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consent from both partners—but it does mean that upper-class families tried to control the options and exert pressure so that the child would end up with what they considered a suitable partner. Only very rarely would an upper-class child slip through this network of family influence.

For most people, the stakes in marriage were much lower, and the level of family influence much more limited. Ordinary young people had extensive opportunities to meet those of the opposite sex: through their work, through family connections, at church services, at organized public festivities, and at informal entertainments like dancing or games on a Sunday afternoon. Two people who took an interest in each other might begin courting—exchanging gifts, letters, and visits, and spending time together as opportunities allowed. Lovers often exchanged other love tokens during courtship; typical courting-gifts included handkerchiefs, gloves, garters, locks of hair, foodstuffs such as fruits or spices (nutmeg and ginger were two favorites), and sometimes a coin broken in half.

At this stage, it was normal to involve the respective families, the man in particular visiting the woman’s home so that her parents might have a chance to size him up. Although the parents’ permission was not required unless the child was under 21, it was generally considered unwise and inappropriate to marry against the parents’ wishes. For most young people, this was not a problem. While everyone regarded love and affection as indispensable components in the marriage equation, prudence was also a factor. Marriage in the 16th century was permanent, and both city and country were full of paupers who served as a constant reminder of the importance of choosing a spouse wisely and the potential consequences of an injudicious match.

Once the couple decided to marry, there might follow a process of

negotiation between the families. If the families possessed any significant amount of property, they would be expected to contract to settle parts of it on the couple in various forms. The girl’s family was expected to provide a dowry, property that the girl would bring with her into the marriage.

There might also be an agreement on
jointure,
the part of the couple’s property that the girl would have at her disposal to support her if she were widowed.

Once any practicalities were dealt with, the couple could become

engaged or betrothed. Betrothal was taken very seriously: the promise to marry had to be made before witnesses, and it was considered a legally binding contract—those who reneged on a promise to marry could be

prosecuted in the church courts, and they could be prevented from marrying anyone else until securing an agreement to dissolve the contract. If a promise to marry was followed by sexual consummation, the couple were regarded as married according to church law, although they might still be punished for fornication. The betrothal was often marked by a symbolic exchange of gifts, or the man would give the woman a gift—rings were a common choice, but gloves and bracelets were sometimes chosen.

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Daily Life in Elizabethan England

Prior to the actual marriage, the
banns
were asked in the couple’s respective parish churches on three successive Sundays. The banns were a form of marriage announcement; their main purpose was to provide an opportunity for people to reveal any impediments to the marriage. The marriage would have to be called off if the couple was closely related to each other or if there was a prior betrothal or marriage. Alternatively, the couple could pay the church authorities for a marriage license, which performed the same function as the banns—upper-class families generally preferred this rather private option.

On the wedding day, the couple dressed in their finest clothes—ideally new ones purchased for the occasion. Green was considered an especially suitable color, especially for the groom. There was no formalized outfit akin to the modern bridal attire, but the woman might wear knotted ribbons and wear a garland on her head: favored plants included flowers, ears of wheat (symbols of fertility), rosemary, myrtle and bay (all herbs that represented constancy, since they do not decay like most plants). The groom might also have ribbons and similar plants tied or pinned to his clothes. An especially common decoration was the
bride-lace,
a sprig of rosemary tied up in a lace to be worn on the left arm. Similar adornments could be worn by the wedding party and guests, and the site of the wedding feast might itself be similarly decorated. Once all was ready, the bride would be processed to the church. She might be attended by bridesmaids or children; the groom was accompanied by groomsmen.

The wedding itself was celebrated inside the couple’s parish church, following the ritual that is still more or less used in the Anglican church today. Perhaps the greatest difference regards the wedding ring: the man placed a ring on the woman’s ring finger, but there was no reciprocal exchange. It was also the practice for women to take their husbands’ surname. The marriage was recorded in the parish register, which served the legal role of the modern marriage certificate.

Not every wedding followed these prescribed norms, and much of the work of church courts was in adjudicating cases of irregular marriages.

Some marriages took place outside of churches—in private homes, in a barn, in a field, or even in alehouses. Some were performed without the proper banns or witnesses, or the officiating churchman turned out not to be an ordained minister. In some cases there was an impediment that failed to be discovered beforehand, such as a prior betrothal. Such marriages had to be sorted out on a case-by-case basis. A wedding celebrated outside of a church, without witnesses, or at night was illegal and punishable, but still valid. However, if the celebrant had not been ordained, this would generally nullify the marriage. Instances of prior betrothal could be complex, and the outcome often depended on the specific circumstances of the case.

Once married, the couple were legally required to live together. Separation was only permitted by order of a church court and only in such
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extreme circumstances as cruelty or adultery. In these cases, the separated couple were to remain celibate, and the wife could receive alimony. Divorce as such was not permitted, but annulment was possible if the marriage was proved to have been invalid—for example if the couple were within the forbidden degrees of family relationship, or if the man was discovered after the wedding to be permanently impotent.

Sexuality

Sexual activity outside of the marriage bond was punishable by law, although it was very much a part of daily life. It has been estimated that 1

child in 25 was born out of wedlock at the end of Elizabeth’s reign. A large number of these illegitimate births arose from broken marriage contracts.

Once a couple was betrothed, it was very common for them to become sexually active before the marriage. Statistics suggest that a quarter to a third of the first pregnancies of Elizabethan wives began before the wedding. Such premarital relations were punishable as fornication under church laws, but secular Elizabethan culture regarded it as a very minor misdeed, and such cases were rarely prosecuted. However, the situation could become complicated if the couple did not actually marry. Exploitative men looking to gain a woman’s sexual favors might promise marriage—privately, if possible, so there would be no witnesses—and later deny that a promise had been made, or even leave the community, never to be seen again.

Elizabethan attitudes toward sex were complex and nuanced. Anyone

who has read Shakespeare is aware of the Elizabethan penchant for bawd-iness. The Elizabethans could be remarkably frank about sexuality—after all, their society allowed for comparatively little physical or social privacy, and therefore less isolation between people’s sexual and public lives.

However, it was essential for women of any standing not to compromise their reputation for sexual continence: for married women, any whiff of scandal could raise doubts about the paternity of their children, and for unmarried women, it could ruin their prospects of marriage. The standard for men was not quite as strict—to visit a brothel, for example, was considered immoral and disreputable, but it would not destroy a man’s career.

Religious doctrine across the sectarian spectrum taught that sexuality within marriage was appropriate and beneficial, both for procreation and for mutual comfort, as long as it was not pursued with lascivious excess.

Nonmarital sexuality (fornication and adultery) was punishable by the church courts, which could also impose child support on a man who

fathered an illegitimate child. Nonprocreative sexuality might be classed as sodomy, punishable as a felony and subject to the death penalty.

Yet the realities of people’s sexual lives could be complex. Single women who found themselves pregnant might turn to practitioners of folk medi-68

Daily Life in Elizabethan England

cine to supply herbs or even magic to abort the fetus—indeed it was widely felt that this was permissible until the
quickening
of the child, at about five months when its motion became detectable. Similar recipes might be used as contraceptives, although doubtless with unreliable results. Prostitution was illegal yet universally recognized as an established part of Elizabethan culture—everyone in London knew that you could easily find a prostitute in the Bankside district of Southwark, near the theaters (or even in them).

Homosexual activity was classed as sodomy, but it was likewise widely recognized as present, at least among men (female homosexuality was virtually invisible both to contemporaries and in the historical record). Even pornography was available from London booksellers, smuggled across the Channel from Continental publishers.

Aging and Life Expectancy

A rapidly growing population and relatively high rates of mortality meant that the population of Elizabethan England was rather young. Still, a 40-year-old was not thought to be elderly. In fact, the forties and fifties were considered the prime of a man’s life. If any age marked the beginning of old age, it was 60: the law allowed people to cease work after that age, nor was one liable for military service. It has been estimated that about 8 percent of the population were age 60 or older. Nonetheless, the prevalence of disease and the primitive level of medicine meant that illness could easily end a life long before its prime. Life expectancy at birth was only about 48 years, although anyone who made it through the first 30 years was likely to live for another 30. Life expectancy varied from place to place—it was particularly low in the cities, where crowded conditions and poor sanitation increased the dangers of disease.

For many people, living into old age must have been as frightening a prospect as not reaching it. Once a person was no longer able to work, they had to turn to other resources for support. Widows were especially at risk, since women had less earning power and fewer economic options than men: even a younger widow with a job could find herself in poverty if she did not secure a new husband who could support her.

The most fortunate of the elderly were those who had sufficient property to guarantee them an ongoing income. Parents who were past working age might pass on their land or business to their heirs in exchange for a guarantee of support for their remaining years. Guild members could look to their guild for assistance if they needed it. Those who had spent their working lives in the pay of others might look to their employers to support them, at least if the relationship had been one of long standing.

Many of the elderly had no such options. A few might find a place in a
hospital
: many large towns had endowed institutions that provided food and lodging for the elderly poor. These places imposed a quasi-monastic life of discipline on their residents, with uniform clothing, daily communal
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prayers, and strict codes of personal conduct, but they offered security in an uncertain age, and there were always more applicants than openings.

Others were supported by the parish poor-rate, either through stipends or by lodging in a Poor House. Many people fell through the holes of this rudimentary safety net and were dependent on begging to scrape together enough money to feed themselves.

Death and Burial

People normally left the world as they had come into it and as they had conceived their own offspring: at home and in bed. When death was approaching, a person would be urged to make a will, if this had not yet been done (estates under £5 did not require a will). Moveable property could be disposed of by will, as could land held by burgage tenure or otherwise not subject to the customs of feudal or manorial inheritance.

Among the upper classes and in open-field areas, feudal and manorial land was passed on by primogeniture, the eldest son inheriting all of it; this would prevent the landholding from being broken up into pieces too small to support the landholder’s needs. Woodland regions were more likely to follow
partible inheritance,
whereby each of the sons was given a share of the land.

When a person was on their deathbed, the parish bell would toll. This was called the
passing bell,
and was a signal for all hearers to pray for the dying person. After the death, there would be one short peal; from its sound the hearers could tell whether the deceased was male or female. If the circumstances of the death were at all questionable, the county coroner would be brought in to inspect the body and determine whether there was a criminal matter that required investigation.

After death the body was stripped and washed, cleansing it of the sweat and other excretions that could come with the death throes. The corpse was then wrapped and bound in a winding-sheet, which might simply be a linen sheet from the bed in which the person had died. Flowers and herbs like rosemary were sometimes wrapped in the sheet with the corpse.