How Much Did Common People Travel In Tudor England?

by | Last updated on January 24, 2024

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The distance travelled per day varied. During the 1535 summer progress, the court travelled between six and fourteen miles in a day, whereas the average for the 1528 progress was

nine miles

.

How did the Tudors go to the toilet?

In order to have a bath most Tudors would have had to

find a wooden tub, line it with sheets, collect buckets of water, heat the water by the fireplace and fill the tub

. It’s probably safe to assume that this complicated process probably dissuaded people from bathing daily.

What did Tudors do in their spare time?

Many forms of entertainment enjoyed by the Tudors are still around today. Others seem a world away.

The rich jousted (tried to knock each other off horses with a pole, or lance), played chess, and amused themselves by staging short plays with musical accompaniments called masques

.

What were Tudor streets like?

Tudor London’s streets

most likely gave an unfavourable impression, narrow and lined with tall buildings

, they must have appeared rather dark and dismal. Most of London’s houses were timber-framed, filled in with lath [wooden slats] and plaster.

How did Royalty poop?


Some kings kept their close stool

in “more private” rooms than others, but even private rooms would allow a handful of people, with the Groom of the Stool always among them.

How did Tudors brush their teeth?

How did medieval people brush their teeth? They would

rub their teeth and gums with a rough linen

. Recipes have been discovered for pastes and powders they might have applied to the cloth to clean and whiten teeth, as well as to freshen breath. Some pastes were made from ground sage mixed with salt crystals.

Who wipes Kings bum?

Responsible for tending the king during his ablutions and excretions,

the Groom of the Stool

took care of all the monarch’s bathroom needs — and had his ear all the while. Particularly powerful in the Tudor period, this court position was one that every aristocrat in England dreamed of filling.

Who wiped Kings bottom?

Surely one of the most repulsive jobs in history, the ‘Groom of the King’s Close Stool’ (or just Groom of the Stool for short) was a role created during the reign of

Henry VIII

to monitor and assist in the King’s bowel motions.

What was sweating sickness in Tudor times?

Sweating sickness, also known as the sweats, English sweating sickness, English sweat or sudor anglicus in Latin, was

a mysterious and contagious disease that struck England and later continental Europe in a series of epidemics beginning in 1485

.

How did the Tudors smell?

Given the lack of soap and baths and an aversion to laundering clothes, a Tudor by any other name would smell as rancid. Did the Tudors smell?

Modern noses would find the smell of the Tudors disgusting

. To Tudor noses, modern bodies would reek of harsh chemicals.

What the Tudors ate?

Meat: The Tudors (especially the rich) ate a much wider variety and amount of meat than we do today, including

calves, pigs, rabbit, badger, beaver and ox

. Birds were also eaten including chicken, pheasant, pigeons, partridge, blackbirds, duck, sparrows, heron, crane and woodcock.

What was it like for poor Tudors?


Life for the poor in Tudor times was harsh. The poor had to work hard and struggled to survive

. Many poor people lives lived in villages doing farm work or making cloth in their own homes for very little pay. They worked six days a week and only had holy days and public holidays off work.

What did London look like in Tudor times?

1) London was

full of small, narrow and crowded streets

. Traveling along them if you had money was dangerous as at that time London did not have a police service and many poor would be very keen to take your money off of you if you were wealthy. 2) Streets that were narrow were also difficult to actually travel along.

What was life like in Tudor England?

Life in Tudor England was

hard and you had to be tough and lucky to survive

. There was a very high infant mortality rate, around 14 percent died before their first birthday, and women had a shorter life expectancy than men due to the risks posed by childbirth.

Are there any Tudor buildings left in London?


Tower of London

. The Tower of London is jam packed with Tudor history. During the Tudor period it was primarily used a place for imprisonment and execution. The two most notable Tudor buildings that you can still see today are the Queen’s House and the chapel of St Peter ad Vincula (built 1519-1520).

Which king did not bathe?

The 17th century British King

James I

was said to never bathe, causing the rooms he frequented to be filled with lice. It was the Sun King himself, Louis XIV, whose choice to no longer travel from court to court would lead to a particularly putrid living situation.

How did Victorians go to the toilet?

They were leg coverings that were left split, wide and droopy, usually from the top of the pubis clear round to the top of your buns. This allowed a woman to use either chamber pot, outhouse, or early toilet by just

flipping her skirts (which she needed both hands to do, they were so long and heavy), and squatting

.

What did Versailles smell like?

Built on swampland, Versailles was described by a visitor in 1764 as

an odiferous cesspool of dead cats, urine, excrement, slaughtered pigs, standing water, and mosquitoes

. Inside the palace, things smelled different. Many royals in Louis XIV’s day eschewed hot water baths, believing them bad for the health.

Did the Tudors have poor hygiene?

Contrary to popular belief,

the Tudors were a lot more hygienic than we give them credit for

. Soap would have been used in every household, regardless of status or wealth.

How old was king Henry when he married Anne Boleyn?

Marriage to Anne of Cleves

After seeing Holbein’s portrait, and urged on by the complimentary description of Anne given by his courtiers, the

49-year-old

king agreed to wed Anne. However, it was not long before Henry wished to annul the marriage so he could marry another.

Did Queen Elizabeth have black teeth?


Queen Elizabeth had teeth that were blackened by decay

. She had even lost many teeth due to her sugary diet. She had lost so many teeth that foreign ambassadors claimed she was hard to understand. The problem was that Elizabeth had a great fear of dentists, or barber-surgeons as they were called back then.

What did Victorians wipe their bums with?

One of the more popular early American wiping objects was the

dried corn cob

. A variety of other objects were also used, including leaves, handfuls of straw, and seashells.

When did humans start wiping their bums?

The Stone Age (

About 1 Million Years Ago

)

For thousands of years, stones were the go-to wiping objects.

Do Royals poop?


The royals don’t use a ‘bathroom’ or ‘toilet’

Members of Britain’s most famous family don’t use the word “toilet.” Where they relieve themselves is called a “loo.”

Did Anne sleep with her brother?

Anne Boleyn, second wife of Henry VIII, had directly before been found guilty of treason.

A jury declared that she had committed adultery with her brother

and four other men.

How much did Henry VIII eat?

On average, a Tudor courtier would eat

4,500 – 5,000 calories a day

, over twice today’s norm. Beef, mutton, pork, rabbit and venison were the most frequently served meats. Poultry, including pheasant, pigeon, doves, and, of course, chicken, was also plentiful.

Why is poop called stool?

A:

The noun “stool” has referred to a toilet seat for hundreds of years

. Hence, the use of “stool” for the fecal matter discharged while sitting on the toilet.

Sophia Kim
Author
Sophia Kim
Sophia Kim is a food writer with a passion for cooking and entertaining. She has worked in various restaurants and catering companies, and has written for several food publications. Sophia's expertise in cooking and entertaining will help you create memorable meals and events.