Town Life and Culture
Nick Gerardi, Ben Lyon, James Farinola, Gavin Kennedy
Merchant Guilds vs. Craft Guilds
 Merchant guilds controlled the trade in the towns. They
regulated prices, business practices, weights, and measures.
Each guild had a patron saint and celebrated religious festivals
Each guild also looked after the health and welfare of their
families.
 Craft guilds regulated quality, working hours and conditions
of its members. There were three levels of craftsmen;
masters, journeymen, and apprentices. Parents could pay a
fee to have their child trained with a master as an apprentice.
There they could learn a specific craft.
Towns
 There was a new class formed in the Middle Ages, the
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merchant.
Trade and the merchant middle class helped towns grow
significantly.
Most goods were still transported by water since roads were
unreliable.
Merchant guilds and craft guilds fought for power in towns.
Merchants needed stability for trade so they supported the
king a (strong central government) instead of individual
nobles ruling.
Law Enforcement
 Law was enforced by town constables.
 They told the citizens to form a town watch.
 If there was a criminal on the loose the citizens would all
have to join in the chase or risk being fined.
 Criminals caught with stolen goods were hanged.
Meals
 Meals were large and elaborate
 Breakfast was light, while dinner was held from 11 to 2. A
smaller supper was usually around 6.
 Lower classes had dinner at noon and supper at 7 or 8.
 Lower classes ate from wood and pewter, and upper classes
ate off of silver and glass.
 Food was cooked over fires. Meat was attached to a spit, and
baking was done in iron boxes over the fire
It would look like this but over a fire instead
Livestock in the Streets
 Pigs were a nuisance in the streets.
 Most people kept pigs because they were not expensive and
they were a good source of food.
 Since houses and gardens were so small, pigs were usually let
into the streets to have room to move around.
 This was a hazard and stray pigs could be killed. Then the
owner of the pig would have to pay a fee for the return of the
corpse.
Literature
 Latin was still the language of literacy.
 Plays and playwrights grew after 1580, notably Christopher
Marlowe and William Shakespeare.
 Plays were originally performed in the courtyard of inns,
whose galleried design influenced the later design of
playhouses such as Shakespeare's The Globe. These theatres
were open to the air in the centre, or pit. Performances were
given in daylight, due to the difficulty of lighting the stage.
The New Merchant Class
 The start of the Tudor era brought the rise of modern
commerce, particularly in cloth and weaving. A wealthy
merchant class emerged from the recent civil war in Britain,
the Wars of the Roses. Its wealth led to the construction of
many wool production centers, which can be observed today
in the Cotswolds, Lavenham, Leominster, Stanford and many
other areas. The wool trade became one of the most key parts
of the Tudor England economy.
Wooden and Brick Buildings
 Stone housing was encouraged yet expensive so the majority of houses
were wooden until Tudor times. Then, the expanding brick industry
together with dwindling amounts of timber changed house construction
to brickwork as the choice construction material.
 Cooks, barbers and brewers had their premises whitewashed and
plastered so as not to burn down the surrounding houses as well as their
own, because of their job involving fires. Every house had to have a full
vessel of water outside his house in summer, due to the hazard of fire,
and when one happened everyone had to run to it with anything that
might drive it back. Fire hooks were devised to remove inflamed thatch
from a rooftop and to pull down bordering buildings to avoid them
spreading the fire.
Bells and Criers
 Bells were the main way of telling time and making
announcements.
 A Common bell was rung to summon town meetings and
court. It was also rung as a n alarm for an attack or fire.
 The town crier rang a hand bell while walking through town
telling the people of news and proclamations.
 The crier was the main source of news for the people.
Works Cited
 Ross, David. "Elizabethan Life in Britain." English History.
Britain Express, n.d. Web. 2 Apr. 2012.
<http://www.britainexpress.com/History/Elizabethan_life
.htm>.
 Ross, David. "Medieval England - Medieval towns." UK travel
and heritage - Britain Express UK travel guide. N.p., n.d. Web. 2
Apr. 2012.
<http://www.britainexpress.com/History/Townlife.htm>.