Elizabeth's London [Audiobook, CD] [Audio CD]

Liza Picard (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: June 3, 2004

Like its popular and acclaimed predecessors, Restoration London and Dr Johnson's London, thisfascinating evocation of Elizabethan London is the result of the author's passionate interest in the practical details of everyday life and the conditions in which most people lived, which most history books ignore: the streets, houses and gardens; cooking, housework and shopping; clothes, jewellery and make-up; medicine and sex; education, etiquette and hobbies; religion, law and crime.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

Picard's latest historical guided tour, of 16th-century London, entertainingly rounds out her trilogy (with Dr. Johnson's London and Restoration London) revisiting the great city's past. Although Elizabethan London boasts no single great diarist like Samuel Pepys or James Boswell, Picard ably sifts through an enormous variety of records, letters, books and other accounts to re-create the urban expanse. Starting with topography and architecture, Picard takes her readers across the Thames and through the neighborhoods of the emergent metropolis, noting the housing and development boom touched off by Henry VIII's appropriation of papal real estate. Her tour continues through every aspect of Elizabethan life, from clothes and food to family and education, from crime and law to jobs and welfare. In such a wide-ranging scheme, the theater, along with other entertainments, is only one aspect of a flourishing society. Picard's discursive, conversational tone prevents even the topic of the water supply, with its newly engineered pipes, from seeming too dry, and her eye for facts (and factoids) can spot intriguing details in even immigrant census data. Despite the book's comprehensive structure, Picard's impressionistic style leads to the occasional oversight. Her section on religion is comparatively brief (though still interesting) for the era's most important politi?al and social issue. Although she discusses the endemic smallpox, which scarred even the queen, she hardly touches on "the French pox," i.e. syphilis, which had been recently introduced. Nonetheless, this vibrant social history makes the city of five centuries ago seem as alive as today's, if not more. 32 pages of color photos, maps.
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

From Booklist

This is the story of what Picard calls "ordinary people," Londoners during Queen Elizabeth's reign, 1558 to 1603. Much of the author's monumental research is based on John Stow's Survey of London (1598), William Harrison's Description of England (1587), and diaries kept by people whom she describes as "moderately prosperous men." Picard examines life on the Thames, London's main streets, its water supply and sewerage, its buildings and their interiors and furniture, and its gardens and churchyards. But most of the book describes the people: their health, illnesses, medicine, clothes, jewels, cosmetics, food, and drinks. Picard also chronicles their sexual customs, marriage, family life, death, education, and amusements. There are chapters on crime and punishment, the poor and the welfare system, and religion. An appendix explains Elizabethan words and pronunciation; another gives examples of its^B currency, wages, and prices; and there are 45 illustrations. All this amounts to an astonishing book in scope and imagery--certainly one of the most detailed accounts of life in that era ever written. George Cohen
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Audio CD
• Publisher: Orion Publishing (June 3, 2004)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0752867156
• ISBN-13: 978-0752867151
• Product Dimensions: 5.6 x 4.8 x 0.9 inches
• Shipping Weight: 8.5 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 4.4 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (12 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #7,871,614 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

22 of 23 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars History as Daily Life, May 2, 2005

By 

Andrew Desmond (Neutral Bay, NSW Australia) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)    (REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Elizabeth's London: Everyday Life in Elizabethan London (Hardcover)

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.

14 of 14 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Elizabeth's London, September 6, 2006

By 

J. Chippindale (England) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Elizabeth's London: Everyday Life in Elizabethan London (Paperback)

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.

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Treasure trove of information, September 11, 2009

By 

Alison Bonar "whisklass" (Surrey, B.C., Canada) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Elizabeth's London: Everyday Life in Elizabethan London (Paperback)

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.