The Writer's Guide to Everyday Life in Renaissance England
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fishing: Fishing and angling were popular among both men and women.
football: Played with an inflated bladder in a leather casing between rival teams. The playing field might be all the ground between two villages, or a street in London. It was a rough sport usually accompanied by broken bones and bloodshed and had been banned as early as 1349. Although football was again prohibited in 1541, it continued to be played and enjoyed new popularity in the early seventeenth century when it was called campball or “camping” (“knappan” in Pembrokeshire). Another attempt to ban football was made in 1617 was again ignored. A variant of football played in Leicestershire went by the name bottle-kicking.
golf: Played in Scotland by the fifteenth century and known there as “the Royal Game.” James I brought golf to England.
horse racing: Langanby, Cumberland, had a racecourse by 1585 and Kingmoor and Doncaster did by 1595. Bells were given as prizes. James I built the racetrack at Newmarket and introduced Arabian blood into English horse breeding. Under Charles I races were held at Hyde Park.
hunting: Killing game in a royal forest was punishable by a large fine or a year and a day in gaol. Those Englishmen (and women) who could hunt legally used both crossbows and longbows and were aided by hawks, falcons, and dogs. Game dogs included land spaniels, water spaniels, and hounds. The latter included harriers, terriers, bloodhounds, and greyhounds. In the late sixteenth century, the occupants of the Royal Kennels were divided into hart hounds, buckhounds, and otter hounds. Harriers hunted hare, fox, badger, and otter but were usually trained specifically for one. Terriers were used to go into earths and holes after rabbits, foxes, and badgers. Bloodhounds were used to hunt and also to track down cattle stealers on the borders with Scotland. The English greyhound was prized abroad for boar hunting.
pall-mall: An early form of croquet, this involved hitting a boxwood ball through an iron ring suspended above the ground. It was played by both men and women in the early seventeenth century.
shovel-board: A gambling game, also called shove ha’penny and slidegroat. In sixteenth-century shovel-board, a coin or some other disk was driven by a blow of the hand along a highly polished floor or along a long table marked with transverse lines. A “shovel-board shilling” was often used. The term shovel-board also referred to the shovel-board court. In 1601, the Petre family had a shovel-board fourteen feet long in their gallery at Ingatestone Hall.
sliding: Neither the term skating nor the iron skate reached England from Holland until the late 1600s but from the 1600s, the shinbone of an animal was bound to the shoe with leather thongs and a iron-shod pole was used to stay upright on the ice.
stoolball: A team sport similar to cricket and played in Bedfordshire Hertfordshire, and Norfolk in the sixteenth century. Variants involved striking the ball with a paddle, the hand, or a wooden staff similar to a baseball bat.
swimming: Those who swam in England’s rivers usually used bladders to stay afloat. Sea bathing was not yet in fashion. During Elizabeth’s reign, courtiers proposed holding a swimming race from Westminster to London Bridge but the queen forbade it as being too dangerous.
tennis: Played on a covered court with balls stuffed with hair. Henry VIII was an avid player but the game did not really catch on until the reign of Charles I, when there were fourteen licensed tennis courts in London.
tournaments: Even though their primary purpose was no longer training for war, tournaments continued to be held for the spectacle. At Whitehall the tilt-yard ran from the Holbein Gate at the north to the inner gate at the south. In Elizabethan times the public was admitted for twelvepence each and the queen watched from a window in her gallery.
wrestling: Although the rules varied from county to county, wrestling was popular everywhere. Matches often took place in cockpits. Women engaged in wrestling matches on at least one occasion in the early seventeenth century.
SELECT BIBLIOGRAPHY
Bentley, Gerald Eades. The Profession of Dramatist and Player in Shakespeare’s Time, 1590-1642. Princeton: Princeton University Press, 1971.
Cressy, David. Bonfires and Bells: National Memory and the Protestant Calendar in Elizabethan and Stuart England. Berkeley: University of California Press, 1989.
Hotson, Leslie. Mr. W H. New York: Knopf, 1964. Hotson argues that Black Luce, a whore, was the Dark Lady of Shakespeare’s sonnets.
Ogburn, Charlton and Dorothy. This Star of England. New York: Coward-McCann, 1952. This book was written to prove that Edward de Vere, seventeenth earl of Oxford, actually wrote Shakespeare’s plays.
Reay, Barry, ed. Popular Culture in Seventeenth-Century England. New York: St. Martin’s Press, 1985.
Rowse, A.L. Sex and Society in Shakespeare's Age. New York: Charles Scribner’s Sons, 1974. Rowse proposes Emilia Bassano Lanier as the Dark Lady of Shakespeare’s sonnets. He claims she was the mistress of Lord Hunsdon, patron of the Lord Chamberlain’s Men, and also the author of a long poem published in 1611.
Sim, Alison. Pleasures and Pastimes in Tudor England. Gloucestershire: Sutton Publishing, 1999.
Vale, Marcia. The Gentleman’s Recreations: Accomplishments and Pastimes of the English Gentleman 1580-1630. Totowa, New Jersey: Rowman & Littlefield, 1977.
CHAPTER SIXTEEN: LANGUAGE
There was a tremendous richness of language during the Renaissance. New words were coined and borrowed from other languages at a great rate. Some we still use. Others have either changed their meaning drastically or become archaic. As for spelling, although a dictionary was published in 1604 (Robert Cawdrey’s A Table Alphabeticall), there was no real standard, which resulted in considerable creativity.
Most larger libraries contain the twenty-volume Oxford English Dictionary (OED) whose entries list the earliest printed occurrence of each word in an English book. Keep in mind that the word may have been used for years, even decades, before it first appeared in print. On the other hand, an item mentioned as a novelty in London in a certain year might not come into general use in remote rural areas until much later. For example, the OED cites the first use of the word tea in an English book in 1599, shortly after the drink was introduced in Portugal. At least another fifty years passed before anyone brewed and drank a cup of tea (or called any beverage that) in England. A regular tea time was much longer in coming.
LANGUAGES OF ENGLAND
A scholar writing in 1635 asserted that twelve languages were spoken in the British Isles, including Walloon, Dutch, and French, which continued to be the language of diplomacy. Under Henry VII, Thomas Howard (later second duke of Norfolk) commissioned one Alexander Barclay to write a book called Introductory to Write and Pronounce French. At that time, two dialects of French were in use, Norman French and Francian (that of Paris). The latter became the official language of France in 1539.
Latin was still used in legal and ecclesiastical work, even after the Reformation. The Cornish language continued to be used in Cornwall and Devonshire. One reason the Cornish objected to Edward VI’s Book of Common Prayer was that, as it was in English, they could not read it.
Sir Edward Stradling of St. Donats, patron of bards and harpists, also collected books and manuscripts relating to Wales. In 1592 he funded the publication of a Welsh grammar. The print run was 1,250 copies.
Computer analysis of Shakespeare’s works shows that be used 31,534 different words and suggests that he knew many more. He and others found new uses for terms drawn from the military, government, seafaring, agriculture, and the legal system. In addition, loanwords came into English from other countries around the world.
EXAMPLES OF LOANWORDS
Spanish
armada, cargo
Italian
madrigal, miniature, trio
High German
carouse
Low German
luck, frolic, rant, wagon
Arabic
alcohol, cipher, elixir
Romany
pal, cosh
GRAMMAR AND USAGE
&nb
sp; Standardization of grammar and usage was influenced by the publication of the King James Bible (1611) because it soon found its way into so many homes and was then used as a teaching tool. It was, however, behind the times compared to common speech, especially in its use of thee and thou. The th- forms of second person singular were rare in upper-class speech by the sixteenth century. Contemporary grammar books also existed. A Bref Grammar for English appeared in print in 1586, and in 1633, Charles Butler’s English Grammar contained an “Index of Words Like and Unlike.”
THE FLAVOR OF THE LANGUAGE
By 1611 the speech of London and its environs was evolving into a standard, modern English, although even upper-class English still sounded quite different than it does today. For example, some consonants which are now silent, such as the k in knight, were sometimes still pronounced (although Shakespeare makes a pun of knight/night). There also continued to be distinctive regional speech patterns, which gave away both a person’s geographical origin and his place in society. In some cases local dialects were almost incomprehensible to outsiders.
One of the easiest ways to give the flavor of the times to dialogue is to avoid three contractions which were very rare in the sixteenth century and did not appear in print until much later: it’s, don’t and doesn’t. Write them out, or in the case of it is substitute ’tis. ’Twas, ’twere and ’twill follow the same pattern. Only in the seventeenth century did ‘tis begin to be replaced by it’s.
In the sixteenth century do was used as a verbal auxiliary (“I do wonder”) and double constructions (more fitter, most unkindest) were common. An Elizabethan would be grievous sick or find a sight wondrous strange or passing (surpassingly) fair because the -ly suffix was not yet required for adverbs. Other frequently found constructions and combinations of words include I doubt not, forbid them not, and methinks. The possessive thy continued to be used and followed the same pattern we use today with my. Thine and mine were used before a vowel (“mine uncle”) or an h. Also still in use were doth and hath.
LANGUAGE USED IN LETTERS
Epistolary style was often overblown, as two examples will show.
The first, written by the countess of Essex to Sir Robert Cecil in 1599, when her husband was under house arrest, was to thank Cecil for arranging a conjugal visit.
Simple thanks is a slender recompense for so honorable a kindness as you have done me, in procuring me her Majesty’s gracious consent for my infinitely wished access to my weak lord; yet, when they come from a mind truly desirous to deserve it, and from a person that only wants ability to requite it, I doubt not but the same virtue that led you to so charitable a work, will likewise move you to accept in good part so beggardly a tribute. Believe, Sir, I pray you, that as pity only and no merit of mine was the true motive of your honorable mediation on my behalf: so no time or fortune shall ever extinguish in my lord and me a thankful memory and due acknowledgment of so undeserved a benefit, from him whom this friendly favor assures me will never be proved my lord’s malicious enemy; the respect of your manifold business makes me forbear to trouble you longer with my scribled lines, but in thankfulest manner to rest your exceedingly beholden friend, Frances Essex.
The second example is a letter addressed to: “John Johnson, merchant of the Staple at Calais, be this delivered at London.”
Sir, in my best manner I recommend me unto you, and to my mistress, heartily desiring God of your good welfare. Sir, I understand that you intend, by the grace of God, to be resident and dwelling in this country. Sir, I have a daughter which hath been in service three or four years in the country, and broken with all works for a woman to do, and now of late she is comen home after her term. If you be unprovided, I would be glad it might be you to have her; and by my faith, if I did know any vice or conditions by her, she should not come. And I pray you answer hereof, for unto such time as I hear from you, she shall not be fast with no man. I would that it would please you to have her. No more, but Our Lord send you of his grace, Amen. At Peterborough, on Fast Tuesday, anno 1542. By your that I can, William Howham
GIVEN NAMES
Naming a child after the reigning monarch or his or her spouse was good politics. After the publication of the Geneva Bible (1560), many children were given biblical names. Popular, too, especially among Puritans, were names of virtues, such as Prudence, Temperance, and Honor. One single family in late Elizabethan times included children named No-Strength, More-Gift, Mercy, Sure-Trust, Stand-Well, and Comfort. In some areas local saints’ names, such as Frideswide, Ursula, and Werburga, were given to children in Catholic families.
Until middle names were popularized by the Stuart kings in the early seventeenth century, most children were given only one name. There were exceptions, such as Henry Algernon Percy, fifth earl of Northumberland, and Sir Thomas Posthumous Hoby, but few middle names are found in the genealogies of the sixteenth century.
Some of the more unusual given names gleaned from family trees are Ambrosia, Anastasia, Clementine, Damascin, Dousabella, Grisold or Grizel, Nazaret, Philadelphia, and Sabine for women, and for men, Cuthbert, Endymion, Peregrine, and Polydore. The name Frances became popular as a female name after 1517, when the former Queen of France, Henry VIII's sister Mary, named her daughter after Francis I of France, who had helped her make a second marriage, a love match, with Charles Brandon, duke of Suffolk.
Nicknames (an ekename or also-name) were used among intimate friends and family members. Queen Elizabeth called many of her closest associates by pet names, such as Pygmy and Crow. The earl of Shrewsbury addressed his wife, Bess of Hardwick, as his “None” in his letters, which has been interpreted by some as Nun. It seems more likely to have been intended not as a nickname but as a variant spelling for “mine own.”
Some of the commonest nicknames in use in Renaissance England include Sander (Alexander), Robin (Robert), Kit (Christopher), Hal or Harry (Henry), Will (William) and Noll (Oliver) for men, and Bess (Elizabeth), Franke (Frances), Kate or Kat (Katherine), Moll (Mary) and Nelly (Eleanor) for women. Nicknames such as Bob, Liz, Hank, Billy and Kathy were not in use.
FORMS OF ADDRESS
kings and queens: In Tudor times “Your Majesty” came into fashion to supplement the use of “Your Grace” ( “if Your Majesty pleases,” etc.), but in less formal situations, courtiers addressed a queen as “ma’am” and a king as “sir.” The king’s wife was called the queen even if she had not had a coronation, but marriage to a reigning queen did not automatically make her husband king.
princes and princesses: Princess Mary (later Mary I) was called “the Lady Mary” during periods when her father, Henry VIII, had declared her illegitimate. Her half-sister Elizabeth was likewise bounced back and forth between being “Princess Elizabeth” and “the Lady Elizabeth.” In direct address, “Your Grace” was used.
dukes: In narrative a duke would be called “His Grace” or “the duke of Norfolk,” never “Lord Norfolk,” and in dialogue he would be addressed as “Your Grace.” His wife was “Her Grace” or the “duchess of Norfolk” and “Your Grace” in dialogue. A close friend might call the duke “Norfolk.” The duke’s heir usually went by one of his father’s lesser titles. The third duke of Norfolk’s eldest son was Henry Howard, earl of Surrey. Daughters and younger sons of dukes used “Lady” or “Lord” before their given names and the family surname. Norfolk’s younger children were Lady Mary Howard and Lord Thomas Howard. The wife of a younger son, unless he had been granted a title of his own, went by his given name, as in Lady Thomas Howard.
marquesses, earls and viscounts: All three followed the same form using, for example, “His Lordship” or “the earl of Leicester” or “Lord Leicester” in narrative and “my lord” in dialogue. Wives were marchioness, countess or viscountess, respectively, and addressed following the same pattern as their husbands. The children of a marquess were styled in the same way as children of a duke, as were the heir and daughters of an earl, but the younger sons of an earl did not have “Lord” befo
re their names nor did any of a viscount’s children.
Honorable: Nowadays the younger children of lesser peers use “Honorable” before their names, but in Tudor and Stuart times, the children of peers were generally called by their first name with the prefix “Lady” or “Lord.”
barons: William Cecil, Baron Burghley, was called Lord Burghley, rarely Baron Burghley. His wife, Mildred, was Lady Burghley (not Lady Mildred).
baronets: This was a new title introduced by James I in 1611. A baronet was not a peer but was superior to a mere knight. Baronets used “Sir” before their given names. Sir George Brown would he called Sir George, not Sir Brown, but his wife would be Lady Brown.
other “Lords”: The Lord Mayors of London and York were addressed as “my lord.,” and their wives were entitled to be called Lady So-and-So for life. They would never be called Lord London or Lord York. Judges of the courts of King’s Bench and Common Pleas were also addressed as “my lord,” and so were those who occupied the position of lord of a manor under the old feudal system, even those who were actually plain, untitled gentlemen. “Your worship” was the proper form of address for a justice of the peace.
knights: Knights and their wives were addressed in the same way as baronets and their wives. By the sixteenth century, “Dame” was rarely used for the wife of a knight, although in earlier times use of that title had distinguished her from the wife of a peer.