Life in 15th Century England - Part 1

Life in medieval England was varied but was dominated by by religion, food, drink and entertainment.

RELIGION

Christianity was the only religion in 15th Century England and was practiced as the Catholic denomination. The church dominated the life of every social class whether it be peasant, serf, noble, lord or King and the religious institutions of monasteries and convents grew in power.

Lollardy spreads across in England in the 14th (blue) and 15th (red) centuries

Those who found the Catholic faith overbearing and corrupt became part of the Lollard movement which challenged traditional values such as priest confessionals. The movement was led in the late 1300s by John Wycliffe and supporters included KIng Henry V's friend, Sir John Oldcastle. Oldcastle was imprisoned for his beliefs in 1413 and plotted to kidnap the king after escaping. Oldcastle's rebellion failed and Lollards were persecuted following Oldcastle's execution. Lollardy would later influence Protestantism in the next century but was driven underground in the 1400s after spreading across the southern and middle England.

Medieval monks practiced the three main vows of poverty, chastity and obedience by renouncing all worldly goods and spent their lives working under a strict routine. This routine would include worship, reading, farming and manual labor. Monks ate a simple diet of bread and meat with pallets filled with straw for beds. Nuns spent several hours in private prayer in convents whilst their education was closely screened by the Church. A nun would be tasked with several tasks and chores which included cooking, cleaning, weaving and illuminating manuscripts.

A Medieval monk would divide their day into the eight sections of the prayer book Book of Hours that were meant to be read at specific times of the day. Each section contained prayers, psalms, hymns, and other readings intended to help the monks secure their salvation. Matins would be recited at 2am, Lauds at 5am, Prime at 6am, Terce at 9am, Sext at noon, Nones at 3pm, Vespers between 4-5pm and Compline at 6pm.

Richard III's Book of Hours

A Book of Hours accompanied Richard III at the Battle of Bosworth and contained the following prayer:

"Lord Jesus Christ, deign to free my, your servant King Richard, from every tribulation, sorrow and trouble in which I am placed…hear me, in the name of all your goodness, for which I give thanks, and for all the gifts granted to me, because you made me from nothing and redeemed me out of your bounteous love and pity from eternal damnation to promising eternal life.” 

Children would study the Christian saints' patronage, holiness and feast days and Richard III must have been fascinated with numerous saints sharing the names of his siblings. His brothers Edward and Edmund were named after the saints Edward the Confessor and Edmund the Martyr who were kings of England and East Anglia respectfully whilst George was named after the patron saint of England. Richard III's sister Margaret was named after the Wessex princess who married into the Scottish royal family and eldest sister Anne was named after the mother of the Virgin Mary. Anne's lineage would provide crucial in profiling Richard III's DNA after the king's skeleton was unearthed in 2012.

Religious devotion was shown in abstaining from certain foods during the seasons of Lent and Advent in accordance with the sacrifices of Jesus Christ. Meat was also banned during certain observances on Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays throughout the year. 

FOOD & DRINK

Medieval diets, like the fashions of the day, were dependent on social class. Nobles and lords enjoyed a wide range of meats including fowl, lamb, beef, bacon and fresh water fish for those living close by. Milled flour, cheese and butter could also be found on a noble's dining table. 

Richard III's ascent to the throne was also shown in his diet with bone chemistry analysis conducted by the British Geological Survey showing that the king ate more regal birds such as swans and herons and drank more wine in his brief two year reign. 

Commoners had a much simpler diet of root vegetables, rye bread, lentils, beef, pork, milk and cheese. Bread was baked in village communal ovens and biscuits were conveniently eaten by common workers. Only lords and nobles were allowed to hunt for deer, boar, hares or rabbits and commoners ran the risk of having a hand chopped off if they were caught poaching. 

The high fibre, low fat and calorie diet lacked vitamins A, C and D and this would lead to bad teeth, skin diseases, scurvy and rickets. Raw vegetables and fresh fruit were viewed with suspicion as vegetables were cooked in soups and common stews whereas nobles enjoyed fruit pies made from apples, cherries and raspberries. Nobles could also afford sugar and Asian spices and their cooks were able to concoct exotic recipes. 

A castle kitchen hard at work

To avoid the food from spoiling, cooks would preserve food in the summer to be eaten in the colder winter months and items which couldn't be preserved were only eaten in season. The cost of maintaining animals during the winter caused them to be slaughtered in the autumn and this meat would be preserved using salt. The meat would either be buried in dry salt or soaked in salty brine water and the overwhelming salty taste would be combated with Asian spices like pepper, cinnamon, nutmeg and ginger. Food would also be preserved in pickled vinegar, solidified jelly or would be wood smoked, dried, candied or honeyed.  

Castle kitchens were located on the ground floor and would contain a great hearth where meats of beef, pork and poultry would be spit-roasted or smoked whilst boiling pots hanged above the fireplace. Pies and wheat-floured manchet bread were baked in the cooking ovens. The kitchens were built against the castle's curtain wall and were supplied with water in a sink and drain. Surrounding the kitchens were various store rooms with the pantry containing perishable foods, wine was stored and dispensed in the bottlery and a butler presided over ales in the buttery.

Alcohol was the medieval beverage of choice as untreated water had a foul taste and was full of disease. Beer had been brewed in England since the Roman times and a growing number of fermented grains had led to the introduction of stronger ales. Different spices and fruits added flavour and led to other drinks with honey used in mead, apples used in cider and grapes, pomegranates and raspberries used in different wines.

English grapes would often turn sour as the climate prevented ripening so most wines were imported from France and the Mediterranean which provided too expensive for commoners. The sweet Malmsey wine from the Portuguese island of Maderia was said to be used for darker means as it was rumoured that Richard III's brother, George, Duke of Clarence, was punished for treason by being drowned in a butt of malmsey. 

Malmsey was said to be used for more darker methods

The prepared meals would be served to guests in the Great Hall and would be eaten off gold or silver plates with silverware containing knives and forks. Commoners would use wooden dishes and would sup their soup bowls without spoons. Food was often served cold due to the distance between the kitchen and the Great Hall.

Servants provide food platters in between banquet courses

Supper was the main meal of the day and was served between 6pm-7pm. Dishes were placed on a Great Table set upon a dais and covered in cloth. Guests washed their hands at the entrance of the Great Hall before taking their seats. The meal would vary between three and six courses which were accompanied with various forms of entertainment. 

ENTERTAINMENT

The Great Hall would be filled with entertainers who would serenade the guests as it was believed music would aid digestion. Troubadours would perform romantic ballads of chivalry and courtly love on lutes, flutes, horns, trumpets and drums. Minstrels would provide music from above the Great Hall floor in the Minstrels Gallery where harps would accompany ballads and recitals of mythical poetry.

Troubadours entertained nobles during meals

After-meal entertainment was provided with court dances such as the volta and jongleurs would juggle, conjure and tumble but the itinerant entertainers were deemed vagabonds and untrustworthy. Entertainment wasn't just confined to court as commoners also enjoyed partying. Towns would employ musicians called Waits who composed and played music for important occasions and ceremonies.

A dance would often follow noble banquets

Uplifting and romantic chivaree music was played at weddings and on St. Valentine's Day whilst buoyant and cheery music of horns, trumpets, whistles and bells built to a crescendo. Mayday celebrations included dancing around a maypole to high-pitched music that was believed to reawaken the hibernating spirits for the onset of spring.

Feast days of pagan origins were celebrated often with the grandest feast taking place at the dreariest time of year. The 12 days from Christmas Eve to Twelfth Night on 5 January was a time of rest for servants who were gifted with food, clothing, drink and firewood. Houses were decked with holly and ivy whilst giant Yule logs were brought in and burned throughout the 12-day Christmastide celebrations. 

A Christmastide procession was part of the festivities

Christmastide 1460 was an agreed upon period of truce between the Duke of York and Henry Beaufort, 3rd Duke of Somerset and this truce came to a brutal end on 30 December 1460 at the Battle of Wakefield.  

15th Century Fashion

The 15th Century was the final period of the medieval era and fashions in England at the time reflected this. The English Renaissance occurred in the 16th Century but England's 1400s fashion was influenced by Europeans due to the nearby flamboyant Burgundian court.

The Duchy of Burgundy at it's height stretched from the North Sea shores of Flanders to the peaks of the Swiss Alps and gave access to trading routes where Italian and Eastern fabrics were traded to English wool merchants via the ports of Bruges and Antwerp.

Wool was a popular fabric due to it's versatility from rough undyed cloth to fine, dense broadcloth with a velvety nap. The English economy thrived on high quality broadcloth, being exported throughout Europe with dyes bringing rich colours of reds, greens, golds, and blues.

Margaret of Anjou wearing a white ermine fur-lined gown

Linen and hemp were also popular but Asian silk extravagance of silver-gilded wefts and stately floral embroidered motifs were worn by the richest of nobles. Furs would often be worn by the nobility with linings of dark brown sable or marten and white ermine furs.

NOBLE WOMEN

Women in the 15th century would often be dressed in a long gown with a low cut V-neck that would reveal a decorated square-necked kirtle and below this would be a linen chemise worn next to the skin. Gown skirts would often be carried looped-up to allow walking and were high-waisted, tightened with a belt. The heavily ornamented sleeves could be detached from the gown whilst the lining of the sleeve cuffs would match that of of the fur or velvet-trimmed neckline.

Elizabeth Woodville's matching cuffs, neckline and truncated English hennin

Various overgowns were worn but the most popular was the houppelande with the snug sleeves at the wrist creating a full "bag" sleeve that was sometimes slashed in the front to reveal the lower arm. The sideless surcoat of the 14th century had since been retired to royal ceremonial costume with it being confined to special occasions and royal portraits.

Head-dresses had developed from simple hairnets into ornate pieces with the hair pulled back to accentuate their designs. A heart-shape padded roll, or a veil was worn on the headpiece and wire frames exaggerated the veils that draped from the back or front of the headdress.

Margaret of York, Richard III's sister and Duchess of Burgundy, wears a veiled hennin

The most extravagant headdress was the cone-shaped hennin that was adorned with a fabric-covered wire frame and topped with a floating veil. The fall of the Burgundian empire in the 1480s saw noble head-dresses resemble those of the merchant classes with smaller, more convenient, and less picturesque designs. 

Social status was also shown in jewellery as previous laws restricted commoners from having precious stones, pearls and excess amounts of gold and silver. Noble women wore intricate and elaborately decorated rings, necklaces, brooches, lockets, belts and purses. Their personal possessions such as combs and book-covers were also be jewelled. Much of the jewels were imported and used as security against loans. 

The noble woman's attire was complete with laced ankle-boots, often lined with fur and these were later modified with the pointed toe of poulaines. 

NOBLE MEN

A nobleman's wardrobe wasn't as varied but was just as orate as women's as they wore a shirt, doublet, hose, and an overgown robe. The linen shirt sleeves were often pulled through the slashes of the covering doublet to make embroided puffs that were embroided  at the elbow and back of the arm. 

Henry VI wearing a green doublet and black hat

A doublet was worn over the shirt and they would be tightly fitted with either belts or tailored designs hugging the waist, giving the effect of a short skirt below. The doublet would often be elaborately pleated, especially at the back. The solid torso design was contrasted with long attenuated legs and feet with extremely tight wool hose and long pointed poulaine shoes or thigh-boots. 

Sharp pointed toe poulaines worn in Burgudy 

The loose linen undergarment breeches were worn by men across all social classes and were held up by a belt that would also tighten the hose. As doublets became shorter, the hose would reach over the hips and up to the the waist. The two hose legs were sewn together into a single garment with a pouch or flap covering the front opening and would later evolve into the codpiece.

Richard III wearing a golden houppelande, chain collar and cap badge

Noblemen would wear a houppelande over their doublets with padded shoulders and full sleeves. The houppelande was often lined with fur as the hem and sleeves were cut into scallops. The wrist-length sleeves were full, forming a bag or sack sleeve, or were worn off the arm, hanging ornamentally behind. Cloaks or mantles were worn during ceremonies and in bad weather with a fastened brooch on one shoulder.

Men of all social classes covered their heads in the early 1400s with a hood and frequently wore it around the neck as a cowl or twisted it into a chaperon. Hats soon developed and varied from tall-crowned small brim hats to low-crowned, wider brims that were pulled in front into a point. These hats would be adorned with ornate cap badges and noblemen would also wear jewels on rings and large chain collars. The hats would cover hair usually in a bowl-cut style, with the hair shaved at the back of the neck but the hair would later be grown to shoulder length. 

COMMONERS

English commoners wore plainer clothes compared to the nobility due to cost and greater practicality. Women spun wool into cloth for their family's garments with them wearing long gowns covered by sleeveless tunics and wimples over their hair. A wimple was either a square or circular piece of material that was draped over the head to the shoulders and held in place by a band around the brow. 

Hay is gathered by barefoot women in long-sleeved smocks, Les Très Riches Heures du duc de Berry.

Men were dressed in short shirts and drawers that were almost never laundered, but the linen underwear was regularly washed. Sheepskin cloaks and woolen hats were worn in winter and leather boots were covered with wood to keep the feet dry. Cloaks would be tied with a belt that contained a knife, work tools and purse.

CLERGY

Long woolen habits were worn by the holy order in emulation of Roman clothing. The habits indicated which order they belonged to with Benedictines wore black, Cistercians wore undyed and the Franciscans wore grey, like the Greyfriars who originally buried Richard III. St. Benedicts monk were allowed to wear linen coifs to keep their heads warm after their saint stated a monk's clothes should be plain but comfortable. The Poor Clare Sisters, an order of Franciscan nuns, however had to petition the Pope in order to be permitted to wear woolen socks.

Nuns with different lengths of scapula

Nuns had two habits, two wimples and veils, a scapular for work, shoes and stockings. The extra habit allowed for washing and night-time wear.  A nun's habit was tied around the waist with a cloth or leather belt and a scapula cloak was worn over the shoulders with an opening for the head. The front of the scapula was secured with a small piece of rectangular cloth that snapped the sides together and a wimple or veil was attached to the scapula. Some nuns would also wear a cross upon a chain around their necks