8-2London

What was London like in Elizabethan England? //Answer Prepared By: Elka D.// Life in England as we know it is very different from life in Elizabethan England. England was still a top naval and commercial power of the Western world, however some aspects of social life were very different. European wars brought many refugees to England, exposing the country’s people to new cultures. London was the center of culture and commerce in England, it’s population growing by 400% in the 1500s to over 200,000 people. The economy was booming and there was a rising merchant middle class. England was an exciting and prosperous place to live in the 1500s and 1600s.

London sounds like a fantastic place to have lived in Elizabethan times, however not everything was so lovely. The streets were narrow, cobbled, and slippery with houses crammed together. There was no sanitary drainage and chamber pots, or jordans as they were called, would be emptied out of windows. Between the sound of horse’s hooves, coach wheels, and merchants yelling, London was a very noisy city, not to mention that it was a drunken city. Ale was the drink of choice since no one drank water because of risk of catching a disease, and tea had not yet come in. The upper class drank wine, which “promoted good fellowship and led to sword fights,” according to the website __Renaissance: The Elizabethan World.__ London was by no means a sober city.

The Thames to the south, the Tower of London to the east, the Temple Bar to the west, and a two-mile long wall to the north were the bordering points of the city of London. The Thames was used for commerce and transporting cargo barges as well as boat taxis and occasionally transporting royalty. Criminals would be tied to the river’s banks, having to survive the tide washings. The London Bridge crossed the Thames, providing yet another form of crossing the river. While achievements like these give people the impression that the people of London were all gentlemen and of the nobility class, really it was a city of low class people who congregated from all parts of Europe.



Works Cited:

Pressley, J.M.. "Elizabethan England." //www.bardweb.net //. February 18, 2009. Shakespeare Resource Center. 11 Apr 2009 .  Stewart, Gail. //Life in Elizabethan London: Elizabethan England. Lucent Books, 2002. Print.

"The City of London." //www.elizabethan.org //. March 26, 2008. 11 Apr 2009 

Greer, Germaine. //Shakespeare //. First Edition. New York City: HarperCollins Publishers, 2007. Print. // 