THE TUDOR
ENTERTERTAINMENT
WHAT WAS THE T UDOR
PERI OD LI KE?
The Tudor period began in 1485 and ended in 1603. It was an
exciting time in history. Tudor lifestyles were different to ours today
in many ways including their fashion, food and crime and
punishment.
In Tudor times, rich and poor people liked making music. The poor
had to make their own musical instruments.
Shakespheare liked plays so much he joined an acting company and
travelled to London. Tudor people enjoyed watching plays.
TUDOR SPORTS
There were many sports in Tudor times, including bear-fighting,
jousting and cock-fighting but most people would usually attend
cock-fighting. Jousting was quite brutal and dangerous. Sunday
was the day for football, which was a very rough game.
Indoor games included chess, draughts and backgammon. Many
people gambled on cards or dice. Bear-fighting usually took place
on Thursday, in bear gardens or in cockpits. The bear was
fastened to a post with chains.
What Tudor sports were there?
Jousting was a popular sport. It involved two armoured
knights separated by a four-foot-high wooden barrier. Each
knight carried a lance and the objective was to knock your
opponent off his horse as he galloped past. On shrove
Tuesday, schoolboys were allowed to bring their fighting
cocks to school to do battle in the school cockpit.
A law was passed in 1512 that banned ordinary people from
a whole range of games including tennis, dice, cards, bowls
and skittles. This was because the government wanted
people to work more and play less.
W H AT WA S T U D O R M U S I C L I K E ?
Every rich family paid professional musicians to entertain their guests
and to provide music for dancing. Henry VIII was a very keen
musician and had a large collection of musical instruments which he
played.
Henry was said to have been a very talented musician who composed
ballads and church music, although these have all been lost. When he
died he left a collection of instruments that included: 5 bagpipes, 78
recorders - Henry VIII was an exceptional recorder player and 78
flutes.
TUDOR PLAYS
Tudors were famous for acting and writing fantastic plays. The theatre companies
would buy plays from writers. They would usually hold about 8 men and a few
boys who were trained to play the women's parts. All the parts were acted by
boys. Women were never allowed to act.
Who was William Shakespeare?
Shakespeare was born in a town called Stratford-Upon-Avon. If you
go
there you can see the houses where he was born. Shakespeare went to a very strict
school.
CONCLUSION
To summarise, in the Tudor period, dancing and music were
popular past times and there were different dance and music
for different occasions.
In contrast to Tudor entertainment, there is a greater
range of choice of sport, music, dance and theatre today.
What would you like most out of today or Tudor
entertainment?