time traveller's guide to tudor england

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The Time Traveler's Guide to Elizabethan England

In a lavish and groundbreaking way of exploring history, Dr. Ian Mortimer looks back at the time of Queen Elizabeth I and explores the lives of the rich and poor. How did the peasantry survive? How did the privileged become and then stay rich? And what changes were occurring for all? Take a journey through the Golden Age of English history with this unique Tudor history documentary.

Watch The Time Traveler's Guide to Elizabethan England and more acclaimed documentaries on BBC Select today. Restrictions apply*.

The Time Traveler's Guide to Elizabethan England on BBC Select

Ep 1: The Common People How did the old, sick and desperately poor survive in Queen Elizabeth I’s Britain?

Although most people have images of courtiers with fine clothes in lavish palaces, the reality was that most people during Queen Elizabeth’s I’s reign were poor. In this fascinating history documentary, Dr. Ian Mortimer looks at those struggling during the Golden Age of English history. What is it like to live in a dark, dank, smoke-filled hovel where peasants could earn only four pence a day?

Ep 2: The Rich With the Elizabethan elite, ruff size mattered, and the wrong word could get you killed.

Get ready to enter a cut-throat world. Literally. Spies circle the great and good, one false word from your servants might cost you everything and the size of your ruff could make all the difference. In this innovative history documentary, Dr. Ian Mortimer introduces you to the world of the Elizabethan rich and privileged. There is much to learn about how the wealthy dress, greet and behave.

Ep 3: Brave New World How education, urbanization and science helped a burgeoning Elizabethan middle class.

One group emerged during the reign of Elizabeth I: the middle classes. In this compelling history documentary, Dr. Ian Mortimer travels through a new and upwardly mobile section of Elizabethan society. He reveals how urbanization improved lives, heads to Shakespeare’s school to learn how education transformed society and explores how this age of discovery helped spur a scientific revolution.

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The Time Traveller's Guide to Elizabethan England

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The past is a foreign country - this is your guide. We think of Queen Elizabeth I's reign (1558-1603) as a golden age. But what was it actually like to live in Elizabethan England? If you could travel to the past and walk the streets of London in the 1590's, where would you stay? What would you eat? What would you wear? Would you really have a sense of it being a glorious age? And if so, how would that glory sit alongside the vagrants, diseases, violence, sexism and famine of the time? In this book Ian Mortimer reveals a country in which life expectancy is in the early thirties, people still starve to death and Catholics are persecuted for their faith. Yet it produces some of the finest writing in the English language, some of the most magnificent architecture, and sees Elizabeth's subjects settle in America and circumnavigate the globe. Welcome to a country that is, in all its contradictions, the very crucible of the modern world.

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Manufacturer/Publisher: Vintage Binding: Paperback Author: Ian Mortimer

SKU: 9780099542070

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The Time Traveller's Guide to Elizabethan England by Ian Mortimer – review

F resh from his acclaimed tour through 14th-century England , Ian Mortimer travels forward 200 years in his time machine. Setting us down in the reign of Elizabeth I, he aims to recreate, as he puts it, "the reality of the past", to help the reader understand more vividly the doubts, hopes, customs and practices of daily Elizabethan life. His choice of age is a shrewd one: as well as being populated by instantly recognisable individuals – Shakespeare, Sir Francis Drake and "Gloriana" herself – it is a world in many respects distanced from that of his previous book. In the late 16th century people understood the world differently and, thanks in no small part to Elizabeth's religious settlement of 1559, they understood God differently too.

Like its predecessor, this is largely a work of social history. Leading us through the Elizabethan landscape, Mortimer adopts the same conversational style, made intimate by the second-person asides that direct our gaze through town and city streets, chambers, closets and theatres, moving fluently across the vast disparities in wealth and living standards that separated the richest and the poorest. Ranging from England's landscape and its people, to how to behave and what to eat, drink and wear, the book presents a well-chosen accumulation of social, cultural and economic detail.

Mortimer underscores the changes, big and small, that make Elizabethan England distinctive: a burgeoning population, especially in towns and cities; the outlandish fashions of the well-off; the increasing ubiquity of glass windows, the arrival of tobacco (recommended by one enthusiast as a preventive "against rheums and other diseases engendered in the lungs") and the announcement of the first public lottery. He charts, too, the state's efforts to assert its control, legislating on everything from Gypsies to treason. This, after all, was an age in which the Elizabethan state was, or felt itself to be, under threat. As Mortimer points out, for Catholics, life became increasingly hard throughout the reign: "Just 35 years see Catholicism change from being the respectable norm to the religion of a persecuted minority."

Mortimer has an eye for telling anecdotes, and in these, his book is at its best. He relishes the inadvertently entertaining fulminations of the Puritan Philip Stubbes, who in another time would surely have been writing indignant letters to his local newspaper. "Is this murdering play now an exercise for the Sabbath day?" he thunders of football, which admittedly was a rather more violent game then than it is now. Equally striking are the theatricals of the highwayman Gamaliel Ratsey who, on the point of being hanged, saw heavy stormclouds approaching and stretched out his last words long enough to ensure that the attendant officials were thoroughly drenched.

Mortimer is at pains to point out how hard life remained for women, particularly and – inevitably – those of the lower ranks. To cite one of a number of examples, a servant called Joan Somers is raped and then accused of the sin of fornication. At the other end of the social spectrum, he remarks on the queen's habit of inadvertently being found in her underclothes when male ambassadors were admitted to the royal presence.

At times, however, the detail can become overwhelming, with page-long tables and quotations following each other in rapid succession: at these points, this feels more like a sourcebook or digest than a guide, and its aim of placing the 21st-century reader in the Elizabethan environment becomes obscured. What's more, in aiming to define the particular qualities of Elizabethan England – which, he claims, is both an age of exceptional individual creativity and brutality – Mortimer runs the risk of historical anachronism.

He also on occasion ringfences the period too closely, contrasting it with the "middle ages" – a distinction that Elizabethans themselves would not have recognised – and there is a tension between his desire to place the reader in the moment and to pin down the qualities that broadly define the age.

Certain claims for Elizabethan innovation do not ring true: the rich often drank out of glasses (as opposed to tankards) well before Elizabeth's reign, while they had long before abandoned the great hall for the comfort of smaller and less draughty chambers. Similarly, the early 15th-century gardener tending the ornate arbours and alleys of the "Rosamondesbower" at the royal palace of Woodstock might have had something to say about Mortimer's claim that formal gardens were an Elizabethan development.

In the "envoi" at the book's end, Mortimer interprets the age as one of opportunity, in which many of the profound changes in society "are made by individuals" – he cites the likes of Shakespeare, Elizabeth's righthand-man William Cecil, Lord Burghley and the queen herself – something which, he claims, is impossible in our own institution-bound 21st-century world. The book doesn't quite convey, though, why the Elizabethan age should have been quite so distinctly individual-friendly – if indeed it was.

None of which should obscure that Mortimer has again written a vivid and highly entertaining book. Echoing the view of the social historian Christopher Dyer that to know of past societies is to understand ourselves, he has found an attractive formula with which to present the lives of ordinary people in history, and to bring history to life.

Thomas Penn's Winter King is published by Penguin.

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The Time Traveller's Guide to Elizabethan England Hardcover – 1 Mar. 2012

We think of Queen Elizabeth I as 'Gloriana': the most powerful English woman in history. We think of her reign (1558-1603) as a golden age of maritime heroes, like Sir Walter Raleigh, Sir Richard Grenville and Sir Francis Drake, and of great writers, such as Edmund Spenser, Christopher Marlowe, Ben Jonson and William Shakespeare. But what was it actually like to live in Elizabethan England? If you could travel to the past and walk the streets of London in the 1590s, where would you stay? What would you eat? What would you wear? Would you really have a sense of it being a glorious age? And if so, how would that glory sit alongside the vagrants, diseases, violence, sexism and famine of the time? In this book Ian Mortimer answers the key questions that a prospective traveller to late sixteenth-century England would ask. Applying the groundbreaking approach he pioneered in his bestselling Time Traveller's Guide to Medieval England , the Elizabethan world unfolds around the reader. He shows a society making great discoveries and winning military victories and yet at the same time being troubled by its new-found awareness. It is a country in which life expectancy at birth is in the early thirties, people still starve to death and Catholics are persecuted for their faith. Yet it produces some of the finest writing in the English language and some of the most magnificent architecture, and sees Elizabeth's subjects settle in America and circumnavigate the globe. Welcome to a country that is, in all its contradictions, the very crucible of the modern world.

• Book 2 of 4 Ian Mortimer’s Time Traveller’s Guides
• Print length 432 pages
• Language English
• Publisher Bodley Head
• Publication date 1 Mar. 2012
• Dimensions 16.51 x 3.81 x 24.13 cm
• ISBN-10 1847921140
• ISBN-13 978-1847921147
• See all details

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About the author, product details.

• Publisher ‏ : ‎ Bodley Head; First Edition (1 Mar. 2012)
• Language ‏ : ‎ English
• Hardcover ‏ : ‎ 432 pages
• ISBN-10 ‏ : ‎ 1847921140
• ISBN-13 ‏ : ‎ 978-1847921147
• Dimensions ‏ : ‎ 16.51 x 3.81 x 24.13 cm
• 842 in Religious History of Christianity
• 6,370 in Travel & Tourism (Books)

About the author

Ian mortimer.

Dr Ian Mortimer has been described by The Times newspaper as 'the most remarkable medieval historian of our time'. He is best known as the author of The Time Traveller's Guides: to Medieval England (2008); to Elizabethan England (2012); to Restoration Britain (2017); and to Regency Britain (2020). He is a Fellow of the Royal Historical Society and a Fellow of the Society of Antiquaries, and has published research in academic journals touching on every century from the twelfth to the twentieth.

He also writes in other genres. His latest novel, 'The Outcasts of Time', which takes place across the years 1348-1942, won the 2019 Winston Graham Prize for historical fiction. His first three novels, the Clarenceux Trilogy, set in the 1560s, appeared under his middle names, 'James Forrester'. In the year he turned fifty he wrote a memoir about the meaning of running, Why Running Matters (published in 2019).

He lives on the northeast of Dartmoor, in the southwest of England. For more information, see www.ianmortimer.com

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• Published: 1 May 2013
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The Time Traveller's Guide to Elizabethan England

Ian Mortimer

From the author of one of the biggest-selling history books of recent years, the follow-up to The Time Traveller's Guide to Medieval England .

The past is a foreign country - this is your guide, from the bestselling author of The Time Traveller's Guide to Medieval England

We think of Queen Elizabeth I's reign (1558-1603) as a golden age. But what was it actually like to live in Elizabethan England? If you could travel to the past and walk the streets of London in the 1590s, where would you stay? What would you eat? What would you wear? Would you really have a sense of it being a glorious age? And if so, how would that glory sit alongside the vagrants, diseases, violence, sexism and famine of the time?

In this book Ian Mortimer reveals a country in which life expectancy is in the early thirties, people still starve to death and Catholics are persecuted for their faith. Yet it produces some of the finest writing in the English language, some of the most magnificent architecture, and sees Elizabeth's subjects settle in America and circumnavigate the globe. Welcome to a country that is, in all its contradictions, the very crucible of the modern world.

'Vivid trip back to the 16th century...highly entertaining book' Guardian

About the author

Dr Ian Mortimer is the Sunday Times bestselling author of The Time Traveller’s Guide to Medieval England and The Time Traveller’s Guide to Elizabethan England , as well as four critically acclaimed medieval biographies, and numerous scholarly articles on subjects ranging in date from the twelfth to the twentieth centuries. He was elected a Fellow of the Royal Historical Society in 1998. His work on the social history of medicine won the Alexander Prize (2004) and was published by the Royal Historical Society in 2009. He lives with his wife and three children in Moretonhampstead, on the edge of Dartmoor.

Also by Ian Mortimer

Praise for The Time Traveller's Guide to Elizabethan England

Ian Mortimer manages to inform and delight in equal measure. Sue Baker, The Bookseller

As Mortimer puts it, "sometimes the past will inspire you, sometimes it will make you weep". What it won't do, thanks to this enthralling book, is leave you unmoved Kathryn Hughes, Mail on Sunday

With Shakespeare on hand to give us extra insight into how Elizabethans saw themselves (and what they - often to our eyes inexplicably - found funny), and a society playing out its growing sense of self-awareness as it tiptoes to a modern age, the stage is set for a fresh and funny book that wears its learning lightly Rebecca Armstrong, Independent

Mortimer brings the same depth and flair to the age of Shakespeare and the Virgin Queen. From dental hygiene to table manners, the findings fascinate - even if we don't wish that we were there Independent i

Entertaining history of the country's landscape, people, religion, health and culture in the 16th century The Times

Fascinating account of everyday life in Elizabethan England. PA syndicated review

It is a magnificent social history, rich and scholarly, but with the verve and intrigue of a great novel. Rory Clements

Fascinatingly readable John Ure, Country Life

Mortimer's book has something for everyone... His curiosity is boundless and his profound scholarship is leavened by a sense of fun Christopher Silver, Daily Express

Mortimer's intriguing step-by-step guide to everyday Elizabethan life is studded with gems. A delightful book, full of busy research lightly worn, that is as accessible and entertaining a guide as you will find to living in past times. Andrew Holgate, Sunday Times, Culture Magazine

Ian Mortimer realistically describes the down-to-earth details of everyday living and stirring times in the England before and after the 1590s Ian Finlayson, Saga Magazine

Anyone looking to write a novel about Tudor times would do well to investigate Mortimer's excellent work... Lesley McDowell, Glasgow Sunday Herald

It's like Horrible Histories for grown-ups, and I mean that as a compliment Brandon Robshaw, Independent on Sunday

Absolutely fascinating and great fun Sally Morris, Daily Mail

Mortimer unpicks a period of time conflicted in the history books, his vivid portrayal helping in understanding these contradictions Antonia Charlesworth, Big Issue in the North

Mortimer's Tardis does the job with a welter of detail. Christopher Hirst, Independent

An engaging book that can be read with pleasure Susan Doran, BBC History Magazine

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Adventures of a Tudor Nerd

Exploring the 16th Century and Beyond

Book Review: “The Time Traveler’s Guide to Elizabethan England” by Ian Mortimer

There have been numerous books about the lifestyles of past eras, but what separates those books from the one that Ian Mortimer has written is his writing style and the imaginative descriptions that he included. Many writers give you the facts without the fluff. Mortimer has written this book as if you have stepped back in time and you are seeing the Elizabethan age with your own eyes. It is a treat for all of the senses. To engage the reader in such a way is not an easy feat, but Mortimer does it seamlessly.

I think we all have a vague idea of what the reign of Elizabeth I might have been like. After all, it was known as the “Golden Age”, so it must have been a time of opportunity and great providence for the people, no matter their social standing. Or maybe not. As Mortimer explains, this “Golden Age” was a varnish for a reign that was filled with its own set of trials and tribulations, very similar to what we experience today. Sure, the problems are different, but we can relate to the people of the past because they are human problems. We all deal with things like diseases, where we live, what we eat, what to wear, religion, entertainment, and education. Yet what makes each era unique is how we address these issues.

To see the Elizabethan era, which was on the precipice of the early modern age, in the midst of great progress was a joy. Obviously, this would not have been a time that modern readers would like to have stayed for an extended visit, but it was simply a fantastic guide for those who dream of the past.

I don’t usually share quotes from books in my reviews, but there was something that Mortimer said at the very end of this book that was too poignant not to share.

“History is not really about the past; it is about understanding mankind over time. Within that simple, linear story of change and survival, there are a thousand contrasts, and within each of those contrasts there is a range of experiences, and if we put our minds to it, we can relate to each one. “ (pg. 325)

I picked up this particular book on a whim and I am truly glad I did. It gave me a deeper understanding of the Elizabethan age and what it meant to be Elizabethan. Although we are separated from these people by centuries, their experiences and ours are similar. We are all humans trying to get by each day the best we can. If you have ever wanted to know what the past was really like for those in the Elizabethan era, either for your own personal enjoyment or for research, I highly recommend you add, “The Time Traveler’s Guide to Elizabethan England” by Ian Mortimer to your own personal collection.

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Episode 133: Travel in Tudor England

by Heather   -  November 21, 2019

Episode 133 of the Renaissance English History Podcast is on Travel in Tudor England. How did our Tudor friends travel? Why did they travel? And how? We dig deeper into travel in the Tudor period. Listen with the embedded player, or read the transcript below.

Book Recommendations:

I can’t recommend Ian Mortimer enough. His books are the kind that you don’t come across that often. Earlier this year I read The Outcasts of Time , and I literally cried when I finished it. I cried in part because I was moved, and also because it was over, and I didn’t know when I would find another book that so moved me.

His Time Traveler’s Guide to Elizabethan England is a non-fiction travel guide to life in Elizabethan England, and was invaluable in prepping this episode. If you get the book on Amazon using the link here, you’ll pay the same price, and I’ll get a part of the profits – so it’s like giving money to the show without costing you anything extra. Woohoo!

Order on Amazon here. https://amzn.to/2QBZCK4

Another book to check out is John Leland’s Itinerary . He spent a decade in the 1530’s and 40’s traveling around England, especially surveying libraries and dissolved monasteries. He wrote extensively about the landscape he encountered. You can buy a paperback copy of his itinerary and travels on Amazon here , or you can read on the Internet Archive .

Related Blog articles:

http://authorherstorianparent.blogspot.com/2011/11/doomed-shrines-last-tudor-pilgrims.html

https://www.historyextra.com/period/medieval/the-hospital-experience-in-medieval-england/

https://www.englandcast.com/2019/11/a-famous-elizabethan-highwayman/

https://www.englandcast.com/2019/11/this-is-the-first-atlas-of-england-and-wales/

And my previous episode on Richard Hackluyt , England’s first Travel Writer

Travel in Tudor England Episode Rough Transcript

[advertisement insert here: if you like this show, and you want to support me and my work, the best thing you can do (and it’s free!) is to leave  a rating or review on iTunes.  It really helps others discover the podcast. Second best is to buy Tudor-themed gifts for all your loved ones at my shop, at  TudorFair.com , like leggings with the Anne Boleyn portrait pattern on them, or boots with Elizabeth I portraits. Finally, you can also become a patron of this show for as little as $1/episode at  Patreon.com/englandcast  … And thank you!]

Hello and welcome to the Renaissance English History Podcast, a part of the Agora Podcast Network. I’m your host, Heather Teysko, and I’m a storyteller who makes history accessible because I believe it’s a pathway to understanding who we are, our place in the universe, and being more deeply in touch with our own humanity. This is Episode 133, and it’s on the Tudors and Travel.

Also, we had Tudorcon a couple of weeks ago, and if you missed it, you missed a LOT of fun and learning. It was a blast – way more fun than even I expected it to be. But we’re doing it again next year, and for the rest of this year you can get the early bird price, saving $50 off the regular price. So it makes a great Christmas gift. Also, if you do decide to gift someone a Tudorcon ticket, since there’s nothing really to wrap up, I’ll send you a card that you can put under the tree.  And stay tuned next week because I’m going to have a really good Black Friday special on the tickets. I’ll send out a note to the newsletter list about that – if you’re not on the list, you can sign up at englandcast.com, or if you just want to check out eng landcast.com/tudorcon2020 you can see all the information, and get your tickets there. 

So this episode is about travel in Tudor England, and it’s been something I’ve wanted to delve into for a while. About ten years ago I was out on a walk listening to an audiobook – and for the life of me now I can’t remember what it was – but it mentioned this myth we have that people in the pre modern and early modern period didn’t travel. You know, there’s the whole Monty Python skit of the people digging filth, and never ever going anywhere. 

But that’s not strictly true, as with so many stereotypes. The fact is that during the late middle ages and early Tudor period, people had the travel bug. It was harder to travel then than it is now, but it doesn’t mean that there weren’t opportunities, and that people didn’t go anywhere. Now, it was a bit harder for people in England to travel abroad, seeing as how it’s an island, but there were opportunities, and the population was much more mobile than we sometimes think.

There were some professions that expected travel including: Merchants, messengers, people in the military, missionaries and other religious leaders, nobles who had to go between their lands and court, the tax collectors and traveling judges, beggars and vagrants, artists, minstrels and players (for example the traveling theaters who would go from town to town to put on their plays). Farmers would travel to local villages and larger markets to sell their food.

For many, a pilgrimage was the best opportunity you had to go out and see a bit of the world, which is one way that the Dissolution of the Monasteries affected life for people. In many ways, we have modern day pilgrimages that are similar – how many of us have made a trip to see Strawberry Fields, Abbey Road, the Hollywood walk of fame, or anything else like this. In a way, these are modern secular pilgrimages to be up close and personal with a relic or monument that is personal to us, or about which we feel very passionate. No, we’re not visiting a shrine hoping to increase our fertility by seeing the breast milk of the Virgin Mary, but how many times have you heard of musicians visiting the home or studio of a composer or songwriter they loved, and coming away with inspiration for a whole new album? These modern day pilgrimages mean just as much to us in different ways. Now we go to the doctor to handle fertility, and allow our spirit and creativity to be filled up by our pilgrimages.

We know that pilgrimage was incredibly important for people in late medieval and early Tudor England. Chaucer’s great work The Canterbury Tales tells the story of pilgrims making their way to the shrine of Thomas Becket, each of whom have various reasons for travel, including one woman who is hoping to meet her next husband on the road. 

In the 9th century, the remains of the Apostle St James were supposedly discovered in Galicia, and the Way of St James, or the Camino de Santiago, became a major route for pilgrims. Many people would be content to visit their own local shrine to pray and make requests of their saint, but others wanted to go further afield. In England there was the very popular shrine of our Lady Walsingham, which was meant to be an exact replica of the manger in which Jesus was born. I did a minicast on the shrine at Walsingham, so I’ll link to that in the show notes for this episode (englandcast.com/travel), but to be brief, it was created when a widow had a vision shortly after the Norman Conquest, and believed she was told by God to create this shrine to the Virgin Mary. People came from all over the country to pray there, especially for issues around childbirth. After Henry VIII and Katherine of Aragon had a son in 1511, Henry went to give thanks to Our Lady of Walsingham, walking the final few miles barefoot as any penitent pilgrim. His visit of thanksgiving was premature, though, as the baby lived only about 6 weeks. The shrine at Walsingham became so popular that the Milky Way became known as Walsingham’s Way because it seemed to point to the shrine. 

If you could afford it, going abroad to Jerusalem or Rome was even more exciting. 

Soldiers traveled, either up north to fight Scotland, or to France. During the Crusades people even went as far as the Holy Land where they were blown away by the strange sights, sounds, and smells they found there. There was a saying after Edward III’s military victories in France in the mid 14th century, that every house in England had something from the French treasures taken during the fight, and many ships had to transport all the riches home. This is an exaggeration, but it is true that most of the soldiers would have come home with stories about France, or a trinket, stolen or purchased. You see pilgrims especially buying badges and souvenirs of their visits to relics, but soldiers would have also come home with prizes. 

Religious people traveled – bishops and church leaders would visit the Pope, or have conferences with other church leaders. Messengers and clerics were on the move. 

And nobles traveled, either to visit their various estates, or attend Parliament. 

When people traveled, they didn’t use maps. In 1579 Christopher Saxton created a beautiful atlas of England – I’ll put up pictures in the show notes at englandacst.com/travel – but it was big and expensive… too big to travel with. Plus, it’s still not particularly detailed. Instead, they used an itinerary, which was a list of the places you needed to go through to get to your final destination, and the distances between each. At each place, you would ask for directions to the next town. Traveling together would make this easier because one in your number might know parts of the trip, and be able to guide you better. People would try to travel along rivers because they would more likely wind up in a town sooner that way. 

In fact, when people thought of the routes, and geography, they did so in terms of the rivers. Today, we generally think about routes by the roads. When I picture a map of, say, Southern California, in my mind, I think about the freeways. The 210 to the 605 to the 5, or the 101 to the 10 to the beach. Or in England you think about the M25. When the antiquarian John Leland was making a tour of libraries and religious houses, spending ten years traveling around and writing of his travels, he did so in terms of the rivers. He wrote about every river he came across, including describing the bridges, and the streams that went off from them. He had a bit of a fascination with the rivers, even writing poetry about them. Take this, about the Thames: “I too, I am persuaded, have heard through the dark shadows of the night the swans, as they attuned their strains in my own river, where the silvery Thames, bright-urned wide-spreading stream, drenches his grey tresses with the swirling waters of the ocean.”

Doesn’t that paint such a lovely picture? You can actually read Leland’s accounts of his travels online, much of it free at places like Project Gutenberg, but there is also a paperback version on Amazon, The Itinerary of John Leland, in or about the years 1535-1543, and I highly recommend that you read it to really get a sense of England during this time. I’ll put a link in the show notes for this episode at englandcast.com/travel.

In terms of bridges, there were some very large ones like a 14 arch bridge in Stratford upon Avon, or the 22 arch bridge over the Thames at Wallingford. But most are made of timber, and in some rural areas they are only 4 or 5 feet wide, so you couldn’t really get a cart across them. So while there were several laws addressing improving the roads during the 16th century, there didn’t seem to be much point in fixing them when you were traveling in a cart that couldn’t go across the first bridge it came to. So the Bridges Act of 1530 empowered the local magistrates to make a determination as to who was responsible for the upkeep of each bridge in their area, and to tax them if they did not keep it in good working order. But the problem with this is that bridges often jmark boundaries between properties, with one person owning land on one side, and the other owning the land on the other. So neither side wanted to take responsibility for the upkeep, and here we have that age-old question of benefit versus who is responsible for upkeep. If a bridge benefitted the total public, a landowner might think that it’s not his responsibility to pay to keep a bridge in good condition when the entire town is using it.

When there weren’t bridges available, there would often be ferries at larger rivers. Like the Long Ferry which travels up the Thames from Gravesend to London, picking up people riding with the post from Dover, and taking them into the city. You can pick it up in the morning, and be in town by 2pm. There are also ferries to take you across a river as well. In London you can cross the river for a penny, and when you walk along from say Charing Cross over through to the City, you can look down and see lots of sets of stairs, and imagine that there are ferrymen with waiting boats right there, ready to take you over to the South Bank. If you want to go further than just across, though, it will cost you more, and is sometimes dependent on whether the tide is with you, or against you. 

Did you know that the use of the word “road” as a  noun dates from around the 1560’s? More commonly people would travel on highways, paths, lanes, streets, and ways.  And traveling the paths, ways, or streets, as Ian Mortimer points out, you are going along the oldest man made parts of the landscape, in use since the Roman times. Even in the cities, the main thoroughfares are built around the original Roman roads. 

The roads themselves followed the Roman roads, and as the Roman roads had deteriorated, new ones had been built alongside them. But these roads had been built for people traveling on foot, or horse, but not coaches with iron wheels. The wheels could completely destroy the roads, as the vast majority aren’t paved in any way. Gravel would be put in to soak up the mud in main intersections, but for most of the way you’d be going over deep ruts. The landowners who have land that borders on the highway are supposed to maintain the ditches that drain the roads, but they don’t always do so. Main roads were meant to kept up by the King so that he could move his armies and his court around easily. But the side roads could often be in terrible conditions, and you’d have to find another way around. 

In towns there would be other obstacles to the roads. Some people would stack their firewood under the eaves of their homes, and block the way on the road. People would also dig in the roads for sand or clay to repair their wattle buildings, and there would be holes left in the road. Sometimes people would also dig wells right by the highway, meaning that drowning in one of these roadside wells was a real risk. 

There were several acts of parliament to try to improve the roads – the Act of 1555 established a process where church wardens in each parish can appoint two surveyors of the roads at Easter. They announce four days in the year where all parishioners will repair the roads, and every farmer has to send a cart with two men, and every cottager has to work themselves, or else they will receive heavy fines. In 1563 the Act was extended to restrict the size of gravel and sand pits, digging ditches beside the main roads, and allowing surveyors to take small stones from quarries to mend the roads. It also increased the number of days to do road works to six instead of four. In 1576 a third act handles repair of specific roads, and there are later records showing that the work was actually done, and people were fined for not participating. 

How did people travel? Of course there were horses, boats, and your own two feet. But people also used four wheeled coaches more during this time. Four wheeled coaches had been in use since the 13th century, but they are becoming more popular for gentry to use now, as opposed to just the nobility and royalty. Coaches were more popular throughout Europe, so as the returning Protestant refugees came home early in Elizabeth’s reign, they brought back with them the ability to drive and manage coaches. One man, William Boonen, came back from the Netherlands in 1564, and he so impressed Elizabeth with his driving skills, she made him her personal coachman. The Queen had four coaches made for her between 1578 and 1586, so taken was she with them for travel. Coaches became much less expensive during this time – the Earl of Essex had a used one he valued at just 8 pounds, though of course you still need to pay for horses, and feed them. Or you can rent a coach in London for about 16 shippings a day, plus food for the coachman and feed for the horses. 

When you’re traveling around in your coach you have to be careful of accidents. In 1562 a twelve year old girl was killed when a cart crunched her against the wall in Aldgate.  

John Stow, in his survey of London wrote: Then the number of carres, drayes, carts and coatches, more then hath beene accustomed, the streetes and lanes experience proueth. 

The Coach man rides behinde the horse tayles, lasheth Carts and them, and looketh not behind him : The Draye man sitteth wefgouemed and sleepeth on his Drea, and letteth his horse leade him in this Citty home : I know that by the good lawes and customes of this dan g er0Tls – Citty, shodde carts are forbidden to enter the same, except vpon reasonable causes as seruice of the Prince, or such like, they be tollerated. Also that the fore horse of euery carriage should bee lead by hand : but these good orders are not obserued. Of olde time Coatches were not knowne in this Island, but chariots or Whirlicotes, then so called, and they onely vsed of Princes or great Estates, such as had their foot- men about themand for example to note, I read that Richard the second, being threatned by the rebels of Kent, rode from the Tower of London to the Myles end, and with him his mother, because she was sicke and weake in a Wherli- cote, the Earles of Buckingham, Kent, Warwicke and Oxford, Sir Thomas Per cie, Sir Robert Knowles, the Mayor of London, Sir Aubery de Vere that bare the kinges sword, with other Knights and Esquiers attending on horsebacke. 1 He followed in the next year the said king Richard , who took to wife 1 Anne daughter to the king of Boheme, that first brought whether the riding vpon side saddles, and so was the riding in Wherlicoates and chariots forsaken, except at Coronations and such like spectacles : but now of late yeares the vse of coatches brought out of Germanie is taken vp, and made so common, as there is neither distinction of time, nor difference of persons obserued : for the world runs on wheeles with many, whose parents were glad to goe on foote.  John Stow, Survey of London

In 1601 a Bill was presented to Parliament to limit the use of coaches, but it was rejected. 

If you wanted to go quickly, you would go on a horse. You could either buy one at a horse fair – paying at least £3 for a good one, though you could also buy a used one the same way we buy used cars today. You could also rent one. If people knew you at the local inn, they would often have an extra you could rent, or you could use one from one of the post routes. In 1516 Henry VIII appointed a Master of the Posts, and this was the very early forerunner of the Royal Mail. There were three postal routes in the country – one going out west as far as Portsouth, one going north to Berwick, and one going to Dover via Canterbury. And along each route were stations every 20 miles where you could hire a horse, paying a per mile fee. You could return it at the next station, or if you needed to go somewhere off the route, they would send someone to pick the horse up from your final destination, at an additional fee, of course. By this time period there were a dozen or so types of horses available, used for different types of uses from hauling and carrying like a packhorse, to riding.

How fast did people travel? 

 Of course, if you’re going a long distance and you need to go quickly, you’re going to have to change horses on a regular basis. The post set a minimum speed of 7 miles per hour on dry roads in the summer, and if had good weather and strong thighs for riding you could do upwards of 75 miles a day easily, especially if you could change horses midway through.

If you were traveling on foot, it would probably be more like 3 miles an hour in good conditions, so you could probably do 15 or 20 in a day. But of course in bad weather, you might only be able to go a mile an hour. Also, remember that you need to stop to rest, and eat, and that took time. 

In late October 1599 a Thomas Platter described the “great speed” with which he traveled from Gravesend to Dover – a distance of 44 miles, which he did in 5 hours. 

But in the winter, with only about 8 hours of daylight, if you couldn’t change horses, you probably couldn’t go more than 2-3 miles an hour. In 1603 when Elizabeth I died Sir Robert Carey was the one appointed to ride from London to Scotland to tell James that he was now the King. He left between 9-10am  on the 25 of March, and reached Doncaster, 162 miles away, that night. The next day he rode the 136 miles to his house at Widdrington. On the third day he fell, which resulted in a bleeding head, but still the man was unstoppable and rode on, going more slowly, but still reaching Edinburgh that night, 99 miles away. He managed the 397 miles in three days. 

Traveling by roads could be dangerous, of course, especially if you were on foot or your horse was tired. There are higher numbers of poor people and vagrants than before – loyal listeners will remember an episode we did on the poor in Tudor England, and the attempts to address it. But for the purposes of our discussion here, we know that there are lots of thieves on the roads hiding behind bushes to surprise travelers. Between 1567 and 1602 accused criminals were tried for theft of over £1000 in stolen items and money just in Essex, and that’s just for 60 cases that actually made it all the way to court. In Cambridgeshire there is a famous highwayman called Gamiel Ratsey – he was actually born into a well to do family, but “”took to evil courses as a boy” and became a thief. He became famous not just for the amount that he robbed, but also his sense of humor. On one occasion he robbed two wool merchants and knighted them by the roadside as Sir Walter Woolsack and Sir Samuel Sheepskin.On one occasion Ratsey and his friends successfully robbed a large company of nine travellers. Before he relieved a Cambridge scholar of his property, he extorted a learned oration from him. To the poor he showed a generosity which accorded with the best traditions of his profession. But within two years his partners betrayed him to the officers of the law, and he was hanged at Bedford on 26 March 1605. 

Often the robberies would be entire communities working together. So if you’re at an inn, someone working there would see that you had money, and would keep track of how many were in your group. In the morning when you set off, somehow the highwaymen know just where you are going, and where you came from, and you find yourself trapped on the road. 

The king’s highways were supposed to be cleared either side for 200 feet. This was to deny cover to the brigands who preyed on travellers. Sometimes there were waymarks to show routes through woods, but these could easily be moved to lead travellers into the hands of waiting bandits.

But of course it wasn’t all bad, or else business would never get done, and people did get out and see the world, much more often than we might expect. I hope that this episode sort of opened your eyes to that. 

So that’s it for this week. The book recommendation is a Time Traveler’s Guide to Elizabethan England by Ian Mortimer – I’ll put a link up on the site.

And you can get in touch with me through the listener support line at 801 6TEYSKO or through twitter @teysko or facebook.com/englandcast.  And I’ll be back in about ten days or so with an episode on Tudor London – what was London like for our Tudor friends? So stay tuned for that. 

Dive Deeper!

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This is the first atlas of England and Wales

Episode 134 tudor london: st paul's show notes, you may be interested in, henry viii’s illegitimate children: truth or tale, the revival of anglo-saxon history in tudor england, anne vavasour and sir henry lee’s forbidden love.

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The Time Traveller's Guide to Elizabethan England

Ian Mortimer transports viewers back to Elizabethan England and reveals, in vivid detail, a living, breathing Tudor world. Viewers learn how ordinary Tudor housewives turned plants into medi... Read all Ian Mortimer transports viewers back to Elizabethan England and reveals, in vivid detail, a living, breathing Tudor world. Viewers learn how ordinary Tudor housewives turned plants into medicine, how the middle classes kept themselves clean using linen cloths, how the poor made p... Read all Ian Mortimer transports viewers back to Elizabethan England and reveals, in vivid detail, a living, breathing Tudor world. Viewers learn how ordinary Tudor housewives turned plants into medicine, how the middle classes kept themselves clean using linen cloths, how the poor made pottage, how cooks of the rich devised recipes for new ingredients, and how Tudors learned ... Read all

• Ian Mortimer
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• mrjkolander
• Feb 25, 2024
• 2013 (United Kingdom)
• United Kingdom
• 360 Production
• BBC Northern Ireland
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• Runtime 1 hour

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What was life like in Tudor England? Class Assembly Script

Subject: History

Age range: 7-11

Resource type: Assembly

Last updated

29 April 2024

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Through our detailed script, students will have the opportunity to experience the stark contrasts of Tudor society—from the grandeur of the royal court to the simplicity of peasant life. The script paints a vivid picture of the era, exploring the cultural, social, and political aspects that defined Tudor England.

Features of this resource include:

• Intriguing Script: A well-researched and engaging script that brings the Tudor period to life, allowing students to delve into the era’s customs, innovations, and daily activities.
• Comprehensive Character List: A variety of roles that represent the breadth of Tudor society, including royals, nobles, explorers, and common folk, ensuring that every student can participate and contribute to the narrative.
• Prop Recommendations: A list of suggested props that will add authenticity and depth to the performance, helping students to fully immerse themselves and the audience in the Tudor experience.
• Adaptations for Diverse Audiences: Guidelines for adapting the script to suit different year groups and school types, making the performance inclusive and adaptable to various educational settings.

The resource is provided in a convenient PDF format, perfect for easy printing and sharing with your class. If you wish to personalize the script or make specific changes, you can upload the PDF to Google Docs. Once in Google Docs, the script becomes editable, allowing you to tailor it to your assembly’s unique requirements.

This class assembly script does more than just entertain; it serves as a window into the past, prompting students to explore and reflect on the complexities of life during the Tudor reign.

After your time-traveling adventure with this script, be sure to explore the wide range of other educational resources available on the TES website. We offer a diverse selection of materials across various subjects and themes, all crafted to support teachers in delivering engaging and comprehensive lessons.

Dress in your Tudor best and prepare for a regal assembly with the “Class Assembly Script: What Was Life Like in Tudor England?” Download your copy today, and let your students take the stage for a historical exploration that will leave the audience yearning to learn more about this

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