Sunday, May 31, 2009

Question from Chloe - Belongings of the rich and poor

Hi im 9 and am doning a school project about the tudors. Im stuck on a question :- What belongings did the rich tudors have and what belongings did the poor tudors have? i have searched on the internet but cant find much infomation.
Please help!
Thanks Chloe

4 comments:

Kathy said...

Hi, Chloe, I'm glad you are doing a school project on the Tudors. Do you have any idea yet who you consider rich and who you consider poor among the Tudors?

If not, then obviously the reigning monarchs would be the richest ones for their time and they would have essentially everything they wanted - the best clothes, the best food, the best plate (dinner plate -- a very important status symbol in those times) and the best of anything else they desired.

I'm not sure who the poorer Tudors would be. I know Katherine of Aragon had a terrible time with all her finances after she was widowed and before she married Henry VIII. She had trouble paying her servants. Also Henry VIII's sister Margaret who was Queen of Scotland and the grandmother of Mary, Queen of Scots, went through some bad periods and was very grateful when Henry sent her rich material for new gowns.

So, all things considered, I think all the Tudors had what they needed at any given time, but the richer ones just had better quality and high-priced goods. I hope that helps.

kb said...

Hi Chloe,

You might want to look at the following site - 'Life in Elizabethan England'

http://elizabethan.org/compendium/home.html

There you will find a some good information on the different levels of society - rich and poor, master and servant, nobles and peasants.

Kathy said...

DUH! I didn't even think until after I had answered your question that you didn't mean literal Tudors, but people in the Tudor era.

kb's link is a good one. And that would be a good place for you to start from. Just think what the necessities of life are -- clothing, food, and shelter -- and start from there deciding what is really necessary and what is a luxury.

Unknown said...

hi Chloe what class are you in and by the way i saw your comment bye