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Everyday
Life
By
Michael J. Cummings...©
2003
.
.......London
in 1600 was one of the great crossroads of the world. From all the regions
of Britain and from lands across the seas, people crowded into the city
to conduct business, find work, gain standing at the royal court, or entertain
themselves or others. Greater London at that time had more than 200,000
residents, many of them living beyond the boundaries of the original walled
city founded as Londinium by the Romans when they arrived in southeastern
Britain in 43 A.D.
.......William
Shakespeare made London his second home between the late 1580's and 1612.
He shared the narrow thoroughfares with sundry animals–such as dogs, cats,
pigs, and ducks–and with a motley swatch of humanity: milkmaids, blacksmiths,
jugglers, sailors, chimney sweeps, wheelwrights, magicians, stool-makers,
government spies, perfumed ladies, bejeweled gentlemen–and, on occasion,
perhaps even the queen herself traveling with an entourage of carriages.
Here and there he would cross paths with a prince or a pickpocket–or push
through a crowd gathered at a gallows for a hanging. From time to time,
he would step around horse dung, a pile of ashes from last night’s supper
fire, or, in years of plague, a wagon loading corpses.
.......The
chief city official was the lord mayor, elected each year on Michaelmas
Day (September 29) by a body known as Common Hall. (List
of the names of lord mayors from 1590 to 1616.) This body consisted
of members of livery companies, such as clothworkers, drapers, fish merchants,
goldsmiths, grocers, haberdashers, ironmongers, mercers (dealers in textiles
and dry goods), salters, skinners, and vintners. Sheriffs kept the peace,
assisted by constables in sections of the city known as parishes. In each
parish, citizens helped the constable maintain order by patrolling neighborhoods
at night. Click here for a glossary of common occupations.
.......Shakespeare
went to London to make his mark as a writer and actor, traveling back and
forth between the city and the town of his birth, Stratford, about 90 miles
to the northwest. The trip probably took two to four days by horseback
or wagon along roads shared by cadgers, robbers, messengers, itinerant
merchants, minstrels, farmers, and soldiers marching to or from service.
Over the years, he rented lodging in various parts of London, usually not
far from the Thames, the great river that rose in the Cotswold Hills in
England’s western Midlands and snaked its way more than 200 miles southeastward
to London and the sea.
.......The
river was a vital artery in the city’s life, carrying rowboats, barges,
and sailing ships on missions of commerce. After rainstorms, the river
carried away human excrement and rotting food washing in from ditches,
dung piles, cesspits, and streams. (Citizens emptied chamber pots into
cesspits or ditches, or simply threw the contents out of windows or doors
or into a stream crossing their property. They emptied containers from
outdoor toilets the same way.) The river divided Greater
London into northern and southern sections. Shakespeare lodged in more
than half-a-dozen dwellings on both sides of the Thames in districts that
included Bishopsgate, in the northern section, and Southwark, in the southern
section.
.......London
Bridge, constructed between 1176 and 1209, was the only causeway connecting
the northern and southern sections, although boats were available to ferry
travelers across the river. Shops on which dwellings were built lined both
sides of the bridge.  Above
the traffic lane in the middle were passageways (resembling overpasses
above modern highways) connecting buildings on one side of the bridge with
those on the other. When approaching the wondrous span, Shakespeare would
see a strange and frightening sight: the impaled heads of traitors atop
an entranceway as a reminder to citizens that although they could cross
the bridge they could not cross the royal government.
.......In
Southwark, Shakespeare staged plays at the Globe Theatre, built in 1599
west of London Bridge in an area known as Bankside. The Globe was not the
first playhouse in Southwark. Others constructed there before it were the
Newington Butts Playhouse (1580), the Rose (circa 1587), and the Swan (1595).
.......Southwark
was wild and raucous–a haven for drunks, prostitutes, con men, gamblers,
and thieves. There were scores of inns and taverns. One was The Tabard
Inn, made famous in the prologue of Geoffrey Chaucer’s Canterbury Tales.
There were also bloodsport rings and arenas, where spectators paid to see
cockfighting or snarling dogs attack chained bears or bulls. Queen Elizabeth
was among the aficionados of bearbaiting and bullbaiting, as these brutal
divertissements were called.
.......Shakespeare
apparently passed no small portion of his time in taverns, as historical
records and scenes in his plays suggest. There, he made the acquaintance
of other playwrights, poets, and actors, all noted for their wit and learning.
This brotherhood of ale and assonance included Christopher
Marlowe, Ben
Jonson, George
Peele, Thomas
Nashe, Thomas
Watson, Robert
Greene, Thomas
Lodge, and Edward
Alleyn. They were a sometimes rowdy coterie. Jonson, for example,
had been accused of murder after dueling to the death with an actor; he
was exonerated. Marlowe and Watson had also been accused of murder, notes
Stephen Greenblatt in his book Will in the World:.....................................................................................More
About London Taverns
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| Watson . . . intervened
in a street brawl between Marlowe and an innkeeper’s son named William
Bradley. The brawl, on Hog Lane, near the Theatre [playhouse] and the Curtain
[playhouse], ended with Watson’s sword stuck six inches into Bradley’s
chest. Watson and Marlowe were both arrested on suspicion of murder but
were eventually released, on grounds of self-defense. (201) |
.
.......Marlowe,
an extraordinarily gifted writer, died in a brawl at an inn, the Eleanor
Bull house, in the London suburb of Deptford after suffering a dagger wound
in or above his right eye. He was only 29.
.......Greene,
a popular poet and playwright, was well educated, having obtained degrees
at Oxford and Cambridge. However, he, too, was a rowdy fellow, known especially
for overindulging in drink and food and keeping company with thieves, swindlers,
and gamblers.
.......Alleyn,
an exceptionally talented actor, was also an exceptionally unscrupulous
investor–at least by modern standards–for he was a part owner of a bearbaiting
enterprise.
.......Shakespeare,
of course, drew upon the lifestyle and social environment of all these
men to shape the characters in his plays. He also borrowed plot lines and
themes from their literary works. However, he generally did not imitate
their reckless and dissolute behavior.
 .......Besides
members of the threatre community, Shakespeare also made the acquaintance
of high and mighty courtiers, perhaps the better to promote himself and
his writing. For Shakespeare was, after all, a businessman with a commodity
to sell: literature. Among his noble acquaintances was Henry Wriothesley,
the Third Earl of Southampton, a patron of writers and a court favorite
of Queen Elizabeth. Shakespeare dedicated two long poems, The Rape of
Lucrece and Venus and Adonis, to Wriothesley.
.......In
1602, the year before the death of Elizabeth and the accession of King
James I, Shakespeare began lodging with Christopher and Mary Mountjoy,
French Huguenots who lived north of the river in a section of London known
as Cripplegate. Their home was on the corner of Silver Street and Monkwell
Street (also known to local denizens as Mugwell or Muggle Street). Mr.
Mountjoy, a London resident since 1572, made hats and wigs. At the Mountjoy
residence, Shakespeare wrote with a quill dipped in ink and kept account
of his money interests, namely a share in the ownership and the proceeds
of the Globe and whatever other enterprises coaxed jingle from his pockets.
He also rehearsed parts he performed in his own plays and the plays of
others.
.......After
his plays earned him widespread acclaim, he even staged them before Queen
Elizabeth at the royal residence, Whitehall Palace. Falstaff, the bumbling
braggart in Henry IV, Parts I and II, was a favorite character of
hers. A popular but undocumented story maintains that Shakespeare wrote
his play The Merry Wives of Windsor, in which Falstaff is the central
character, expressly for the queen.
.......When
Shakespeare ventured through the city on a typical morning, a goodly portion
of the population–like the ever-tippling Falstaff in Henry IV Part I
and Henry IV Part II–was a bit schnockered, for ale and wine were
more plentiful than potable water, available mostly from springs and wells
in the open country crowding up against the city. Merry England was so
named for a reason.
.......No
doubt Shakespeare at times walked the streets for exercise or to allow
the sights and sounds to inspire him. There was much to marvel at: flower
gardens with marigolds, roses, delphiniums, lilacs, and lilies; the soaring
spires, ornate facades, and stained glass of more than 100 churches; sailing
ships–including mighty, three-masted merchant vessels heavily armed against
piracy–catching wind for trips to the Americas or the East Indies; the
smoke of myriad coal and wood fires curling from chimneys; troops of proud
marching soldiers. At times, though, the noises of the city–from rolling
wheels, boisterous merchants, children at play, church bells, pounding
hammers, hogs, sheep, cattle, grouchy dogs–could be irritating. Such was
the racket after King James I acceded to the throne in 1603 that Thomas
Dekker, another Elizabethan playwright and poet, was prompted to write
the following in a pamphlet entitled “The Seven Deady Sins of London”:
.
| Carts and coaches make such
a thundering din as if the world ran on wheels; at every corner men, women,
and children meet in such shoals [large groups] that posts are set up to
strengthen the houses lest with jostling with one another they should shoulder
them down. Besides, hammers are beating in one place, tubs hooping in another
[placing of metal hoops around tubs or barrels to hold the staves together],
pots clinking in a third, water-tankards running at tilt in a fourth. .
. . Tradesmen, as if they were dancing galliards [a dance in triple time],
are lusty at legs and never stand still. (Quoted in Brown 30) |
.
.......Before
his trips home to Stratford, about 90 miles away, Shakespeare probably
sometimes purchased gifts for his wife, his children, his brothers and
sisters, or other relatives. He could buy perfume, wigs, jewelry, hats,
shirts, shoes, breeches, feathers, ruffles, ribbons, silks, tweeds, wine,
drugs, spices, toys, paper, ink, candles. Because the city had no
zoning regulations, the shops selling these and other products stood alongside
churches, inns, homes, workshops, or stables.
.......One
of the shopping locales Shakespeare must have frequented was the Royal
Exchange on Threadneedle Street on the north side of the river. It was
a huge arcaded building with banking facilities and accommodations for
more than 150 shops and thousands of businessmen and shoppers. The building
surrounded a courtyard where 4,000 bankers and tradesmen conducted business.
Shakespeare could probably
buy almost anything there–quills, inks, paper, and candles. One wonders
how many times he came away from that site with the makings of a play tucked
under his arm–and the rhythms iambic pentameter dancing through his head.
.
Works Cited
Brown, Ivor. Shakespeare
and His World. New York: Henry Z. Walck, 1964.
Greenblatt, Stephen. Will
in the World. New York: W.W. Norton, 2004.
.
Glossary
of Common Occupations
Jobs in Shakespeare's
Time or the Times When He Set His Plays
Actor.Man
or boy who performs in a stage play. In Shakespeare's time, males acted
both male and female parts in a play.
Acrobat.Entertainer
who performs various gymnastic stunts, such as leaps and somersaults. Also
called tumbler.
Apothecary.Person
who sells drugs and herbs
Armorer.Person
who makes armor for soldiers
Astrologer.Person
who predicted events by "reading" the stars, the planets, the sun, and
the moon
Baker.Person
who prepared bread, pastry, and other baked goods
Barber-Surgeon.Person
who cuts hair, trims beards, cleans and pulls teeth, amputates limbs, and
performs bloodletting
Bard.Poet
or storyteller
Barrister.Lawyer
who settles estates and handles land disputes, money claims, etc.
Bawd.Keeper
of a brothel
Beadle.Minor
church official who kept order during services and performed menial tasks;
messenger for law courts
Bellmaker.Maker
of bells
Blacksmith.Person
who makes horseshoes and other objects from iron heated in a forge, then
shaped, welded, or cut with various tools
Boatman.Boat
operator
Bookbinder.Binder
of published manuscripts, journals, diaries, etc.
Bowyer (or Bower, Boyer).Person
who makes bows that shoot arrows
Brazier.Maker
of brass objects
Brewer.Maker
of beer and ale
Butcher.Person
who cuts meat
Carpenter.Person
who makes and repairs items of wood
Cartographer.Maker
of maps
Chancellor.Secretary
of a person of high rank
Chandler.Person
who makes candles from wax or tallow
Chapman.Operator
of a warehouse; trader, peddler, merchant
Chimney Sweep (or Sweeper).Person
who cleans soot from chimneys
Clerk.Keeper
of accounts and records
Clockmaker.Person
who makes and repairs clocks
Clothier.Maker
of fine clothes for the well-to-do
Cocker.Person
who breeds, trains, and handles fighting roosters, or cocks
Constable.Officer
of a court or royal household; castle or fortress warden
Cook.Preparer
of food in a household
Cooper.Person
who makes barrels
Coppersmith.Person
who makes, repairs, and repairs items of copper
Cordwainer.Shoemaker
Crier.Person
who walks the streets ringing a bell as he shouted news and proclamations
Currier.Person
who prepares tanned leather by soaking, scraping, coloring, or beating
it
Cutler.Person
who makes, sells, sharpens, and repairs knives
Draper.Dealer
in clothes or drapes
Drayer or Drayman.Person
with a horse-drawn cart for transporting heavy loads
Dyer.Person
who dyes cloth
Embroiderer.Person
who uses needlework to make designs on fabric
Factor.Person
who makes business transactions for another person; agent
Falconer.Person
who breeds and trains hunting falcons and hawks; person who hunts with
falcons and hawks
Farrier.Blacksmith
who specializes in making horseshoes
Fishwife.Woman
who sells fish
Fletcher.Person
who makes arrows
Fool.Comic
figure with a quick tongue who entertains the king, the queen, and their
guests. He is allowed to–and even expected to–criticize anyone at court.
In Shakespeare's time, Many fools were dwarfs or cripples, their odd appearance
enhancing their appeal and, according to prevailing beliefs, bringing good
luck to the court. Actors William Kempe and Richard Armin became London
celebrities for their performances as fools in Shakespeare's plays. Armin
wrote a book about fools entitled Foole Upon Foole; or Six Sortes of
Sottes.
Forester.Person
who supervises the woods of a landowner. He sells timber and guards against
trespassers.
Fowler.Person
who hunts and sells game birds to kitchens
Franklin.Landowner
in the 13th and 14th Centuries who was not of noble birth
Fuller.Person
who cleanses, thickens, and fulls cloth. To full cloth means to
make it fuller by pleating or gathering.
Furbisher.Person
who polished or burnished various objects
Gardener.Person
skilled at tending gardens
Grocer.Person
who sold foods and general household supplies
Glazier.Person
who cuts and installs glass for windows
Glover.Maker
of gloves
Goldsmith.Person
who makes, repairs and sells items of gold
Gravedigger.Person
who digs graves
Groom.Male
servant in a household; man or boy who tends, feeds, and cleans (with a
currycomb) horses in a stable
Haberdasher.Person
who sells men's clothing
Hatmaker.Person
who makes hats
Hawker.Person
who breeds and trains hunting hawks; person who hunts with hawks; falconer
Herbalist.Person
who grows, sells, or studies herbs, mainly for use as medical remedies
Herald.Person
who announces official declarations, edicts, news, etc.; carrier of messages
for the crown; arranger and announcer of jousting matches; overseer of
armorial bearings (images on shields)
Hosier.Maker
of socks and stockings (hosiery)
Husbandman.Farmer
Innkeeper.Person
who owned or hosted an inn
Ironmonger.Dealer
in hardware
Jeweler.Person
who makes, repairs, and sells items of jewelry
Joiner.Person
who makes cabinets, furniture, interior woodwork, doors, window sashes,
and other wooden objects
Jester.See
Fool
Latten Maker.Maker
of thin sheets of brass or an alloy. Latten was used to make church vessels
and utensils.
Laundress.Woman
who washes clothes
Lawyer.Person
trained in the law
Limner.Person
who paints or draws portraits
Locksmith.Person
who makes keys and installs and repairs locks
Lorimer.Maker
of metal parts for harnesses and other riding gear
Maid.Female
servant, such as barmaid, chambermaid, milkmaid, or housemaid
Marshal.Person
in charge of a castle's or a household's horses and wagons
Mattress Maker.Maker
of mattresses
Mercer.Dealer
in well-made woven, knitted, and other fabrics; some mercers specialized
in a particular cloth, such as silk or wool
Midwife.Woman
who delivers babies
Milkmaid.Woman
who milks cows; dairymaid; vendor of milk
Minstrel.Traveling
musician who sang or recited to the accompaniment of an instrument
Moneylender.Person
who lends money at interest
Monger.Roving
merchant who sells goods from a cart or another portable device. Examples:
fishmonger, ironmonger
Ostler.Operator
of an inn that rents rooms and stable space and serves food and drink
Painter.Artist
who paints portraits, landscapes, etc.
Peddler.Itinerant
seller of merchandise
Pewterer.Person
who makes and repairs items of pewter
Physician.Medical
doctor
Playwright.Person
who writes plays
Porter.Doorkeeper,
gatekeeper
Poulterer.Dealer
in poultry and other game
Printer.Person
who sets type in a form for printing; owner of printing business
Purser.Ship
officer who keeps financial accounts and secures valuables for passengers
Reeve.Chief
officer of a town or manor
Roper.Maker
of ropes
Salter.Person
who sells salt or salts meat, fish, and other food
Sawyer.Person
who saws wood for construction
Schoolmaster.Teacher
of children
Scribe.Person
who copies manuscripts by hand and prepares handwritten documents
Sculptor.Person
who fashions artistic objects from stone, clay, metal, and other media
Seamstress.Woman
who sews for a living
Searcher.Person
who identifies victims of plague and quarantines their houses
Servant.Person
who carries out routine household chores
Shepherd.Person
who herds and watches over sheep
Salter.Person
who deals in salt or salts foods such as meat and fish
Sheriff.Important
civil officer of a shire (county)
Shipwright.Carpenter
who builds and repairs ships
Shoemaker.Person
who makes and repairs shoes; cordwainer
Sieve Maker.Maker
of sieves (strainers or sifters)
Silversmith.Person
who makes, repairs, and sells items of silver
Slater.Person
who lays slate on roofs
Soapmaker.Person
who makes soap
Spoonmaker.Maker
of spoons
Spurrier.Maker
of spurs
Stapler.Person
who sorts wool according to its staple (the length, texture, and quality
of its fibers); buyer and seller of wool, linen, and silk
Stationer.Publisher
of books. Stationers belonged to a guild (the Worshipful
Company of Stationers) which the government established and supervised
in order to guard against the publication of subversive books or books
unduly critical of the Crown. When one stationer acquired the rights to
publish copies of a book, the other members were bound to respect this
"copy right," preparing the way for modern copyright laws.
Stonecutter.Person
who cuts, shapes, and carves stone; stonemason
Tailor.Person
who makes clothing
Tanner.Person
turns hides into leather by soaking it in tannin, a chemical that prevents
the skin from decaying
Tapster.Bartender
Taverner.Person
who maintains a tavern
Thatcher.Person
who thatches (covers roofs with straw or other plant material)
Tinker.Traveling
handyman who repairs household items, such as pots and pans; person who
can repair almost anything; jack-of-all trades
Trader.Businessman
involved in importing and exporting various supplies and merchandise
Tranter.Peddler
who sells his wares from a horse-drawn cart
Tumbler.Entertainer
who performs handsprings, somersaults, and other feats requiring physical
agility
Turner.Person
who shapes wooden objects, such as table legs, on a lathe (a machine that
holds and rotates wood while it is pressed against an abrasive surface)
Verger.Official
who bears the symbol of authority, such as a rod or staff, of a bishop
or dean in a procession
Vintner.Person
who makes and sells wine
Warrener.Person
who breeds or catches rabbits
Weaver.Person
who makes cloth
Wheelwright.Person
who makes and repairs wagon, cart, and carriage wheels
Wiredrawer.Person
who draws metal into wire
Woodcarver.Person
who carves wood to make it decorative
Page.Boy
servant; boy attending a knight or a boy in training to become a knight
Puppeteer.Person
who stages puppet shows
Saddler.Maker
of saddles and bridles
Skinner.Person
who removes the skins of animals and prepares them for sale; seller of
hides
Tiler.Person
who installs roof tiles
Washerwoman.Woman
who washes clothes
Lord
Mayors of London: 1590-1616
1590 John Allot
1591 Sir Rowland Heyward
1591 William Webbe
1592 William Rowe
1593 Cuthbert Buckell
1594 Sir Richard Martin
1594 John Spencer
1595 Stephen Slanye
1596 Thomas Skinner
1596 Henry Billingsley
1597 Richard Saltonstall
1598 Stephen Soame
1599 Nicholas Mosley
1600 William Ryder
1601 John Garrarde
1602 Robert Lee
1603 Sir Thomas Bennett
1604 Sir Thomas Lowe
1605 Sir Leonard Halliday
1606 Sir John Watts
1607 Sir Henry Rowe
1608 Sir Humphrey Weld
1609 Sir Thomas Cambell
1610 Sir William Craven
1611 Sir James Pemberton
1612 Sir John Swynnerton
1613 Sir Thomas Middleton
1614 Sir Thomas Hayes
1615 Sir John Jolles
1616 John Leman
Source:
Corporation of the City of London
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