UrbanLife3

Prepared by: Madeline J. ** Urban life boomed greatly from the 1500 to the 1600s; according to Gail Stewart the population went from 1200 to 200000. London was filled with constant activity; it went from dull to bustling and complex. Sports like football, tennis (took out ,)and horse racing were often played and watched by many. Performances filled the city. On the streets there were dancers, jugglers and singers trying to entertain the street goers. Plays were also a great way for amusing the public. Like every city there was a dark side. Pickpocketers roamed the dirty, noisy streets, waiting. Roads were unpaved and filled with potholes. Traffic was busy with carts, horses and people walking everywhere. Sanitation was extremely poor in the city. Waste was thrown into the streets or fed to pigs and dogs wondering. Water was pumped to a fountain, but most city dwellers got their own water from the river. This was completely unsanitary for people also dumped garbage ans sewage into this same river. Urban life may have been fun at time, but there was also a part that Badly needed some cleaning up. The jobs are much of what you would expect in a city. There were shoemakers, bakers, carpenters, blacksmiths, grocers, innkeepers and barbers. Specifically to London a job was a stationer. They were printers; this was important in London because of all the plays they produced. In other areas like costal cities, many men worked unloading ships and working on the docks along with some fisherman and sailors. Specific areas that had sheep would be based off of wool and places with mines the jobs would heavily weight with coal and metals. Gentlemanly jobs involved a little more education. They were often involved in the government and court. The high-educated men went into law and medicine as their profession. According to Katheryn Hinels women were not very respected in society back then. Law, customs, and religion treated women inferior to men. Jobs in the city were diverse and specific to the region.
 * WHAT WAS LIFE LIKE FOR THOSE WHO LIVED IN LONDON AND OTHER URBAN AREAS?HOW DID THOSE IN URBAN AREAS LIVE? WHAT WERE COMMON OCCUPATIONS, WHAT WERE HOMES LIKE?

Homes were built of stone if you were rich, but wood most of the time. In London the houses were most likely three to four stories with the roof jetting out over the streets. The house was also the business; the ground floor was usually the workspace or shop, acquired by the book The City. Urban homes were often very crowded. Many houses had one to two sevants that did things like clean and cook meals for the family; the wealthy would have more people to help out around the house. The wealthy also would have serving quarters for them to eat and sleep. Otherwise regardless of the people everyone in the household ate together for supper. Families all shared one common bedroom and had no running water to bathe or go to the bathroom with. Poorer homes were dark and plain in side with only one heat source, a fireplace or hearth. Rooms were not over furnished at all; they just filled them with the necessities like a dinning table, chest for dishes, and a chair for the head of the house. Prosperous families’ homes would be bright and warm with heat in every room. The furniture would also be more lavish. The home was mainly a place to eat and sleep; entertaining was gained elsewhere.

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Work Cited **

Hinels, Kathryn. //The City //. Tarrytown, New York: Marshall Cavendish Benchmark, 2008. 9,19,25-29, 36-39, 41. Print.

Ros, Maggi. "The city of London." //Life in Elizabethan England //. The Elizabethan World, 2008. Web. 3 Apr 2010. .

Stewart, Gail. //Life in Elizabethan London //. Farmington Hills, MI: Lucent Books, 2003. 8-11. Print.