight is priceless.
This is a great resource for anybody writing about the Tudor era or who simply wishes to have a greater understanding of history.
September 23, 2020
Once again, Ruth Goodman didn't disappoint: her attention to detail reflects in both her writing style and structure of the novel. If you want to know more about life in Tudor era, this book will definitely tell more than you could even ask for. Plus Ruth Goodman participated in a very cool tv series called Tudor Monastery Farm which you can check out for more visuals of that period.
March 22, 2016
There are hundreds (probably more like thousands) of books/texts/writings available focusing on the lives of major Tudor-era figures. However, these ‘celebrities’ were a minority in the population so what about the common, everyday folk? What were their lives like? Ruth Goodman visits (and lives!) the lives of people just like you and me during the Tudor period in, “How to Be a Tudor: A Dawn-to-Dusk Guide to Tudor Life”.
Ruth Goodman is n expert when it comes to historical accuracy and reenactment and has a personal interest in the Tudor period. Goodman thereby crafts “How to Be a Tudor” into a unique piece combining elements of an academic text, memoir, how-to guide, and a “day in the life of...” personalization literally focusing on the full day of civilian life in Tudor England (although royalty and peerage is still occasionally addressed). Initially, all of this meshing of styles feels clunky and ill-conceived and therefore isn’t smooth. “How to Be a Tudor” can be somewhat difficult to follow at this stage as Goodman doesn’t seem to know the best ways to transition her writing.
As “How to Be a Tudor” progresses, either the reader gets used to Goodman’s style or she becomes more confident (probably a mixture of both); resulting in a stronger and more compelling read. Although “How to Be a Tudor” is still ‘different’, it becomes so in a good way and the reader is intrigued to continue on. Goodman clearly encompasses a wealth of information which also includes first-hand experience of her having tried Tudor ways of life which debunks myths, clarifies facts, and teaches the reader; therefore bringing many new lights to the topic.
Goodman infuses the text with light humor here and there which keeps the pace moving and fresh while also highlighting examples and case studies of the lives of “nobodies” (wonder what these individuals were to think if they knew that they just received their 15 minutes of fame?). However, there is an issue with some light repetition with Goodman revisiting some facts from one section to another.
Even though Goodman makes “How to Be a Tudor” accessible and easy-to-understand; there is a lot of material and details which can become overwhelming. It is suggested to take some reader “breather” breaks in order to retain and grasp all of the information. Goodman’s success lies in not running off on tangents with all of the material and keeping on path with her thesis.
Although informative, the conclusion of “How to Be a Tudor” feels open-ended and somewhat anti-climatic. A summary would have done well to make the book more memorable and rounded.
Sadly, Goodman doesn’t include notes or citations which can question credibility but several pages of sources are available. “How to Be a Tudor” also includes three sections of photo plates.
“How to Be a Tudor” has a rocky start but this smoothes out into an informative and unique book which definitely opens up the Tudor times in a way which isn’t always evident in historical texts, teaching the reader a bountiful of information. Although not necessarily the best “flowing” text; “How to Be a Tudor” is an excellent reference piece and engages the reader in its own way. “How to Be a Tudor” is recommended for all readers interested in the Tudor period.
Ruth Goodman is n expert when it comes to historical accuracy and reenactment and has a personal interest in the Tudor period. Goodman thereby crafts “How to Be a Tudor” into a unique piece combining elements of an academic text, memoir, how-to guide, and a “day in the life of...” personalization literally focusing on the full day of civilian life in Tudor England (although royalty and peerage is still occasionally addressed). Initially, all of this meshing of styles feels clunky and ill-conceived and therefore isn’t smooth. “How to Be a Tudor” can be somewhat difficult to follow at this stage as Goodman doesn’t seem to know the best ways to transition her writing.
As “How to Be a Tudor” progresses, either the reader gets used to Goodman’s style or she becomes more confident (probably a mixture of both); resulting in a stronger and more compelling read. Although “How to Be a Tudor” is still ‘different’, it becomes so in a good way and the reader is intrigued to continue on. Goodman clearly encompasses a wealth of information which also includes first-hand experience of her having tried Tudor ways of life which debunks myths, clarifies facts, and teaches the reader; therefore bringing many new lights to the topic.
Goodman infuses the text with light humor here and there which keeps the pace moving and fresh while also highlighting examples and case studies of the lives of “nobodies” (wonder what these individuals were to think if they knew that they just received their 15 minutes of fame?). However, there is an issue with some light repetition with Goodman revisiting some facts from one section to another.
Even though Goodman makes “How to Be a Tudor” accessible and easy-to-understand; there is a lot of material and details which can become overwhelming. It is suggested to take some reader “breather” breaks in order to retain and grasp all of the information. Goodman’s success lies in not running off on tangents with all of the material and keeping on path with her thesis.
Although informative, the conclusion of “How to Be a Tudor” feels open-ended and somewhat anti-climatic. A summary would have done well to make the book more memorable and rounded.
Sadly, Goodman doesn’t include notes or citations which can question credibility but several pages of sources are available. “How to Be a Tudor” also includes three sections of photo plates.
“How to Be a Tudor” has a rocky start but this smoothes out into an informative and unique book which definitely opens up the Tudor times in a way which isn’t always evident in historical texts, teaching the reader a bountiful of information. Although not necessarily the best “flowing” text; “How to Be a Tudor” is an excellent reference piece and engages the reader in its own way. “How to Be a Tudor” is recommended for all readers interested in the Tudor period.
March 4, 2018
This was fascinating. As with her book on the Victorian Age (How to Be a Victorian), this is well-organized, well-written, and well-edited. I liked it so much I bought it.
As a contrast to the Victorian book, which I was reading in parallel, life was slower to change in Tudor times. There were laws about things you wouldn't expect, such as the sumptuary laws, which (among other things) decreed how much yardage, of which fabric, and at what price could be bought by people at different levels of society.
And, near the end of the book, which is about 85%, allowing for index, illustrations and pictures, there's a fairly detailed explanation of how to brew your own ale, something that many lower-class wives found to be part of their job. As experienced by the author, it seems to have turned out drinkable, at least. I'm sure there are more-detailed "menus" online.
As a contrast to the Victorian book, which I was reading in parallel, life was slower to change in Tudor times. There were laws about things you wouldn't expect, such as the sumptuary laws, which (among other things) decreed how much yardage, of which fabric, and at what price could be bought by people at different levels of society.
And, near the end of the book, which is about 85%, allowing for index, illustrations and pictures, there's a fairly detailed explanation of how to brew your own ale, something that many lower-class wives found to be part of their job. As experienced by the author, it seems to have turned out drinkable, at least. I'm sure there are more-detailed "menus" online.
March 5, 2023
This book had a few interesting and informative chapters but I just don’t see myself rereading this for a very long time
ROYALTY PROJECT READ
ROYALTY PROJECT READ
January 2, 2025
This was an extremely fun and easy read. Perfect for the post-holidays hangover period.
I thoroughly enjoy the sensation of vertigo one gets from reading about our ancestors. One minute they're exactly like us, and the next they're completely alien. You've heard that they lived like barn animals with straw strewn across the floor and food and filth carelessly dropped to the ground - but then you find that historian Ruth Goodman has made her own rush floors and lived and slept on them too. It turns out they're quite comfy and clean and the people in the past complaining about how they collect dirt are the same as modern people banging on about your carpet harbouring bacteria.
When it comes to sexuality the Tudors were certainly stricter than us. It was important that no child be left fatherless, so both practically and morally all sexual intercourse ought to be within marriage. The emphasis on the superiority of virginity is quite alien to us. But then many of our misconceptions are blown out of the water: they didn't have child brides, average age of marriage was 24 for women and 26 for men. Most women were pregnant at their wedding. Bawdy songs and plays abound. They weren't prudish - they were just prudent!
There's much more fun stuff in the book: they loved football just as much as we do, there were all night take-aways in London, the top half of the loaf was better, literally 'the upper crust' was the best part. Read and enjoy!
I thoroughly enjoy the sensation of vertigo one gets from reading about our ancestors. One minute they're exactly like us, and the next they're completely alien. You've heard that they lived like barn animals with straw strewn across the floor and food and filth carelessly dropped to the ground - but then you find that historian Ruth Goodman has made her own rush floors and lived and slept on them too. It turns out they're quite comfy and clean and the people in the past complaining about how they collect dirt are the same as modern people banging on about your carpet harbouring bacteria.
When it comes to sexuality the Tudors were certainly stricter than us. It was important that no child be left fatherless, so both practically and morally all sexual intercourse ought to be within marriage. The emphasis on the superiority of virginity is quite alien to us. But then many of our misconceptions are blown out of the water: they didn't have child brides, average age of marriage was 24 for women and 26 for men. Most women were pregnant at their wedding. Bawdy songs and plays abound. They weren't prudish - they were just prudent!
There's much more fun stuff in the book: they loved football just as much as we do, there were all night take-aways in London, the top half of the loaf was better, literally 'the upper crust' was the best part. Read and enjoy!
February 7, 2025
now this is the stuff. i started off like alright alright alright now we're getting into the meaty details of the literal fire in one's belly, things of this nature, suddenly the author's like "i tried this method of scrubbing yourself with linen and changing a linen shift regularly but not bathing for three months and my coworkers said i smelled fine" "i slept on rushes for six months and honestly it was comfortable" "i've made hundreds of authentic elizabethan ruffs" ruth you are the premiere researcher of our times and they should make more like you
January 7, 2023
Ends a bit abruptly, but otherwise this was a virtual fountain of interesting (and sometimes useful!) knowledge! Goodman’s histories, grounded in the everyday lives of people, are always a treat to read.
January 10, 2023
Hats off to Ruth Goodman for taking me back to the 1500s and guiding me through every aspect of daily life from dawn to dusk on every social rung of the ladder. How to be a Tudor has been an invaluable tool for researching the period for my own WIP which is set partially in 1588. I hadn't realised when I chose that date for how gorgeous it looks on the page just what a year it was for England! Drake defeated the Spanish Armada, the first theatres were built on the Southbank and the Queen's favourite, Robert Dudley died.
Crammed full of delicious and quirky detail I now know how to set a fire for baking planchets, pies and tarts, I know how to rub my hair with a linen cloth to keep it and incidentally, myself, clean. I understand the treachery of pimps and prancers and the irritation of lice and fleas. I know to be a bit careful before I call someone a knave or a quean or I could find myself in court and I know never to curse someone's crop or child, or I might be facing the gallows accused of witchcraft should the crop fail or the child die. I know to keep my opinions to myself, or I could be called a scold and treated with derision.
I know for a fact that I wouldn't last a week in Elizabethan England as a woman with very strong and oft-voiced opinions!
A triumph of a book and now I'm reading her How to be a Rogue in Tudor England.
Crammed full of delicious and quirky detail I now know how to set a fire for baking planchets, pies and tarts, I know how to rub my hair with a linen cloth to keep it and incidentally, myself, clean. I understand the treachery of pimps and prancers and the irritation of lice and fleas. I know to be a bit careful before I call someone a knave or a quean or I could find myself in court and I know never to curse someone's crop or child, or I might be facing the gallows accused of witchcraft should the crop fail or the child die. I know to keep my opinions to myself, or I could be called a scold and treated with derision.
I know for a fact that I wouldn't last a week in Elizabethan England as a woman with very strong and oft-voiced opinions!
A triumph of a book and now I'm reading her How to be a Rogue in Tudor England.
November 15, 2021
Author Ruth Goodman perused court records, wills, estate inventories, diaries, and other resources to examine life for common people in Tudor England. Her readable guide explores facets of daily life--household furnishings, cleanliness and hygiene, clothing, food, education, work, recreation, and sex. She treats subjects such as religion as part of the discussion for other topics. The resulting book contains social history that genealogists can utilize in constructing fuller narratives of ancestors and relatives living during this period. While several of Shakespeare's plays are mentioned throughout the book and theatre is treated in the section on recreation, the lack of mentioning Shakespeare and the Globe in that section seems a serious omission since his influence began in Elizabeth I's days and extended into the Stuart reign of James I. I found it interesting the author tried many Tudor ways of doing things prior to writing about them.
December 18, 2022
This book offers delightful tidbits on the daily life of folks in the Tudor period in the UK (1485-1603), but on the whole, I preferred her first, How to Be a Victorian. Maybe it's just because the format is a bit repetitive at this point, maybe it's because there's so much more supporting documentation to draw from for the Victorian period. Reading this book is a great way to get a window into life in this particular time and place, but on the whole, it mostly affirmed my sense that movies set in the period have got the broad strokes pretty accurate.
For those unfamiliar with the format, Goodman takes each time period of the day and breaks them into chapters, e.g.: "At Cock's Crow," "Breakfast," "Education," "Men's Work," "Women's Work," "A Time to Play," "And So to Bed" etc. Describing the minutia of life is where this book really shines: detailing different types of pottage eaten regionally, for example, and opinions about what was or wasn't healthy (actually, there were lots of opinions about what types of food to eat and when that were fascinating).
Some other highlights for me included a deep dive into how people slept (gradually moving from the floor onto beds with mattresses), the very lengthy chapter on "A Time to Play" (archery, football, golf, gambling, dancing, singing and bear baiting [!] were covered), and the description of ale-making and how it was mostly considered women's work.
The chapters have breaks in between topics, which made it easy to pick this book up, read small chunks and put it down again, but the lack of a central thesis did bug me a bit more this time around...and made it a touch more difficult to keep going. You really have to be in the mood for random, topical facts to get through this book.
On the whole, I felt like reading this book gave me just a bit more detail/background about the period than I had already gained by watching lots of movies set in the Tudor period. Totally worth it for alltagsgeschichte fans, or the history of everyday life (and yes, I looked that word up), writers, and those who want to get into reenactment, like the author, lol.
One final note: if you read in ebook format, know that all the pictures are at the end, so don't forget to check out that part!
For those unfamiliar with the format, Goodman takes each time period of the day and breaks them into chapters, e.g.: "At Cock's Crow," "Breakfast," "Education," "Men's Work," "Women's Work," "A Time to Play," "And So to Bed" etc. Describing the minutia of life is where this book really shines: detailing different types of pottage eaten regionally, for example, and opinions about what was or wasn't healthy (actually, there were lots of opinions about what types of food to eat and when that were fascinating).
Some other highlights for me included a deep dive into how people slept (gradually moving from the floor onto beds with mattresses), the very lengthy chapter on "A Time to Play" (archery, football, golf, gambling, dancing, singing and bear baiting [!] were covered), and the description of ale-making and how it was mostly considered women's work.
The chapters have breaks in between topics, which made it easy to pick this book up, read small chunks and put it down again, but the lack of a central thesis did bug me a bit more this time around...and made it a touch more difficult to keep going. You really have to be in the mood for random, topical facts to get through this book.
On the whole, I felt like reading this book gave me just a bit more detail/background about the period than I had already gained by watching lots of movies set in the Tudor period. Totally worth it for alltagsgeschichte fans, or the history of everyday life (and yes, I looked that word up), writers, and those who want to get into reenactment, like the author, lol.
One final note: if you read in ebook format, know that all the pictures are at the end, so don't forget to check out that part!
December 11, 2020
Brilliant. An in-depth, incredibly well researched and often humorous guide to everyday Tudor life from dawn to dusk. Really recommend this to any fan of history and the Tudor period in particular. Very much centered on the life of the working people, with a dash of life at court thrown in. In particular, if you've ever wanted to know how to starch a ruff, make pottage, or construct Tudor underwear, you'll adore it.
I often think that it is the details of everyday life which bring history to life, and this book is chock-full of fascinating facts. Really most enjoyable.
I often think that it is the details of everyday life which bring history to life, and this book is chock-full of fascinating facts. Really most enjoyable.
January 28, 2021
Verrry technical. 1.5/2. Not what I expected.
April 13, 2020
I read this after how much I loved How to be a Victorian and found it just as good! Ruth truly knows her stuff and I love how she’s tried a lot of Tudor styles, recipes and Tudor type things herself! It’s not only great to read about Tudor time’s in the personable way she does but also the experiences in modern times of trying Tudor techniques.
I love these books because they’re written in a way where you can truly put yourself into the Tudor life, learning how to dress, what they’d eat, what you’d expect from education etc... It isn’t a coldly written reeling of facts and information but accounts of peoples lives and more intimate look into the era than you normally get in books based on history.
She is a really amazing historian to bring that level of intrigue and mystery, intimacy and personality into the lives of what is historic and is filled with great detail and information on the Tudor lifestyle. Great walk through history!
I love these books because they’re written in a way where you can truly put yourself into the Tudor life, learning how to dress, what they’d eat, what you’d expect from education etc... It isn’t a coldly written reeling of facts and information but accounts of peoples lives and more intimate look into the era than you normally get in books based on history.
She is a really amazing historian to bring that level of intrigue and mystery, intimacy and personality into the lives of what is historic and is filled with great detail and information on the Tudor lifestyle. Great walk through history!
January 21, 2018
Ruth Goodman is one of my favourite historians, and I've enjoyed watching her in the following documentary series: Tudor Monastery Farm, Victorian Farm, Edwardian Farm, Wartime Farm and Full Steam Ahead.
In How To Be a Tudor: A Dawn-to-Dusk Guide to Everyday Life, Ruth covers every stage of the day: sleeping, when to rise, washing, dressing, breakfast, education, dinner, men and women's work, leisure time and activities, supper and bedtime.
Goodman packs a punch into these 300 pages and her experience as a living historian is impressive. I especially enjoyed the social etiquette section, and in particular the section about walking and posture. Goodman says that today we can guess someone's nationality from their gait, and in the Tudor period you could guess someone's occupation from the way they walked.
"Ploughmen were described as having a 'plodding' gait, slow and deliberate, while shepherds were renowned for their light and springy step, striding out across the hills." Page 91
Ruth goes on to outline the preferred posture of the era and even touches on the differences wearing ruffs and lace cuffs made to posture and bearing. I'd never considered ruffs other than presuming they'd be uncomfortable to wear, and discovered that they significantly effected the way the wearers stood, ate and held themselves.
I also learned that starching a ruff can take an entire day and a white ruff was a versatile item of clothing thanks to the use coloured starches. Yellow ruffs were worn, pale pink ruffs were worn by young boys, and blue starched ruffs were popular until they became associated with prostitutes and Elizabeth I declared that "no blue starch shall be used or worn by any of her Majesty's subjects." Page 78.
In How To Be a Tudor is full of interesting tidbits like this and I enjoyed them all. Did you know that a middle class woman could be wearing 1000 pins at any one time? And these pins are still being found in the Thames? Wow!
I thoroughly recommend In How To Be a Tudor: A Dawn-to-Dusk Guide to Everyday Life by Ruth Goodman to readers with an interest in history, fashion, England and the Tudor period.
In How To Be a Tudor: A Dawn-to-Dusk Guide to Everyday Life, Ruth covers every stage of the day: sleeping, when to rise, washing, dressing, breakfast, education, dinner, men and women's work, leisure time and activities, supper and bedtime.
Goodman packs a punch into these 300 pages and her experience as a living historian is impressive. I especially enjoyed the social etiquette section, and in particular the section about walking and posture. Goodman says that today we can guess someone's nationality from their gait, and in the Tudor period you could guess someone's occupation from the way they walked.
"Ploughmen were described as having a 'plodding' gait, slow and deliberate, while shepherds were renowned for their light and springy step, striding out across the hills." Page 91
Ruth goes on to outline the preferred posture of the era and even touches on the differences wearing ruffs and lace cuffs made to posture and bearing. I'd never considered ruffs other than presuming they'd be uncomfortable to wear, and discovered that they significantly effected the way the wearers stood, ate and held themselves.
I also learned that starching a ruff can take an entire day and a white ruff was a versatile item of clothing thanks to the use coloured starches. Yellow ruffs were worn, pale pink ruffs were worn by young boys, and blue starched ruffs were popular until they became associated with prostitutes and Elizabeth I declared that "no blue starch shall be used or worn by any of her Majesty's subjects." Page 78.
In How To Be a Tudor is full of interesting tidbits like this and I enjoyed them all. Did you know that a middle class woman could be wearing 1000 pins at any one time? And these pins are still being found in the Thames? Wow!
I thoroughly recommend In How To Be a Tudor: A Dawn-to-Dusk Guide to Everyday Life by Ruth Goodman to readers with an interest in history, fashion, England and the Tudor period.
March 26, 2017
Well, don't know what happened there, I really loved Goodman's book about the victorians but had a hard time getting the Tudor one through.
It is more detailed and he doesn't talk so much about about people's characters during that time but of certain activities and how things were cooked/made etc.
One of the reasons I might not have enjoyed it as much is probably that I have a better perception of what a Victorian era person looks like (thanks to popular culture - book, movies) and how life was lived than is the case with Tudor era. So it makes it harder for the latter to fill all the "gaps" of the imagination.
But if you are very fond of Tudor era then of course it a worthy read.
It is more detailed and he doesn't talk so much about about people's characters during that time but of certain activities and how things were cooked/made etc.
One of the reasons I might not have enjoyed it as much is probably that I have a better perception of what a Victorian era person looks like (thanks to popular culture - book, movies) and how life was lived than is the case with Tudor era. So it makes it harder for the latter to fill all the "gaps" of the imagination.
But if you are very fond of Tudor era then of course it a worthy read.
January 10, 2018
Packed with detail, but rarely bogged down in it. This book did an excellent job of making Tudor-era lifestyle real and, to some extent logical. Did they take baths? No. But did they have other ways to stay clean? Apparently yes and the author used them for months with good results. Meals, clothing, chores, careers, church, and pasttimes -- she covers them all and often mixes in her own experiences. She knows first-hand how well using rushes to cover the floor works. I have never heard of the author before, but now I want to track down her TV specials.
"A book about history" for the VT reading challenge.
"A book about history" for the VT reading challenge.
June 4, 2021
Details of life in Tudor England. The "progress of the day" has some things shoehorned in in loosely suitable times because they were not a daily sort of thing.
Covering such things as cloths and sumptuary laws. Dyes and imported fabric. How small children had to doff their hats or curtsey to their superiors, which, because of their youth, meant many people who were their parents' inferiors. The sorts of grain that made bread -- manchet, the finest, was for special days even among the rich, and we find it rather more chewy and tough than normal, and others, such as growing rye and wheat together and just making the bread from the grain. The vast importance and frequency of plowing. The dairy work. Making ale, and alewives selling it. Ready-made foods -- there were shops open twenty-four hours in London for food. And more details.
Obviously a high-level overview
Covering such things as cloths and sumptuary laws. Dyes and imported fabric. How small children had to doff their hats or curtsey to their superiors, which, because of their youth, meant many people who were their parents' inferiors. The sorts of grain that made bread -- manchet, the finest, was for special days even among the rich, and we find it rather more chewy and tough than normal, and others, such as growing rye and wheat together and just making the bread from the grain. The vast importance and frequency of plowing. The dairy work. Making ale, and alewives selling it. Ready-made foods -- there were shops open twenty-four hours in London for food. And more details.
Obviously a high-level overview
January 26, 2016
As completely meticulous and as organized as her last book, "How to Be a Victorian," this book was one that I read practically out loud, sharing so many interesting facts from it. It's a DENSE book, but Ruth Goodman is such a passionate, clear, talented writer that she never ever loses you in the density.
I read it in conjunction with watching "Tudor Monastary farm," which is the perfect combo. Not only of brilliant history and life, but then you get Ruth's bursting enthusiasm and geekiness about history, to boot.
I recommend the hell out of this one.
I read it in conjunction with watching "Tudor Monastary farm," which is the perfect combo. Not only of brilliant history and life, but then you get Ruth's bursting enthusiasm and geekiness about history, to boot.
I recommend the hell out of this one.
July 3, 2017
Review - I found this book to be a little gem of interesting facts about normal life under the Tudors. Most books on the Tudors look at the monarchs and the court, but this one looks at a rather different angle with sections on clothes, living conditions, towns, occupations, education and more. It's a great addition to any Tudor library to give you some extra background information on conditions in the 16th century. However, it could do with some background on some of the noble houses like Hever and Sudeley.
General Subject/s? - History / Tudors
Recommend? – Yes
Rating - 18/20
General Subject/s? - History / Tudors
Recommend? – Yes
Rating - 18/20
March 13, 2016
Is there a way to give this book more than a 5? Far and away the most useful book on everyday life in 16th century England I have ever read, and in over 40+ years, as a writer of novels set in that period and my own everyday life book, I have read hundreds of books on all aspects of Tudor life. It is also a wonderfully entertaining read. Ruth Goodman doesn't just give facts, she explains the logical reasons behind them.
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