Daily Life in Elizabethan England

by Jeffrey L. Forgeng

This book offers an experiential perspective on the lives of Elizabethans―how they worked, ate, and played―with hands-on examples that include authentic music, recipes, and games of the period.

Daily Life in Elizabethan Second Edition offers a fresh look at Elizabethan life from the perspective of the people who actually lived it. With an abundance of updates based on the most current research, this second edition provides an engaging―and sometimes surprising―picture of what it was like to live during this distant time.

Readers will learn, for example, that Elizabethans were diligent recyclers, composting kitchen waste and collecting old rags for papermaking. They will discover that Elizabethans averaged less than 2 inches shorter than their modern British counterparts, and, in a surprising echo of our own age, that many Elizabethan city dwellers relied on carryout meals―albeit because they lacked kitchen facilities. What further sets the book apart is its "hands-on" approach to the past with the inclusion of actual music, games, recipes, and clothing patterns based on primary sources.

Genres: History, Nonfiction, Tudor Period

300 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 2009

Reviews

[Kate]

Daily Life in Elizabethan England contains quite a lot of good information, but it's also a rather dry read. For much the same information, I thought The Time Traveler's Guide to Elizabethan England was a much better read.

[Emma]

Wonderful resource for history!

[Star Book]

Very readable and informative. My main complaint is the large number of typos.

[Alina Borger]

This is the exact same text as the Singman book, but with slightly better organization and indexing.