Tudor England | 3. Culture and innovation

Summary

History Extra Podcast: Tudor England | Episode 3 - Culture and Innovation

Release Date: December 12, 2024
Host: Emily Briffitt
Guest: Tracy Borman, Author, Historian, and Broadcaster

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Introduction

In the third episode of the History Extra podcast series, host Emily Briffitt delves into the vibrant cultural landscape of Tudor England alongside renowned historian Tracy Borman. This episode, titled "Culture and Innovation," explores various facets of Tudor life, including food, festivals, fashion, art, theater, music, the impact of the printing press, and scientific advancements. The discussion paints a comprehensive picture of how culture and innovation intertwined to shape the Tudor era.

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Food and Drink

The episode begins with an appetizing exploration of the Tudor diet. Tracy Borman provides an insightful overview of the eating habits during this period:

• Abundance of Meat: "If it moved, the Tudors would eat it" ([03:19]). Meat was a staple across all social classes, though the quality and variety differed between the wealthy and the poor. The affluent enjoyed fresh meats like beef, venison, and swans, while the less fortunate subsisted on salted or preserved meats such as rabbits and pigeons.

• Bread and Grains: Borman dispels the myth that only the poor ate fruits and vegetables, explaining that courtiers also included these in their diets. However, bread consumption highlighted social disparities: the rich preferred white bread, whereas the poor ate whole grain varieties, inadvertently granting them certain health advantages.

• Exotic Spices and Sugar: As overseas exploration intensified, the importation of spices and sugar became status symbols. Borman shares a fascinating tidbit: "It became almost a status symbol, believe it or not, to have rotten teeth because it meant you were rich and you could afford sugar" ([05:00]).

• Preservation Methods: Without modern refrigeration, Tudor kitchens employed salting, drying, smoking, and pickling to preserve food. Vegetables like carrots and cabbages were favored for their storability.

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Festivals and Public Celebrations

Public festivals played a pivotal role in Tudor society, serving as both social glue and political statements:

• Christmas Celebrations: Unlike today's festivities, Tudor Christmas spanned twelve consecutive days, filled with feasting and revelry. "It was like 12 Christmas days back to back" ([13:19]).

• May Day and Religious Festivities: May Day was celebrated with vigor, alongside other religious holidays like Easter, which included fasting periods like Lent.

• Coronations and Military Victories: Major events such as coronations and victories, like the defeat of the Armada, were celebrated with bells, bonfires, feasting, and public entertainments. Borman emphasizes, "People knew about a coronation through town criers. It was preached in sermons every week at church" ([16:05]).

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Fashion: Iconic Tudor Attire

Tudor fashion was both elaborate and symbolic, reflecting social status and personal identity:

• Exaggerated Garments: Notable pieces included the farthingale, a structured skirt for women, and the infamous codpiece for men. Borman remarks, "They tend to get bigger as the century wore on, because, of course, they were a sign of virility and masculinity" ([20:12]).

• Headgear and Wigs: Hairstyles were significant, especially for Queen Elizabeth I, who famously lost her hair due to toxic cosmetics and resorted to elaborate wigs. "Elizabeth I had more than 80 wigs in her collection" ([22:50]).

• Sumptuary Laws: Strict laws regulated what each social class could wear, ensuring that fashion remained a clear indicator of one's status. "You could very, very easily break the law and face severe penalties if you wear the wrong color, if you wear the wrong fabric" ([20:38]).

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Art and Portraiture

Art was a crucial medium for monarchs to project power and perpetuate their image:

• Portraiture as Image Management: Tudor monarchs, especially Elizabeth I, used portraits to craft an image of invincibility and agelessness. Borman notes, "Elizabeth employed what was known as the mask of youth in her portraits" ([27:21]).

• Hans Holbein's Mastery: As the leading court painter, Holbein's works provided a detailed glimpse into Tudor life. Borman highlights, "Holbein really is my favorite from the Tudor period in terms of some favorite works of art" ([29:25]).

• Symbolism in Art: Paintings like the "Rainbow Portrait" of Elizabeth I are rich with symbols that convey messages about power, wisdom, and lineage. Borman describes the portrait's elements: "Eyes to indicate that she's kind of all-seeing, and ears as well. She hears everything" ([46:59]).

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Theater and Performance

Tudor theater was a lively and interactive form of entertainment, deeply integrated into society:

• Shakespeare's Influence: Recognized as a cultural icon, Shakespeare's plays captured the societal issues and sentiments of the time. "His plays were performed mainly in London at the Theatre in Shoreditch" ([34:27]).

• Audience Dynamics: Unlike modern theaters, Tudor audiences were highly interactive—cheering, booing, and even throwing food became commonplace. "Audiences were very rowdy... It was much more like being a pantomime" ([37:09]).

• Gender Roles on Stage: Women were banned from acting, leading young boys to play female roles, adding a unique dynamic to the performances.

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Music and Dance

Music was an integral part of Tudor life, enjoyed by all social classes in various forms:

• Diverse Musical Forms: From courtly minstrels to traveling singers, music accompanied both everyday life and grand events. "Music was integral to social gatherings and, you know, from the everyday, such as church services to special occasions like weddings" ([37:21]).

• Instruments and Compositions: Popular instruments included the harp, viol, virginals, flutes, bagpipes, and recorders. Composers like William Byrd and Thomas Tallis left a lasting legacy.

• Dance Variations: Dance styles varied between social classes. The upper echelons enjoyed sophisticated dances like the volta and galliard, while villagers participated in more free-form dances like Maypole and Morris dancing. Borman humorously compares court dances to "Strictly Come Dancing" and rural dances to a "free for all" ([39:21]).

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The Printing Press: Catalyst for Change

The advent of the printing press in the late 15th century had profound effects on Tudor society:

• Increase in Literacy: The accessibility of printed materials spurred a rise in literacy rates. "At the beginning of the Tudor period, about 10% of the male population could read. Now by the end... almost three times as much for women" ([42:45]).

• Spread of Ideas: The printing press facilitated the dissemination of Reformation ideas and standardized the English language, reducing the variability in spelling and grammar.

• Cultural Renaissance: Works by authors like Geoffrey Chaucer, William Shakespeare, and Thomas More became bestsellers, enriching the cultural landscape.

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Science and Innovation

Tudor England was a period of significant scientific inquiry and practical innovations:

• Astronomical Advancements: The heliocentric model proposed by Nicolaus Copernicus challenged existing beliefs, repositioning the sun at the center of the universe.

• Navigation and Exploration: Innovations in mapmaking and navigation played a crucial role in England's overseas explorations, setting the stage for future global expansion.

• Everyday Inventions: Practical inventions like the flushing toilet and discoveries like graphite's applications revolutionized daily life.

• Agricultural Improvements: Enhancements in farming tools, seed drills, and enclosure practices led to more efficient agriculture, benefiting the majority of the population. Borman asserts, "Agricultural developments were top of the tree" in terms of impact on ordinary lives ([46:07]).

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Favorite Tudor Cultural Piece

To conclude the episode, Tracy Borman nominates her favorite piece of Tudor culture:

• The "Rainbow Portrait" of Elizabeth I: This masterpiece encapsulates the essence of Elizabethan symbolism and power. Borman describes its intricate details: "There are eyes...ears...a serpent...an armillary sphere...it tells a thousand words" ([46:59]).

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Conclusion

Episode 3 of the History Extra podcast offers a rich tapestry of Tudor culture and innovation, highlighting how the interplay of food, festivals, fashion, art, theater, music, the printing press, and scientific advancements forged a dynamic society. Through the expertise of Tracy Borman, listeners gain a nuanced understanding of how these elements not only defined the Tudor era but also left a lasting legacy on modern society.

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Next Episode Preview:
Join us as we delve into the "Turbulent World of Tudor Religion and Superstitious Belief," exploring the spiritual and mystical aspects that influenced Tudor life.

Transcript

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[Emily Briffitt]

This is a History Extra Production from vicious court politicking and cultural innovation to global voyages of discovery and total religious upheaval, Tudor England was a turbulent and exciting place to be. In this History Extra podcast series, we're heading right to the beating heart of the era to uncover what life was like for those who lived through it. I'm your host Emily Briffitt, and I'm joined by author, historian and broadcaster Tracy Borman. In this third episode, we'll be sampling the cultural delights of the Tudors, touching on art and literature, fashion and festivals, and science and innovation. Welcome back Tracy. For this, the third time, I am.

[Tracy Borman]

Very excited because there's such rich material to talk about in this episode.

[Emily Briffitt]

There's so much we're gonna cover now Last episode, we spoke all about daily life. And to start this episode with a kind of similar topic, we should talk about food and drink.

[Tracy Borman]

We should. This is when my stomach is gonna start rumbling because actually some of this food sounds pretty nice and it's hard to avoid food and drink, of course, for anyone. It's the stuff of life, but it's particularly the stuff of Tudor life.

[Emily Briffitt]

So what did the Tudor diet consist of?

[Tracy Borman]

Meat is first and foremost in the Tudor diet. I work at Hampton Court and we have a historic kitchens team there, and I have learned so much from them. And I remember one of the teams saying, basically, if it moved, the Tudors would eat it. So they ate such a wide array of different animals, birds, fish, whatever they could get their hands on. And one of our visitors once asked them, actually, how would I have managed in the Tudor period because I'm a vegetarian. And they said, you would be dead. Because there just wasn't enough, apart from really meat and fish to go on. So popular meat included beef, venison, wild boar, birds like swans. And poorer people would eat whatever meat they could find. Rabbits, blackbirds, pheasants, ducks, even pigeons. A real differentiation between rich and poor diet was the freshness of the meat. If you're wealthy, you will have fresh meat. If you're poorer, then it's more likely to be salted or preserved in some way, unless you happen to poach yourself a nice rabbit or two. Fruit and vegetables. It's a bit of a myth to say the Tudors didn't eat fruit and veg, only the poor people did. Well, fruit and veg was more of a staple for poorer diets, but it was also prominent in the diet of courtiers and high ranking members of society. Now, bread, this is where poor people were a bit healthier, because wealthier people ate white bread, whereas poorer people ate bread made from sort of rye and whole grains, if you like. So there were some advantages to being lower down the social scale, higher up the scale as well. As the Tudor period advanced and overseas exploration got underway, and we're going to be talking about that in a future episode, then you get the importation of exotic spices, but also of a commodity that is still rotting teeth the world over. Sugar became very popular in the diets of the wealthy members of society, and it became almost a status symbol, believe it or not, to have rotten teeth because it meant you were rich and you could afford sugar. And as Christmas, Tudor courtiers gave each other bejeweled toothpicks, because that was all the rage. A sign that, you know, yeah, our teeth aren't in a good state of repair, but that means we can afford it.

[Emily Briffitt]

Good thing that that's changed, really. Dentists would not be happy.

[Tracy Borman]

They would not be happy. And in particular, they would not be happy with my favorite monarch of the period, Elizabeth I, because she was actually quite abstemious with what she ate. But she did have a sweet tooth. And she didn't just have sugar in things like March Pain or, or marzipan, she sprinkled it over salads, she sweetened her wine with it, and she even had sugar in her toothpaste because it was thought to have abrasive properties and therefore good for cleaning teeth. Obviously, it wasn't all that great. Well, poor diet, of course, did contribute to a number of common health complaints. So the wealthier classes suffered from things such as gout, bladder stones, constipation. We've already talked about the rotten teeth. By contrast, poorer members of society, yes, they ate more vegetables and whole grains, but insufficient meat and dairy produce, and often what they did eat had gone bad or in quite a lot of cases. And undernourishment led to vulnerability to things like influenza, gastric upsets, anaemia because of the lack of iron in their diet. If you were a courtier, your average daily calorie consumption would be 5,000 calories a day. Now, that's twice the recommended daily intake for an adult male and more than twice for a female. So that was all because of the predominance of meat. And of course, pastries were very popular as well. Rich sauces, cream, lots of dairy produce that would account for quite such a high intake.

[Emily Briffitt]

Doctors and dentists worldwide listening to this, have got something to say about that, I'm sure.

[Tracy Borman]

Absolutely. It was a real luxury. And if you were at court, then you didn't just get a three course meal, you had several different courses, each comprising many different dishes to choose from. And it was like a constant buffet. So it wasn't just one single course after another. You know, you would be presented with 15, 16, 17 different dishes and you would pick a bit from each. And I also love the fact that Tudors didn't really differentiate between a savory course and a sweet course. They would have roast beef, fresh cream, apricots, kind of all on the same plate. So, yeah, they didn't bother about whether it was sweet or savory, they just chomped down on all of it at the same time. Fab.

[Emily Briffitt]

Loads of new combinations, I'm sure there. What about drink Is it true that people just sat and drank ale all day, every day?

[Tracy Borman]

Ale was certainly a staple for all classes, but it had a very, very low alcohol content. It was brewed without hops, so it was also safe to drink, as well as being not really alcoholic because the brewing process killed germs. So little wonder it was one of the most popular drinks. Rich people drank wine, often imported from other countries, while poorer people would drink beer, their kind of alcoholic beverage. Now, one of the myths of the Tudor period is that nobody drank water because it wasn't safe. In fact, fresh water was readily available, certainly for the court. It was pumped in to places like Hampton Court from springs that could be up to three miles away. But there was quite advanced technology for pumping in the water and it was used for both drinking and for cooking. So if our listeners take away nothing else, I would love them to remember the Tudors did drink fresh water.

[Emily Briffitt]

Good thing to note myth busting here. We've talked about washing last episode, now we're onto water. So we're getting there.

[Tracy Borman]

Absolutely.

[Emily Briffitt]

So where could you pick up your groceries then?

[Tracy Borman]

So markets were really where most people would buy their produce. And of course, you get markets in both towns and in the countryside. You would buy beef, pork. You might also raise your own chickens to eat. You would have your own limited sort of livestock. There were cook shops, similar to modern fast food restaurants. They sold food like roasted meats and pies. But there were often complaints. You see, there's a lot in the contemporary sources about the quality of the food and indeed the hygiene at cook shops. So you ran the gauntlet a little bit if you went to these Tudor equivalent of fast food restaurants as well as that. There were, of course, inns, taverns, ale houses, where as well as getting a drink, you could actually get something to eat. Fresh fruit, vegetables, herbs came from orchards and gardens of estates. And Henry VIII had his own kitchen garden at Hampton Court and managed to cultivate quite exotic varieties such as apricots, strawberries. They were a real favorite with Anne Boleyn. And what I love about the Tudors, because we tend to think we just get better at doing stuff, but actually the Tudors had it bang on because they ate seasonally, they ate locally, and there was almost zero food waste, particularly at the court, because it was actually rude to finish everything. And the reason it was rude is because your leftovers would then go to the servants. Their leftovers would then be distributed to the poor outside the palace gate. So food waste wasn't really a thing in the Tudor period, obviously, we're also.

[Emily Briffitt]

Talking about an age where they didn't have fridges, freezers, microwaves, ovens in the same capacity as we do today. How was food preserved and prepared in the Tudor kitchen?

[Tracy Borman]

So salting was one of the most common ways of preserving meat in particular. So meat was kept in barrels of salt water or rubbed with salt, and that would stop it from turning bad. Drying as well. Meat would be hung to dry and that would make it last longer. Meat and fish could be smoked. It was quite time consuming, but it was quite effective as a way of preserving it. Fish often preserved by pickling, and other things like grain that would be stored in barns for use in bread, beer, pottage, a kind of porridgey type dish that was popular in the Tudor period. But poorer classes tended to favor vegetables that were grown beneath the ground because that was sort of like a natural way of preserving them. So carrots, onions, cabbages were easier to store than above ground vegetables. They lasted longer, and they could be made into all sorts of things like stews and soups. So they were an absolute key facet of the poorer diet.

[Emily Briffitt]

Moving from food to festivals, what role did public festivals, holidays fairs, play in Tudor life?

[Tracy Borman]

Oh, they were pivotal to the Tudor life, both at court, but everywhere, really across the kingdom. And festivals tended to be based around the religious calendar. So, of course, the biggest and the best, as it still is today, is Christmas. But the Tudor Christmas went on for far longer than our Christmas. So I certainly get stressed about, you know, making sure there's enough food on Christmas Day and probably Boxing Day as well. But for the Tudors, the twelve days of Christmas were celebrated with equal riotous revelries and equal feasting. Every single One of the 12 days, it was. It would be like 12 Christmas days back to back. And there was so much revelry, so much entertaining and so much food, of course. So chickens, geese, turkey became very popular during the period. And by the end of the period, it was sort of the staple, really, the Christmas staple. And then you'd have mince pies much more meaty than our modern equivalent Christmas puddings. Moving on from Christmas, May Day celebrations, very, very popular mid summer. And of course, there would be other religious festivities such as Easter. There would be some abstemiousness during Lent, and there were certain days when you couldn't eat flesh, you couldn't eat meat. And Catherine of Aragon, for example, observed that very strictly. And it was seen to be detrimental, in fact, to her health and her ability to conceive that perhaps she was deficient in iron because she was so good at fasting. So yes, lots of excuses to get together and to eat and to stage great feasts if you were at court or lucky enough to be part of a noble house. But even if you weren't, food was still at the centre of local festivities and things like weddings. Just as today you'd have a wedding banquet that was very much a feature of Tudor times.

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[Emily Briffitt]

How are things like coronations and big military victories celebrated?

[Tracy Borman]

Coronations would be celebrated across the land. There would be the ringing of bells. There would be bonfires, feasting, pageants, processions. People knew about a coronation through town criers. It was preached in sermons every week at church. So yes, you might argue that people's everyday lives weren't as affected by Tudor monarchs as we might think. But they would certainly use a coronation as excuse to celebrate and absolutely, at court. Coronation festivities would go on for several days. They could be exhausting. And of course, food was a key part of that. Weddings would also include a wedding feast as today. And there would be numerous other excuses to get together and to eat and to make merry. For example, military victories. We know that the Armada was celebrated for several weeks at Elizabeth's court. Lots of entertainment, plays, masking, and of course, lots of eating between the ruff.

[Emily Briffitt]

The codpiece, the headdress. This was also an era of really iconic fashion. Tell us, what are some of the most extraordinary pieces of clothing?

[Tracy Borman]

Iconic, I think, is the word we immediately get an image, don't we, of a Tudor costume when we just begin talking about it. And the weird and the wonderful included things like the farthingale. That was a structured skirt worn by women. It was an undergarment. Sort of added volume to a skirt. The Spanish farthingale was introduced into England by none other than Henry VIII's first wife, Catherine of Aragon. And also, it's the era of the rough, and the roughs get bigger as the period goes on. So big that apparently in the later Elizabethan period, women actually struggled to get food into their mouths because they were kind of having to get round. They're very, very wide ruffs and not very practical. And you'd imagine. Well, I certainly would. I'm very clumsy and I would be spilling all sorts of food on my ruff if I'd been wearing one in the Tudor period. Headgear. Not very flattering, I have to say. I have tried on a gable hood. I looked ridiculous. Gable hoods were popular certainly for the early Tudor period, and they were called gable hoods because they literally resembled the gable of a house. They kind of rose to a point and they would hide the hair, so you don't show off your ha, particularly if you're a married woman. Unmarried women usually wore their hair loose, or they could on their wedding day, or indeed on their coronation day if they're the queen. But of course, we can't not mention the codpiece, probably one of the most iconic, extraordinary pieces of clothing from the Tudor period, covering, of course, the crotch area of the long hose worn by men. The word codpiece comes from the Middle English word cod, which meant scrotum, I'm afraid. And they were designed to keep men's hemlines from rising, typically triangular, but made from luxury materials like silk and velvet, often embroidered in the case of Henry viii, bejewelled codpieces, they tended to get bigger as the century wore on, because, of course, they were a sign of virility and masculinity and prowess. And it's interesting that Henry VIII's codpieces get larger as his failure to produce a son gets more acute. So I think he's trying to protest a bit too much through his codpiece.

[Emily Briffitt]

Certainly think so. They certainly make a statement.

[Tracy Borman]

We'll say they do make a very definite statement. It's kind of hard to. Hard to miss the codpiece when you look at some of the portraits of Henry in his later years. Yeah, the eye is drawn to that area. You can't help looking at it.

[Emily Briffitt]

So how far was what was in vogue, influenced by what was going on in the courts, the social trends of the era.

[Tracy Borman]

The monarchs are the trendsetters and it all filters down from there because then their high ranking courtiers imitate their styles and then the status below theirs try to emulate it, but of course it gets watered down. They can't afford the same fabrics, but also they're not allowed to wear the same rich fabrics as their superiors. So sumptuary laws are very, very crucial to life in Tudor England and to dress in Tudor England. So you could very, very easily break the law and face severe penalties if you wear the wrong color, if you wear the wrong fabric. Purple is the preserve of royalty, so you have to be royal to wear purple and silks and velvets. You know, you really have to be high ranking to wear. And so it goes down the chain. So you can't just get out of bed every morning and say, oh, what do I fancy wearing today? The law dictates what you can wear, but certainly the trendsetters are at the very top of the tree and people do emulate that further down. And there are certain trends associated with gender as well. And I think it's really interesting with Elizabeth I, who she faces a lot of challenges as a female monarch in a man's world. And the silhouette of female clothing becomes almost manly in her reign as shoulders become a thing. So big shoulders, padded sleeves, and it's almost like she's trying to be one of the boys. And so then all the women who serve her, they also have huge sleeves and these big ruffs and it all becomes a bit kind of masculine, really. So I think it's telling. You can see what's going on according to what people are wearing and, you know, the sort of style that the monarch is trying to project.

[Emily Briffitt]

Sounds like she's trying to pull a Tudor power suit.

[Tracy Borman]

Yes, it's very much that kind of 80s power suit with, you know, the great shoulder pads. And Elizabeth is doing just the same thing.

[Emily Briffitt]

Another thing about Elizabeth is she's famous for the hair.

[Tracy Borman]

Yes.

[Emily Briffitt]

How, where? Why did they get their hair done? Yes.

[Tracy Borman]

There weren't really many hairdressers in the Tudor period. There were barbers. In a previous episode, we talked about barber surgeons who combined hairdressing with being surgeons. So you could go to a barber to get your beard trimmed. Most women in the Tudor period actually rarely cut their hair. And it's for that reason. Long hair was very fashionable for practical reasons, really. If you were of an ordinary class, not nobility, not royal, you Would probably either cut your own hair or you would get a friend or a family member to do it for you. Elizabeth actually started to lose her hair when she was still quite young, late 30s, early 40s, because of the cosmetics she used, some of which were pretty toxic. And she started to lose her hair. We know that she had more than 80 wigs in her collection. And her wigs became more outlandish as her reign wore on. And you see that just as the monarch sets the trend for fashion, so they set this trend for hair. And red hair becomes very popular in the Tudor period because red hair is a trait of the Tudors. Now. You could change your hair color. There were various products that you could use. I don't think we would want to try them today. Emily, I have to say horse urine to lighten your hair. Sulfur and lead to darken your hair. More pleasant were things like saffron, cumin seed oils that could be used as well on your hair. Bit more sweet smelling than the old horse urine, I think.

[Emily Briffitt]

Talking about toxic makeup, who wore makeup? Why was it toxic?

[Tracy Borman]

Oh, you didn't want to go there, really. It was much better to go for natural beauty. Much healthier, I think, probably as it is today, but less extreme. So the use of heavy makeup wasn't really a thing for the early Tudor period. It became fashionable thanks to good old Queen Liz, Elizabeth I, she really set the fashions for a number of reasons. Now, there is a theory that because Elizabeth caught smallpox early in her reign, it left her with pitted skin. Smallpox could have a devastating effect on your skin, but it did leave sort of pockmarks most often. So it's thought Elizabeth, she did have marks on her skin that she tried to cover up with makeup. And most famously as well, she wanted to appear sort of ethereal and a virgin because of course, she was the Virgin Queen. And a real sign of virginity was to have a very white complexion, a very pale complexion. So Elizabeth used white lead, of course you would white lead mixed with vinegar. And this had a terribly corrosive effect on her skin. So the irony is that the other big reason Elizabeth wore makeup was to conceal the effect of the years on her skin. And yeah, it's very relatable to modern day women. Of course you want anti aging products. But for Elizabeth it was vital because she was an unmarried monarch. The whole monarchy and the future of the monarchy rested on her alone. So she couldn't show any signs of aging or vulnerability. She had to seem ageless. So she just slapped on more and more white Lead, which just poisoned her skin more and more. It caused the hair loss that necessitated the wearing of wigs. And there are a number of other fairly disgusting cosmetics that Elizabeth wore, and they included red paste for her lips made from beeswax. That's not too bad. But also cochineal plant dye. Her eyes were lined with coal. But worst of all, to make one's eyes spark, if you're a Tudor lady, you would drip into them belladonna or deadly nightshade. Very, very poisonous, Very dangerous.

[Emily Briffitt]

Especially if you just want to look good when you're at work.

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[Tracy Borman]

You're more likely to kind of lose your sight or even your life, I think.

[Emily Briffitt]

Horrendously dangerous.

[Tracy Borman]

Yes.

[Emily Briffitt]

Elizabeth, she makes such a statement in her dress, also in her portraiture. How was art used to reinforce this social status and power?

[Tracy Borman]

Art was pivotal to image in the Tudor period. It was kind of like your profile pic. And Elizabeth employed what was known as the mask of youth in her portraits. So she had herself painted early on, and when she saw an image of herself that she approved of, that became the standard image that lasted for the next 40 odd years. So I would do exactly the same. If I had the option not to age in public, then I would absolutely employ the same method as Elizabeth favoured. It was about more than vanity, it was about appearing invincible. And that was absolutely crucial, particularly for an unmarried sovereign such as Elizabeth. And in fact, portraiture was the major art form in Tudor England. Religious paintings had dominated the medieval period. Of course, after the Reformation, religious subjects became less popular. And in fact, it wasn't the age of yet landscape paintings that was later on. So really, most paintings were portraits. And this was the way that Tudor monarchs showed themselves to their public, because they would have their portrait painted by the likes of Hans Holbein, the most famous court painter of the age, and then they would be copied and displayed in the homes of their nobles or perhaps in local buildings, civic buildings and the like. So it was sort of a ripple effect. You get the original image and then that would be copied and copied and copied. And the one that made it into your local church might or might not look like the original. But in an age before social media, when images can be transmitted across the world in a matter of seconds, the portrait was essential. This is how people knew what their monarch looked like. That and the coinage as well.

[Emily Briffitt]

Were there any major artistic movements? And also, could you share with us some of your favorite pictures?

[Tracy Borman]

Of course. So. So this was the sort of High Renaissance. So there was greater realism in the paintings. Of the Tudor period. When you look at the Holbeins, it's almost like he's opened a window into the Tudor court. They are startling in their detail and we know that they're very much based on reality. Well, you get such a sense of what people looked like, how they dressed, the furnishings that they were surrounded with. Of course, there's a hierarchy here. People lower down the social scale didn't tend to sit for portraits in the same way. But certainly Holbein is hard to beat. And I would say Holbein really is my favourite from the Tudor period in terms of some favourite works of art. I have mentioned Hampton Court a few times, but I'm gonna mention it again because hanging in the haunted gallery is this magnificent painting known as the Family of Henry the painted towards the very end of his reign to sort of celebrate his dynasty, really. His daughters Mary and Elizabeth had just been returned to the succession and he was really signposting the future in this painting. On his right was his son Edward. So he's telling his people, this is your next king, rather creepily. His long dead wife Jane Seymour is on Henry's left. So even though Catherine Parr was now married to Henry, she's not in the painting. It's all about Jane Seymour, the mother of Edward. And then on the left you have his elder daughter Mary, and on the right, Elizabeth. And there's so much detail. You get the decor of Henry's palaces, you see the gardens in the background. It's just wonderful. A painting probably even closer to my heart at the moment because I've just written a book about it, is the Ambassador's Holbein again. It's one of the most famous paintings in the National Gallery in London. And it shows two Frenchmen, two French diplomats who visited England in 1533. What a year to visit England. The year that Henry VIII marries Anne Boleyn, sets aside Catherine of Aragon, breaks with Rome, Elizabeth I is born and these two ambassadors witnessed it all. And this painting is so mysterious. It's full of hidden symbols and messages and all about division and the religious turmoil that was happening not just in England, but across Europe. And this was Holbein's genius, his ability to use a painting and the details within it to convey literally a thousand words. And people would have understood those hidden messages and clues at the time. And we're still trying to decipher them today.

[Emily Briffitt]

Such beautiful insights into this age. Of course, this is also an age of the iconic playwright William Shakespeare. And I think we would be particularly Remiss to not include him in this podcast series.

[Tracy Borman]

It would be rude. Yes.

[Emily Briffitt]

Was he a smash hit in the Tudor age?

[Tracy Borman]

He was getting to be a smash hit. I think probably his zenith was in the reign of the first Stuart King, James I, who loved Shakespeare, as did his courtiers, but he was definitely getting popular in the reign of Elizabeth I, and he was, of course, born during her reign. He produced most of his known works between 1589, so the year after the Armada, and then after the Tudors, 1613. And his plays were performed mainly in London at the imaginatively named the Theatre in Shoreditch by the Lord Chamberlain's Men, which was a company of players that included Shakespeare himself and soon became the leading company in London. And he wrote plays that spoke to what was going on in society. He was so good at being relevant to people at all levels of society. These were the issues that people were talking about. They would have got his jokes. And he was also, of course, known for his history plays and really being a kind of spin doctor for the Tudor monarchy. He told a very distinct version of history that absolutely favored the Tudor claim to the throne. For example, most notably, of course, his play Richard iii, which left people in no doubt that Richard had been a usurper and the murderer of the princes in the Tower, because, of course, he was the one that the Tudors stole the crown from, so he had to be a villain. And as the Elizabethan period wore on, a theme that you see a lot in Shakespeare's plays is the succession. And that's very relevant because this was on everybody's lips. Who's going to succeed Elizabeth? It's now obvious she's not going to have a child, she's not going to get married. And it creeps to Shakespeare's plays. You see it an awful lot. So, yes, Shakespeare did gain renown. He did perform in front of Elizabeth. But probably, as I say, his real glory days came in the Stuarts.

[Emily Briffitt]

What was it like to visit a Tudor theatre?

[Tracy Borman]

It was very different. It was much more raucous than today. Today, people would be tutting if there was somebody rustling their popcorn too loudly or whispering. Not so. In the Tudor period, audiences were very rowdy. They would cheer the heroes, boo the villains. They might throw food at the actors if they didn't like what they were doing, if they were unsatisfied with the performance. There were hecklers. It was much more like being a pantomime, I think, being at a Shakespeare play, or indeed any play in the Tudor period. The other notable Differences. Audiences mostly stood. They didn't sit the area closest to the stage. It was called the pit. And of course they were the cheaper tickets available, wealthier people would be able to be seated during the performance, but those in the pit, they would often have to stand for kind of up to three hours. So you really had to be quite dedicated to go to a play. In the Tudor period, typically they weren't performed in the evening as they would be today, because candles just didn't cut it. They just could not light the stage adequately. So they often took place during the day. But, yeah, because their roofs were left open then and they tended to be circular buildings then. Yeah. Come rain or shine, you would attend the theater predominantly in London. Certainly not every town in the uk, or even every major city had a theatre, but there were traveling companies and even Shakespeare himself had one of those. They didn't have much scenery. People had to rely on their imaginations. They also didn't have women on stage, or at least not officially. Women were banned from acting, so the parts of women were played by young boys before their voices had broken, so they could give a more convincing performance. But sometimes, as memorably depicted in one of my favorite films, Shakespeare in Love, women did manage to get parts, but only by pretending to be men, pretending to be women, slightly confusingly. And one thing I love about the Tudor theatres is because most people couldn't read, so they wouldn't be able to read a poster saying, come and see the play, it starts at 2:00. So instead, cannons were fired to signal the beginning of a performance, sometimes with disastrous effect, such as when, once, the thatched roof of a theater caught fire, thanks to a cannon being let off to signal the beginning of a performance. And in fact, the whole theatre was burnt to the ground.

[Emily Briffitt]

Quite tragic consequences for simply just announcing a play.

[Tracy Borman]

Yes, exactly.

[Emily Briffitt]

What about music? What role did music play in society? Who had access to it? What did it sound like?

[Tracy Borman]

Well, music was huge in the Tudor period and for all walks of life, just like the theatre, which didn't distinguish between classes. People from kings to commoners went to the theatre and they also enjoyed music, a huge part of Tudor culture. It was played at many major events, both court events, but also local gatherings. There were traveling minstrels and troops of singers that would go to every single corner of the kingdom. The Tudor period also saw a rise in composers and a new type of English secular music. Of course, not just religious music. Again, it's all caught up with the Reformation composers such as William Bird and Thomas Tallis left a very rich legacy of music. Henry VIII fancied himself as a bit of a composer as well, although didn't compose Greensleeves as is often thought. But sadly, most of his works have been lost. Popular instruments included the harp, the viol, the virginals, flutes, bagpipes, recorders. And the wealthy would employ troops of minstrels to entertain them at dinner. Edward VI, Henry VIII's precious son, he had his own personal troop of minstrels to entertain him day and night. People would, of course, also experience music when they went to church. Choirs, organs. And there was a strong and rich tradition of folk songs that would be passed down among the generations. So music was integral to social gatherings and, you know, from the everyday, such as church services to special occasions like weddings and celebrating coronations and just it was a lovely way of bringing a community together.

[Emily Briffitt]

And of course, if we talk about music, we've got to talk about dancing. People love a boogie. Is that the case in the Tudor age? What did dancing in their time look like?

[Tracy Borman]

People still loved a good boogie in the Tudor period. Tudor dances now, they did differ quite a lot between rich and poor. So the upper classes had very sophisticated, stately, quite energetic dances, such as the volta and the galliard. And some of these dances involve being thrown several feet in the air by your partner. Elizabeth I was expert at this and she would spend many hours in the privacy of her private apartments practicing her dance steps with her ladies. And it was fundamental to the education of a noble woman or a royal woman to be able to dance and preferably play a musical instrument as well. Lower down the social scale, Maypole dancing was very popular. Morris dancing and the sort of dances that would be performed in villages and rural communities tended to be much less complicated than the court dances and more repetitive, lots of leaping about and just really freer and I dare say more enjoyable than the sort of rigid etiquette and rules and dance steps. That's a bit more like Strictly Come Dancing at the Tudor court and a little bit more like a free for all out in the rural communities.

[Emily Briffitt]

I think I know which one I'd prefer.

[Tracy Borman]

Me too.

[Emily Briffitt]

The printing press. We need to talk about this. It taken off in the sort of century before the shoe did. What impact did this have on society?

[Tracy Borman]

Huge impact on society. So the printing press really was pre Tudor, so the sort of 1470s, it got underway and it left no stone unturned, really. It had such an important effect on Tudor life at all levels. It led to an increase in literacy during the Period. Very few people could actually read and write at the beginning of the Tudor period, but now there was this literature more readily available, there was more impotence for people to learn to read and to write. It helped to spread ideas. And this was absolutely crucial for the Reformation. And these new ideas that were coming in from Germany, for example, Martin Luther, but also reformers within England, were able to spread their ideas across the kingdom and it was hugely influential. And the printing press also helped to standardise language because spelling was idiosyncratic at best for the early Tudor period, and people would even spell their own names different on different occasions. But the printing press helped to introduce much more standardization when it came to spelling and indeed to language. Printing also encouraged innovation and experimentation in science because the exchange of ideas was easier both across England, but also between England and continental Europe. And so there was this beginnings of. It wasn't quite the scientific revolution yet, but certainly there was the sort of spread of innovation, all thanks to this single invention of the printing press.

[Emily Briffitt]

Now, we're going to come on to science and innovation in a moment, but first I really want to ask you, what were the best sellers of the day?

[Tracy Borman]

The bestsellers included actually some old classics. So Geoffrey Chaucer's Canterbury Tales, that was printed a lot and became very, very popular again. It got us a second wind in the Tudor period. Of course, Shakespeare, we've got to mention him again. His plays, his poems, his sonnets, they became very, very popular. Thomas More, Henry VIII's favourite until he executed him, wrote such things as Utopia, this idealized society that was popular. The best selling monarch was James VI of Scotland, who wrote Demonology. We will be coming onto this in another episode because this was really a manual for witch hunters everywhere. And it was the absolute global bestseller of its day, reprinted numerous times into different languages. I would kill for his sales figures, actually. He was a phenomenon. So all of these were very, very popular works. And there was a real incentive now because there were such fascinating texts to read for more people then to learn to read. And literacy, it's always quite hard to gauge, but we can say that at the beginning of the Tudor period, about 10% of the male population could read. Now by the end of the Tudor period, that was almost three times as much for women. The percentages were depressingly lower, but there was still a similar level of increase.

[Emily Briffitt]

Now said we'd come onto it. So science and innovation, what did science look like? How did people seek to understand the world around them?

[Tracy Borman]

Well, there were some major discoveries, quite a Few of them, the Tudors, can't claim they were happening elsewhere in Europe. Nicolaus Copernicus, he was a true polymorph, active as a mathematician and astronomer. Now, he formulated a model of the universe that placed the sun rather than the Earth, at its center. Now, that was huge. Of course, people had believed that the Earth was the center of everything, but Copernicus proved otherwise. Now, the Elizabethans in particular, they made real innovations in navigation, in map making, which would have huge ramifications for exploration. And I know that that's going to be the theme of a later episode as well. There were other, you might say, smaller scale inventions. I'm talking about the flushing toilet, for example, right towards the very end of the Tudor period. A small but very important invention there, graphite, was discovered. Now, that was first used for the making of cannonballs, but of course, then it became used in pencils, but not until after the Tudor period.

[Emily Briffitt]

Lots of fascinating discoveries, innovations. Of course, we had to get the toilet in there. Of course, you've been part of our series as well with David Musgrove, Toilets Through Time. So if anyone wants to go and find out more about that is the place to go and find it.

[Tracy Borman]

You can get to the bottom of it there.

[Emily Briffitt]

Quite slippery. It had to be said. It had to be said. Now, were there any other major innovations or discoveries that really influenced daily life?

[Tracy Borman]

Yes, and actually one of the most important for the lives of most people living in Tudor England were agricultural innovations. People worked the land and there were more efficient tools for working the land. There were seed drills, there was more reliance on horses to pull plows. Cattle had done so previously. And there was more enclosure of common land and greater understanding of the effective cultivation of different crops, and of course, sheep farming as well. And that became highly sophisticated. So in terms of all the developments that had the greatest impact on ordinary lives, probably agricultural developments were top of the tree.

[Emily Briffitt]

Good mention. To finish up this episode, I'd like you to nominate your favorite piece of Tudor culture.

[Tracy Borman]

Oh, it's almost impossible, but it is going to have to be a painting because I just love the works of the Tudor period. It makes me feel closer to the monarchs I'm writing about and the Tudor court. And probably my favourite painting is the Rainbow Portrait of Elizabeth I. Now, this was painted at the very end of her reign. She probably only had a couple more years left to live when it was finished. You wouldn't know it by looking at her in this painting. She looks like she's in her 20s. It's very beautiful. But there are so many symbols in this painting. Like on her sleeves, there are eyes to kind of indicate that she's kind of all seeing, and ears as well. She hears everything. But there is also a serpent on her sleeve. Now, a serpent was a symbol of wisdom. And from the serpent's mouth hangs an armillary sphere. Now, an armillary sphere was like a chart of the solar system, and it symbolized constancy. Elizabeth's motto was Semper Eidem, or always the same. But the armillary sphere had been the first emblem used by her mother, Anne Boleyn. And Elizabeth didn't rest in trying to rehabilitate Anne Boleyn's shattered reputation. Right to the very end of her life, she was still displaying her mother's emblems, surrounding herself with her Berlin relatives. So this particular painting for me, never fails. It is truly the picture that tells a thousand words.

[Emily Briffitt]

Now, for our listeners, it's certainly a duty they've got to take up. Go and have a look at that painting. Thank you so much for your time today, Tracy.

[Tracy Borman]

It's been such a pleasure. And I feel that we've really started to live as Tudors in this episode. Episode, definitely.

[Emily Briffitt]

And that brings us to the end of this episode. Join us again next time when we'll be delving into the turbulent world of Tudor religion and superstitious belief.