The following extracts are taken from an
anthology of Elizabethan writing originally
collected by Professor John Dover Wilson and
published in 1911.1 The passages are
taken from documentary witnesses of the time and
reveal the differences between social classes in
the time of the first Queen Elizabeth.
England and the English
The air of England is temperate, but thick,
cloudy and misty. For the sun draweth up the
vapours of the sea which compasseth the island
and distils them upon the earth in frequent
showers of rain, so that frosts are somewhat
rare; and howsoever snow may often fall in the
winter time, yet in the southern parts (especially)
it seldom lies long on the ground. Also the cool
blasts of sea winds mitigate the heat of summer.
By reason of this temper, laurel and rosemary
flourish all winter, especially in the southern
parts, and in summer time England yields apricots
plentifully, musk melons in good quantity, and
figs in some places, all which ripen well, and
happily imitate the taste and goodness of the
same fruits of Italy. And by the same reason all
beasts bring forth their young in the open
fields, even in the time of winter. It hath
multitudes of hurtful birds, as crows, ravens and
kites, and they labour not to destroy the crows
consuming great quantity of corn, because they
feed on worms and other things hurtful to the
corn. And in great cities it is forbidden to kill
kites and ravens, because they devour the filth
of the streets.
Of gentlemen
Ordinarily the king doth only make knights and
create barons or higher degrees: for as for
gentlemen, they be made good cheap in England.
For whosoever studieth the laws of the realm, who
studieth in the universities, who professeth
liberal sciences, and to be short, who can live
idly and without manual labour, and will bear the
port, charge and countenance of a gentleman, he
shall be called master. And (if need be) a king
of heralds shall also give him for money arms,
newly made and invented, the title whereof shall
pretend to have been found by the said herald in
perusing and viewing of old registers, where his
ancestors in times past had been recorded to bear
the same.
An Elizabethan huntsman
Of citizens and burgesses
Next to gentlemen, be appointed citizens and
burgesses, such as not only be free and received
as officers within the cities, but also be of
some substance to serve the commonwealth in their
cities and boroughs.
Of yeomen
Those whom we call yeomen next unto the
nobility, knights and squires, have the greatest
charge and doings in the commonwealth, or rather
are more travailed to serve in it than all the
rest. I call him a yeoman whom our laws do call
legalem hominem, a word familiar in writs and
inquests, which is a freeman born English, and
may dispend of his own free land in yearly
revenue to the sum of 40s. sterling: this maketh
(if the just value were taken now to the
proportion of monies) £6 of our current money at
this present. This sort of people confess
themselves to be no gentleman, and yet they have
certain preeminence and more estimation than
labourers and artificers, and commonly live
wealthily, keep good hours, and do their business
and travail to acquire riches.
Of the fourth sort of men which do not
rule
The fourth sort or class amongst us is of
those which the old Romans called capite censi
proletarii or operae, day labourers,
A woodcut of a sixteenth-century yeoman
poor husbandmen, yea merchants and retailers
which have no free land, copyholders, and all
artificers, as tailors, shoemakers, carpenters,
brickmakers, masons, etc. These have no voice nor
authority in our commonwealth, and no account is
made of them but only to be ruled, not to rule
other, and yet they be not altogether neglected.
For in cities and corporate towns for default of
yeomen, inquests and juries are impanelled of
such manner of people. And in villages they be
commonly made churchwardens, aleconners, and many
times constables, which office toucheth more the
commonwealth and at the first was not employed
upon such low and base persons.2
The English - a foreign view
The English are grave like the Germans, lovers
of shew; followed wherever they go by whole
troops of servants, who wear their masters' arms
in silver fastened to their left arms. They excel
in dancing and music, for they are active and
lively. They are good sailors, and better
pirates, cunning, treacherous, and thievish;
above 300 are said to be hanged annually at
London. Hawking is the common sport of the gentry.
They are more polite in eating than the French,
consuming less bread, but more meat, which they
roast in perfection. Their beds are covered with
tapestry, even those of farmers. Their houses are
commonly of two stories, except in London, where
they are of three and four; they are built of
wood, those of the richer sort with bricks. If
they see a foreigner, very well made or
particularly handsome, they will say, 'It is a
pity he is not an Englishman'.3
English snobbery
In London, the rich disdain the poor. The
courtier the citizen. The citizen the country man.
One occupation disdaineth another. The merchant
the retailer. The retailer the craftsman. The
better sort of craftsman the baser. The shoemaker
the cobbler. The cobbler the carman. One nice
dame disdains her next door neighbour should have
that furniture to her house, or dainty dish or
device, which she wants. She will not go to
church, because she disdains to mix herself with
base company, and cannot have her close pew by
herself.4
1 John Dover Wilson, Life in Shakespeare's
England, 1911
2 Sir Thomas Smith, De Republica Anglorum,
1583 (written c. 1551)
3 Paul Hentzner, Travels in England, 1598
4 Thomas Nashe, Christs Teares over Jerusalem,
1593
