Life in Tudor Britain was very harsh in Tudor times.
The average life expectancy was just 35-38 years. 30% of children died before their 10th birthday. Catherine of Aragon lost five of her six children in infancy

 

 

For those who reached adulthood, there were famines and plagues to deal with.
However, some people survived into their 50s or early 60s and a few into their 70s or even 80s.

 Others lived with sometimes painful illnesses that were not fatal for long periods, everything from tooth abscesses to gall bladder diseases which were not helped by the sugary, meat-rich diets in wealthy homes.

 

 

Although there was a big difference between the diet of the rich and the poor, neither diet was healthy.
The rich diet lacked fibre and was high in fat and sugars. The poor diet was healthier as it included vegetables and low fat meats such as mutton and chicken, but there was never enough food, causing malnutrition.  

 

 

Poor diets left people more prone to catching infections.
When people had little to eat, they were more likely to catch infectious diseases. Sailors had the worst diet of all. 

A lack of fresh food meant they were often short of vitamins, which led to diseases like scurvy, making their teeth fall out and giving them sores.

 

 

Tudor people were aware of the need for personal hygiene.
Most people tried to keep themselves clean, but it was difficult to keep free of vermin. In villages, the majority of peasants lived in basic dirt houses, infested with rats and lice. The towns were dirty, smelly, crowded and unhealthy.

 

 

Tudor towns were very dirty.
There was no system to take away human and animal waste. Rubbish, such as rotting vegetables, offal, dirty water and household waste was thrown on to the streets.  In some towns, people were supposed to clean the street in front their houses once a week but it was a losing battle. In Elizabethan times, corporations eventually set up 'muck hills' and fines were imposed on those who did not use them.

 

 

With no proper sewage system diseases spread rapidly
In towns, the sewers often ran down the middle of the street, straight into rivers and wells, contaminating the water.  The contents of chamber pots were thrown into the streets.  Even the toilets of the very rich were very basic. Open sewers, poor drainage, narrow streets and filth put people at risk from diseases.   In palaces and castles, the toilet was set into a cupboard in the wall called a "garderobe". Waste would drop down a shaft into the moat or collecting point below. Elsewhere, toilets or 'privies' were just a piece of wood over a bowl or a hole in the ground. People would use moss instead of toilet paper

 

 

There were many outbreaks of Plague. 
Rats and other vermin were common and lived off the rubbish dumped close to people's homes. The fleas from the rats bit people and passed on the bacteria which caused the plague. In 1564, plague killed around 15% of the population. Only about a quarter of people who caught plague recovered. Rich people could leave the dangerous cities, but poor people had to stay where they were.

 

 

Many people also died of smallpox.
This was a disease that could leave people disfigured (badly scarred) or blind (Queen Elizabeth I almost died of this). Dysentery and pneumonia were common killers. Sweating sickness (possibly influenza) also caused many deaths, with a severe outbreak in 1558.

 

 

The closure of the monastries meant fewer places were available to care for the sick.
The dissolution of the monasteries from 1536 to 1540 saw the sudden end of many local hospitals, run by the monks and nuns (these were places that the old and the weak went to for care). Hospitals were not places where you went to get better but usually places that cared for the infirm or dying. After the closure of the monasteries, for a long time there was nothing to replace them, causing further hardship.

 

 

Doctors were the highest ranking people who practised medicine. 
Operations and dentistry were carried out by a barber-surgeon, who was of lower status. At a lower level still were the apothecaries, who made up the medicines. These people (especially the barber-surgeons) also carried out other roles. They were not trained in colleges or universities as today. They learnt on the job, often at the expense of their patients.

 

 

At the beginning of the Tudor period, many still turned to magic to cure their ills.
With the growth of the Protestant religion, which promoted the idea of Divine Providence (the belief that things happened because this was God’s will), the use of magic became less important. However, these changes were slow in coming.  Along with the suppression of Catholic ceremonies, folk rituals were also condemned. Many thought that famine, war and plague were punishments from God. However, by the end of Elizabeth I's reign, others were beginning to think of ways to prevent disease and make cities more hygienic.

 

 

Superstition still saw the use of many bizzare treatments. 
In an age when so much could not be explained, superstition was still important. Most people could not afford doctors and relied on treatments from the apothecary or a village wise-woman. Folk-remedies were often bizarre. If, for example, you had a headache, the advice was to drink a herbal cure made of lavender, sage, marjoram, roses and rue or to press a hangman’s rope to your head. The cure for smallpox was to wrap somebody in a red blanket.

 

 

There was a belief in 'the doctrine of signatures'.
This is the idea that God put a signature on everything he created to show its purpose. Therefore, a plant that in some way resembled a human body part would be helpful for curing problems in that area. For example, the spots on lungwort were thought to resemble the lungs, so the plant was used in the preparation of medicines to treat lung ailments. The doctrine of signatures was further spread by the writings of Jakob Böhme (1575 - 1624), and its influence lasted until recent times.

 

 

Doctors still believed illness was caused when 'the humours' in a person's body were not balanced. 
Medical knowledge had not advanced much from Medieval times. Even if you could afford a doctor, they could do little. The four main components or humours that made up the body were thought to be blood, phlegm, black bile and yellow bile. They determined your personality and health. Astrology also played a part in Tudor medicine. Most doctors believed that different zodiacal signs ruled different parts of the body.

 

 

Blood was the most important humour, and had to be controlled. 
The best way to do this was through blood-letting. Doctors would cut a vein or use leeches (creatures that fix themselves on the skin and suck out blood). You could have blood taken if you were suffering from almost anything. Often in a weak person this did more harm than good. Other treatments included purges (taking medicines to cause vomiting or diarrhoea).

 

 

Doctors also believed that illnesses, like the plague, were passed on through smells.
These smells, or poisonous 'vapours', were thought to be absorbed through the skin. Ginger or Chervil (a herb that smells of aniseed) was put in scented balls called pomanders that people carried with them to smell. Plague doctors wore all-over leather protective clothes and put bergamot oil (thought to protect against boils) in the long beaks of their face masks. They sprinkled themselves with vinegar and chewed the sweet herb angelica to fight off infection before visiting their patients.

 

 

Few people survived an operation or lived for long after one. 
Barber-surgeons used opium and hemlock if they had to do operations or painful procedures. However both of them were very dangerous.The wrong dose could kill, and often did, so many surgeons refused to use them.

 

 

Childbirth was a particularly dangerous time. 
One in five women died because of childbirth (usually because of infection). Midwives were licensed by the Church and had to take an oath to look after rich and poor people, not to use medical tools to deliver babies, not to swap them after they had been born and not to practise witchcraft. Women were often so grateful to their midwives that they gave them gifts. Trusted female friends and relatives came round to give the woman support and encouragement. They were called 'God's siblings', or gossips.

 

 

Some beauty treatments were very dangerous.
Today, people are accused of risking their lives for a tan; during the reign of Queen Elizabeth they risked their lives to appear pale, by applying a poisionous white lead to their skin. A pale skin showed that you were rich and did not need to work outside in the sun. Richer women made their cheeks pink with rouge, painted their lips red, dyed their hair fair and made sure their teeth appeared white. To achieve a pale skin, they used a paste of white lead and vinegar called ceruse. Lead is highly poisonous and eventually causes the skin to go grey and shrivelled. Hair dyes included such dangerous substances as sulphuric acid; fortunately, many women wore wigs.

 

 

Home made pastes, wine and rags were used to clean the teeth.
A paste made from powdered pumice stone, cuttlefish shell and alabaster was used which often damaged the teeth. Others rubbed their teeth with a boiled mixture of white wine, vinegar and honey, or just used a wet piece of linen.

 

 

The fatty, sweet diet of the rich caused their teeth to rot. 
Elizabeth I sucked sugared violets to keep her breath fresh, which caused her teeth to rot even more. She filled the gaps in her teeth with cloth to improve her appearance. Some people deliberately blackened their front teeth, so others would think they were rich.

 

 

The Tudors used cloves and herbs for toothache. 
The last resort was to have the tooth pulled out, without any painkillers!  As well as private visits to the rich, barber-surgeons would attend fairs and pull out teeth publicly. It was very painful for the victim but attracted a great crowd. As well as private visits to the rich, barber-surgeons would attend fairs and pull out teeth publicly. It was very painful for the victim but attracted a great crowd.

 

 

Tobacco was first introduced to Britain.
In 1492, the explorer Christopher Columbus landed on the island of Cuba and came into contact with people smoking what came to be known as tobacco. They inhaled the smoke through pipes of leaves. Tobacco smoking soon caught on in England and people smoked it in clay pipes.

 

 

Physicians claimed that tobacco was good for all kinds of illnesses.
These included toothache, worms, bad breath, lockjaw and cancer!

Thomas Hariot (a friend of Sir Walter Raleigh) wrote that tobacco smoke preserved the body, was a remedy for sores, wounds, throat and chest infections and the plague. He became a heavy smoker and died of a cancerous ulcer in his nose, becoming probably the first person in England to die of a smoking-related disease.