Customer Reviews

Elizabeth's London: Everyday Life in Elizabethan London

5 star:		(8)
4 star:		(3)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

This book is unique in that it doesn't deal with the great sweep of history and its players so much as dwell on day to day life. In particular, the daily life of ordinary people who, in their own way, were not players on the larger stage. Rather, these people were those folk just going about their life.

Any moderately well read student of the 16th century would be familiar with the world of Henry VIII, Elizabeth, Shakespeare, Francis Drake and the Spanish Armada. Yet how many of these students would be familiar with the gardens, religious beliefs, medicine, fashions and diets of the era? Yes, many would have a smattering of knowledge but Liza Picard has done a fine job in providing many of these details of life plus a host of others. Who, for example, would be familiar with such amusements as bull, bear or even lion baiting? Imagine the spectacle of setting a lion in a pit with a team of dogs for a fight to the finish; unthinkable today but of the greatest sport during Elizabeth's time.

Liza Picard's book is an unusual work of history. She has chosen to deconstruct a different world to that of most historians. Her focus has been upon the ordinary rather than the glamorous. Ms Picard has chosen a different road to travel but one that is very fulfilling for the reader. Elizabeth I was, in my opinion, the most important woman to ever live. This book goes some of the way to providing background to an extraordinary woman living in an extraordinary age.

I stumbled on Liza Picard's books quite by chance. After looking at the publishing date in some of the books it is apparent some of them have been around for several years. I am now recommending them to anyone and everyone and I am so glad I stumbled across this one on a bookshop shelf. I have now read them all, but this one was the first.

As soon as you start to read the book it becomes apparent that the author is passionate about the subject and wants the reader to enjoy the experience as much as she has in the writing of it. How apt that the author starts the book with the life blood of the great City of London. Meandering like a great artery through the heart of the City. It moves on to the streets, houses and gardens; cooking, housework and shopping; clothes, jewellery and make-up; health and medicine; sex and food; education, etiquette and hobbies; religion, law and crime.

Liza Picard was born in 1927. She read law and qualified as a barrister but did not practice. Quite where she gleaned all this information from I am not sure. That it was a labour of love is obvious to anyone who reads her books and I for one am grateful.

This is a wonderful source of information regarding life in Elizabethan times at all social levels. There are maps which help you visualize the London of Elizabeth I and Henry VIII.

This book does a very good job at portraying how ordinary people lived their lives in the time of the Good Queen Bessie, from what they ate and wore to their furniture and sewage conditions. The only complaint that I have about it is that it is very difficult to visualize the descriptions of the clothing, and when referenced to one of the pictures I still didn't know what part of the outfit she was talking about. I would have rated this a 5 out of 5 if it would have included labled diagrams of the clothing.

This book is not a weighty type of history book or a scholarly tome (these have their own merits) but rather a chatty, catty intimate sort of conversation regarding the nitty gritty aspects of Elizabethan life. Don't be deceived by the author's quirky earthy sense of humour--she knows her stuff and has done painstaking research.
The format is more like a news entry--there are small sections with a heading for each topic. She flies from subject to subject in an energetic and gossipy style.
It's a great book to pick up and open up at random. There is no need to stick to one topic, you can flit around with the author. But while you are have a laugh, you will be learning so much. The fact and findings in this book cover a great range of fascinating topics dealing with the most intimate aspects of daily and royal life of the times. The author leaves no stone unturned and is not shy about it!
This book is meant to be enjoyed and shared with others :)

Liza Picard is obviously passionate about her subject and it shows. This is the best book on Elizabethan history I have read so far. It gives a good view of London. The guilds, the different classes (it doesn't just focus on the nobility), housing, the theatre... In all a great book.

This is a delightful social history of London based on the streets of the time: who lived there and how they lived. Lots to think about, especially for a Renaissance/Tudor re-enactor.

I recommend this book to anyone with an interest in Tudor history; By discribing the rapidly increasing sophistication of London during Elizabeth's reign, one can vividly imagine how small,dirty and provincial it would have been in the period before. Though dense with facts, Liza Picard's prose sparkles, full of life and character, making the book a real pleasure to read.

This will be a very enjoyable book for those who like to understand what life was like in times past, in this case 16th century England. Unlike most works on the history of the period, this one discusses the actual details of life in London--and by extension England--during the Elizabethan period which gives the reader a clear mental image of what it was like to live at the time. Taken from research into the surviving archives of legislative, judicial, commercial, religious, and private documents, the information given is often in the vernacular of the period and speaks directly from the contemporaries to the reader. While the author occasionally interjects surmise, it is almost always based on a judicious interpretation of primary sources rather than just "guess work."

What I enjoyed most about the book is that while world events and famous people are mentioned, what one comes away with is a history of the common people of England. This is something almost entirely neglected in books on history. I often wonder what people wore, what they ate, what quirky fashions arose, what was polite and impolite behavior, what workers were paid, what the status of women was in the society, who were the social misfits, what was the level of technology and who enjoyed it, and so on. Sometimes I find out more about the reality of a period reading historical novels set in the time frame. I became interested in the time periods bracketing World War I from reading some murder mysteries (Maisie Dobbs (Book 1) by Jacqueline Winspear and At Some Disputed Barricade: A Novel (World War I) by Anne Perry) set in the period; when I tried finding history books that gave the details--like those for the Elizabethan by Ms Picard's book--I found it nearly impossible. This shows exactly how significant this book is within its set time period. Not everyone will find this simple catalogue of subjects interesting; those more interested in the "great deeds of great men" sort of history or the detailed discussion of wars and fatalities will probably find it extraordinarily boring to read. Those interested in the background culture of, the theater for the great deeds and great men, however, will find it engrossing.

The book will definitely be useful to anyone writing term papers on the period, since it gives a clearer understanding of the stage upon which 16th century English history occurred. It will also be useful to anyone looking to write fiction set in the Elizabethan period; there is much detail given that will provide authenticity to the ambiance of whatever fictional characters are presented. Books on specific historic events and on individual personalities who lived during the time will still be necessary to anyone desiring to create a truly "real" experience, as little other than names and occasional actions of some of the biggest players are given here. An Elizabethan narrative would hardly be authentic without at least some references to the queen who did so much to create the character of the era or to the events and influential people that helped shape her perspective and actions.

Liza Picard has her finger on the pulse of Elizabethan London. The grime and the glamour are uniquely portrayed in this excellent work. The author knows her stuff, being an English historian specializing in the history of London. This is not her only book on the history of London, but it is the first chronologically. She read law at the London School of Economics and was called to the bar at Gray's Inn. Her research is thorough so that "she may speak with the voice of her times." I recommend this book and the others in the series, if they want historical accuracy as well as insight and humor into a fascinating city and fascinating times.