Life in the 1500s - The Bad Old Days

[uk666]

Life in the 1500s - The Bad Old Days

Next time you are washing your hands and complain because the water temperature isn't just how you like it, think about how things used to be....

Here are some facts about the 1500s: 

Life for ordinary people in the 1500s was less brutal since the signing of the Magna Carta in 1215, however rule was still harsh under the aristocracy. This was to remain so until Oliver Cromwell’s revolution in 1645.

Most people got married in June because they took their yearly bath in May and still smelled pretty good by June. However, they were starting to smell, so brides carried a "bouquet of flowers to hide the body odour."

Baths consisted of a big tub filled with hot water. The man of the house had the privilege of the nice clean water, then all the other sons and men, then the women and finally the children, last of all the babies. By then the water was so dirty you could actually lose someone in it, hence the saying:
"Don't throw the baby out with the bath water."

Houses had thatched roofs, thick straw, piled high, with no wood underneath. Dogs, cats, mice, rats, and bugs lived on the roof; it was the only place for animals to get warm. When it rained it became slippery and sometimes the animals would slip and fall off the roof, hence the saying:
"It's raining cats and dogs."

There was nothing to stop things from falling into the house. This posed real problem in the bedroom where bugs and other droppings could really mess up your nice clean bed. Hence, a bed with big posts and a sheet hung over the top afforded some protection. hence:
"Canopy beds."

The wealthy had slate floors that would get slippery in the winter when wet, so they spread thresh on the floor to help keep their footing. As the winter wore on, they kept adding more thresh until when you opened the door it would all start slipping outside. A piece of wood was placed in the entry way, hence:
"A thresh hold."

They cooked in the kitchen with a big kettle that always hung over the fire. Every day they lit the fire and added things to the pot. They ate mostly vegetables and did not get much meat. They would eat the stew for dinner, leaving leftovers in the pot to get cold overnight and then start over the next day. Sometimes the stew had food in it that had been there for quite a while, hence the rhyme: 
"Pea’s porridge hot, peas porridge cold, peas porridge in the pot nine days old."

Sometimes they could obtain pork, which made them feel quite special. When visitors came over, they would hang up their bacon to show off. It was a sign of wealth that a man:
"Could bring home the bacon." 

Those with money had plates made of pewter. Food with a high acid content caused some of the lead from the pewter to leach onto the food, causing lead poisoning and death. This happened most often with tomatoes, hence: 
"Tomatoes were considered poison."

Most people did not have pewter plates, but had trenchers, a piece of wood with the middle scooped out like a bowl. Often trenchers were made from stale paysan bread, which was so old and hard that they could use them for quite some time. Trenchers were never washed and a lot of times worms and mold got into the wood and old bread. After eating off wormy moldy trenchers, one would get:
"Trench mouth."

Bread was divided according to status. Workers got the burnt bottom of the loaf, the family got the middle, and the guests got the top, hence:
"Upper crust."

Lead cups were used to drink ale or whiskey. The combination would sometimes knock them out for a couple of days. Someone walking along the road would take them for dead and prepare them for burial. They were laid out on the kitchen table for three days and nights, or until the body showed signs of decomposition, a sure sign of death. The family would gather around and eat and drink and wait and see if they would wake up-hence the custom of holding a:
"Wake."

Just for fun, this first appeared in April 1999.