Elizabethan Stuff
So I watched The Great Elizabethan Journey or part of anyway as it wasn’t playing right and had to be sent back but I did pick up a few fun facts from it!
The premise of the documentaries was that an Elizabethan dude basically toured the UK and wrote the first ever tourist guide at a time when not only was traveling discouraged as it ‘smacked of rebellion’ but the UK did not yet exist and there were dangerous areas we’re rule of no monarch reined – and banditry was rife.
Using this book Nicholas Cane a cartographer (map making dude) tours the UK looking at various things and telling you what it was like in Elizabethan times!
From the bits I managed to watch I got some good nugets of info:
1) There were many plots against Elizabeth and due to the Reformation there was religous unrest and all sorts going on.
2) there were still on going economic issues from that and the black death.
3) there were food police and you could be in trouble for eating red meat on the wrong day and/or too many times a week.
4) Chicken and fish didn’t count as meat.
5) there was restrictions on how many courses of food and meals you where allowed and there were strict times for upper and middle classes to eat.
6) the poor (empowered by the labour shortage from the black death (ok thats a fact I got from the Financial Times) ) felt it was all a conspiracy to weaken them and so began to shun vegitables.
7) they slept sitting up as the rooms were thuggy with smoke and you cough more laying down plus they thought the devil would steel their soles.
8) Gypsies had flooded in from Europe during Henry’s reign and he had been harsh, and Mary more so – they were called Egyptians and where considered to have ungodly ways and Mary tried to exterminate them! Elizabeth said they were fine as long as they settled down and behaved properlly – if not they death penelty again. Lots settled but many lived in caves to retain their culture – annoyingly I can’t remember where the caves were 🙁
9) Mary Queen of Scots a Catholic ended up staying with Elizabeth and was then a prisoner – she was raised in Europe and was a Catholic Monarch of a now Protistant Scotland though only the Low Lands.
10) Vet and Doctor-esk people where considered witches.
11) Elizabeth set high taxes and was hated for this though she ran things quiet well and effeciently but this was only apprecieted in hindsight.
12) Landscaping and appearances over practicality begain to be fashionable.
There was alot more and I’m hoping to get an undamagaged copy to watch – my plan with this sort of thing is too watch it once and then a second time pausing to take notes!
Posted: Thursday, October 15th, 2009 @ 12:43 pm
Categories: Uncategorized.
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