What was life like in 17th century London for Peasants?
Life was far different then how it is today back then. There wasn't much of a middle class there was pretty much just poor or rich.
How were peasants homes?
In the country peasant's homes usually had an earth floor (mostly consisting of mud). Most people rented the land from somebody called the landowner. In the country the peasant's homes had, for the most part, three rooms. The bedroom, the stall and the living room. For the worse off peasants they only had one room and sometimes even lived with animals. Their homes were made from thin pieces of wood with clay between each one to hold them together. The roofs were made from thatched reed and straw which did work pretty good. Their homes did not have chimneys so all the smoke drifted through whatever window or opening. Peasant's homes in the country were not luxurious by any means but they were still their homes and that's what they had to make do with.
What was marriage and church like for peasants?
Peasant boys want to be married at around twenty. The father is responsible for finding a women for his son. He could go to anybody he chooses including his friends or somebody he knows who has a daughter. Once the father finds someone then that women's father needs to approve. If everyone agrees the young people spend a month or so together to see how it'll go. If it looks like a bad future for the two they do not wind up getting married but if it does they will get married. Like today they would get married at a church and they would celebrate it. The church bells could ring for anything when a couple gets married, a festival, messages or an emergency. Back then everybody went to church and were very religious. It was out of the norm to not believe in God.
What was Work and Entertainment for Peasants?
In towns work was quite a bit different then in the country. A lot of the peasants that didn't find work in the country moved to the city to find work. Even some of those people didn't find work. You would be very fortunate to become an apprentice of somebody who was looking for one. After being an apprentice for seven years you would be able to make your own business which could be anything that you want it to be. Seven years does seem like a long time but it was for sure worth the seven years back then to be able to make your own business.A lot of peasants enjoyed to watch cockfighting or bear bating when they weren't working but some people couldn't even afford to watch that. A lot of times those people who did not have a job a lot of the time moved to crime. One of the reasons why there was so much crime was because there were so many poor people in London.When times got hard in London more then a quarter of the London found themselves jobless. Most of the crimes they committed were for stealing. they would take the stuff they steal and sell it."They lived in squalid rat infested slums and must of had miserable lives". "They had no share in the glories of Elizabeth's reign" said Stephanie White-Thomson in the book Medieval Lives Peasant about what the poorest of the poor had to live in.
What were the problems with having Peasants?
"Wherever you looked in Elizabethan times one saw poor people". "There were beggars in the streets vagabonds the highways homeless women and children on every hand" Quote from Stewart Ross from Elizabethan Life, about the overwhelming amount of poor. Elizabeth did not pay much attention to the poor. After her reign the parliament made a law that all those who could pay for their payers had to pay a "rate" which went towards helping the poor. This law helped the problem a little bit but it didn't fix the main problem which was getting them jobs. Many of the rich worried about the poor to call for a just society and start a bloody rebellion.
So how was life for peasants in seventeenth century London?
From what I've learned making this blog was that life was up and down. It was definitely not an easy life with many diseases and disasters that they had to worry about. But that's not the only thing. They needed to find work and supply food for their family will having criminals all around them. It wasn't all downs for them (though it was nowhere near as good as the rich life) they had a good bit of entertainment available for them at just about anytime and life only got better for them as the years went by.
I got all my information from the books listed below:
Elizabethan Life by Stewart Ross
Medieval Lives Peasant by Robert Hall
Elizabeth I And Tudor England by Stephanie White-Thomson
