CountryLife5

===WHAT WAS COUNTRY LIFE LIFE IN SHAKESPEARE’S ENGLAND? HOW DID THOSE IN RURAL AREAS LIVE? WHAT WERE COMMON OCCUPATIONS, WHAT WERE HOMES LIKE, AND SO ON? === **Answer prepared by: Joey H.**

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The countryside of England was a happy, prosperous place. In England there were lush fields and some rolling green hills. England was great for crops, and where it was not, there were great grazing grounds for sheep. England was a leading producer of the finest fleece in the world. Huge flocks roamed the rolling hills in the 1500’s. Where crops could be grown, communities popped up. Fields were divided into strips and different farming families could discuss how to farm the fields. Other times, people just farmed their own land with no interaction at all. Wealthy farmers would hire workers to plant and pick for them. Lots of rural societies sprang up from wealthy farmer’s manors or estates. Yeoman farmers were the “backbone of rural society,” as stated in //The Countryside by Kathryn Hinds (16). They worked on the land that they owned and were fairly prosperous. Some yeoman farmers would eventually hire laborers to work their land for them. He would eat the food they grew and would rent out the other land to tenant farmers (Hinds). Yeoman farmers were very prosperous and helped employ many other people. Countryside communities could also be very prosperous. // =====

The countryside could be a very good place to live. Families would farm or work at trades like hat making and cobbling. Houses were cottages made from either stone or a mix of clay, straw, stones, and water, which was then plastered or whitewashed (Hinds 22). Windows were dependent on wealth. If you could not afford glass, then oiled linen could keep the bugs out. The houses were small, usually consisting of two rooms, a bedroom, and a hall or frontroom. The hall was where the kitchen was. Kids slept in the hall or in a loft above it. According to Jeffrey L Singman in his book

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//Daily Life in Elizabethan England, the cheapest houses still needed to be sturdy. Cheap houses were made of weak wood, but the posts were sunk into the ground more. The people who lived in these houses worked hard, but enjoyed themselves too, often talking and singing while working. Almost everyone was happy. It was very different than out on farms now. // =====

There were lots of ways to enjoy the countryside. There were lots of ways to enjoy the countryside. Sports were very popular in the countryside. Dancing and acting out plays were other pastimes. Storytelling was a very common thing, often happening in the winter with many people around. The country was definitely an enjoyable place to take up residence. In //Shakespeare// by Peter Chrisp the concept of a maypole is explained. A maypole is celebratory of the arrival of summer. A maypole is a large tree trunk that is decked with flowers and ribbons. People dance around it in celebration (Chrisp 15). Board games were another fun thing to do in free time. A game called Nine men’s morris was a game where they would draw a board in the dirt and play with pebbles; This game is very similar to backgammon (Chrisp 15). Despite the sometimes bad conditions, the country was a good place to live.

** Chrisp, Peter. SHAKESPEARE. New York: Dorling Kingsley, 2002. 15-19. Print.
 * Works Cited

Hinds, Kathryn. The Countryside. New York: Marshall Cavendish Benchmark, 2008. 9-61. Print.

Rowse, A. L. The Elizabethan Renaissance. New York: Charles Scribner's Sons, 1917. 67-71. Print.

Singman, Jeffrey. Daily Life in Elizabethan England. Westport CT: Greenwood Publishing Group Inc., 1995. 74-88. Print.