8-5Occupations

//Answer prepared by Chloe K.//

In Elizabethan England your job or employment depends on your social status in society, according to //__Elizabethan England Life,__// “Daily Life in England during the Elizabethan Era”. The grouping of the social statuses forms a triangular shape with the royalty at the peak. The royalty consists of the King and the Queen, their children and their children’s children. Because of their wealth, none of them would work and servants were very prominent in their homes. The next grouping would be nobility, land gentry, or gentlemen. This grouping owned most of England’s property and therefore once they would die they would give their land to their eldest son. This kept them wealthy and the son wouldn’t have to pursue work because of the fortune in the house. They would be slightly above middleclass families and would be making more money with better employment. Often nobilities went into law or the church, or the military. Next, came the middleclass, this consisted of clergy, prosperous businessmen, professional men, and yeomen which were farmers that owned their own land. These people could vote and hold important local offices. Lastly there are the crafts people-tailors, shoemakers, carpenters, and farmers. Below them are only the very poor and those who may not have a fixed home or job. These people had neither the right to vote nor any authority in the community.

Employment and making a living could depend on the talent and skills of the worker. If a person had certain talents in art for example they could be recognized for their talents and people would want them to come and paint or do art for them. They would be recognized and praised in society and would be able to climb the ladder of social statuses for a better job and better pay. Common employment for the middleclass, which was the majority of people in England, would be a farmer. In the sixteenth century, the agricultural revolution was happening. This was the time when farming took off and transformed English agriculture to create a thriving agricultural system capable of feeding the millions in England.

People in England lived and worked in close family units. Specific skills were passed from father to son. Often it was expected that the children would continue the work the parents were doing in their lifetimes. As the parents continued to get older it was the child’s obligation to care for them in all ways that they could. According to //__Elizabethan Life__//,“Elizabethan Era”, Women were treated with less respect and authority than their husband or male relative. In the family, they were responsible for caring for the children, the house, making meals for the family, and sewing and knitting. Some women would take the responsibility of caring for the sick. A common woman’s job might be to manage a shop, raise cows or chickens on a farm, and be in charge of spinning, weaving, or knitting in a cottage industry. Another job for women was a laundress or the clothes washing for their families or community. Employment could vary in Elizabethan England, and often new jobs would be created to fit the needs of the differing social statuses.  __Works Cited__    Ashby, Ruth. __Elizabethan England__. New York: Benchmark Books, 1999.  "Daily Life in England during the Elizabethan Era." __Daily Life in England during the Elizabethan Era,__ __Elizabethean,____Elizabethian__. 15 Apr. 2009 [| http://www.elizabethanenglandlife.com/daily-life-in-england-during-the-elizabethan-era.html]>.   Dodd, A. H. __Elizabethan England__. London:Batsford: G.P. Putnam’s Sons, 1974.  <span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);">“Elizabethan Life.” __Elizabethan Era__. 12 Mar. 2009 <[]>. <span style="color: rgb(68, 68, 68);"> <span style="color: rgb(68, 68, 68); font-family: Symbol;">

<span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);"><span style="color: rgb(68, 68, 68); font-family: Symbol;"> <span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif;">Pritchard, R. E. __Shakespeare’s England Life in Elizabethan and Jacobean Times__. Stroud: Sutton, 1999.