Health and diet in Elizabethan England
Encyclopedia
England during the Elizabethan era
Elizabethan era
The Elizabethan era was the epoch in English history of Queen Elizabeth I's reign . Historians often depict it as the golden age in English history...

(1558–1603), though frequently regarded as the zenith of Renaissance
Renaissance
The Renaissance was a cultural movement that spanned roughly the 14th to the 17th century, beginning in Italy in the Late Middle Ages and later spreading to the rest of Europe. The term is also used more loosely to refer to the historical era, but since the changes of the Renaissance were not...

, did not give its people a high standard of health. Various diseases and food problems emerged which made life difficult for them.

Common diseases in the 16th century

The serious lack of sanitation
Sanitation
Sanitation is the hygienic means of promoting health through prevention of human contact with the hazards of wastes. Hazards can be either physical, microbiological, biological or chemical agents of disease. Wastes that can cause health problems are human and animal feces, solid wastes, domestic...

 in Elizabethan England, especially in big cities, gave rise to many diseases endangering the lives of the many people in England. Streets were filled with rotting garbage, and animals were allowed to defecate wherever they pleased. Sewers were often blocked and rivers were contaminated by domestic waste. Epidemic
Epidemic
In epidemiology, an epidemic , occurs when new cases of a certain disease, in a given human population, and during a given period, substantially exceed what is expected based on recent experience...

 diseases became increasingly common due to fleas and lice, and were especially prevalent among children. Common diseases arising from the lack of sanitation included smallpox
Smallpox
Smallpox was an infectious disease unique to humans, caused by either of two virus variants, Variola major and Variola minor. The disease is also known by the Latin names Variola or Variola vera, which is a derivative of the Latin varius, meaning "spotted", or varus, meaning "pimple"...

, measles
Measles
Measles, also known as rubeola or morbilli, is an infection of the respiratory system caused by a virus, specifically a paramyxovirus of the genus Morbillivirus. Morbilliviruses, like other paramyxoviruses, are enveloped, single-stranded, negative-sense RNA viruses...

, malaria
Malaria
Malaria is a mosquito-borne infectious disease of humans and other animals caused by eukaryotic protists of the genus Plasmodium. The disease results from the multiplication of Plasmodium parasites within red blood cells, causing symptoms that typically include fever and headache, in severe cases...

, typhus
Typhus
Epidemic typhus is a form of typhus so named because the disease often causes epidemics following wars and natural disasters...

, diphtheria
Diphtheria
Diphtheria is an upper respiratory tract illness caused by Corynebacterium diphtheriae, a facultative anaerobic, Gram-positive bacterium. It is characterized by sore throat, low fever, and an adherent membrane on the tonsils, pharynx, and/or nasal cavity...

, Scarlet fever
Scarlet fever
Scarlet fever is a disease caused by exotoxin released by Streptococcus pyogenes. Once a major cause of death, it is now effectively treated with antibiotics...

, and chickenpox
Chickenpox
Chickenpox or chicken pox is a highly contagious illness caused by primary infection with varicella zoster virus . It usually starts with vesicular skin rash mainly on the body and head rather than at the periphery and becomes itchy, raw pockmarks, which mostly heal without scarring...

. As the 16th century was also a period of discovery and exploration for England, it is common that explorers and travelers contracted diseases such as Malaria and sexually transmitted diseases like syphilis
Syphilis
Syphilis is a sexually transmitted infection caused by the spirochete bacterium Treponema pallidum subspecies pallidum. The primary route of transmission is through sexual contact; however, it may also be transmitted from mother to fetus during pregnancy or at birth, resulting in congenital syphilis...

 in foreign countries and spread them when they returned to their homeland.

Treatment of diseases

Advanced medicine did not exist back in the 16th century, therefore people thought for basic remedies to various illnesses usually by making their own medicine and potions using herbs and plants. Most people also preferred home medicine and household remedy as they were much cheaper than seeing doctors and physicians.

Examples for herbal and plant usage:
  • Treatment for headache: Rose, Lavender and other sweet-scented herbs
  • Treatment for earache: Roasted onion (placed inside the ear)
  • Treatment for stomachache: wormwood, mint, and balm
  • Treatment for lung problems: liquorice, marijuana (it was legal) and comfrey


Examples of home-made recipes to cure Bubonic Plague:

"Take yarrow, tansy, featherfew, of each a handful, bruise them well together,let the sick urinate on the herbs, strain them, and drink the mixture."


"Take sage, rue, briar leaves, elder leaves of each a handful, stamp them and strain them with a quart of white wine, and put thereto a little ginger,and a good spoonful of the best treacle, and drink thereof morning and evening."


People also tried to cure diseases using methods based on their superstitious beliefs. For example, some believed that the use of magic
Magic (paranormal)
Magic is the claimed art of manipulating aspects of reality either by supernatural means or through knowledge of occult laws unknown to science. It is in contrast to science, in that science does not accept anything not subject to either direct or indirect observation, and subject to logical...

 and gemstones
Gemstones
Gemstones is the third solo album by Adam Green, released in 2005. The album is characterised by the heavy presence of Wurlitzer piano, whereas its predecessor relied on a string section in its instrumentation.-Track listing:#Gemstones – 2:24...

 could cure mental illnesses and emotional discomfort. Astrology
Astrology
Astrology consists of a number of belief systems which hold that there is a relationship between astronomical phenomena and events in the human world...

 was also widely practised. They also believed in the four different internal 'humours' (liquids) represented by the four elements of air, water, earth and fire, and that the disruption in the balance among the elements would make one sick.

Typical lifespan

In the 16th century, the lifespan was shorter than that of today. The average lifespan of an adult male was 47 years, while the life expectancy of people in London was 35 years for the richer ones, and only 25 years for the less affluent ones. Death in infancy or early childhood was common. Also, about 40% of the people died before their middle teenage years.

The average lifespan then was much lower than that of the present due to many factors. For example, due to the poor sanitation in England, especially in big cities such as London, epidemic diseases were widely spread. It was also very common for children to contract various diseases and die at a young age as some homemade medicine were ineffective and inadequate, and many ill children were abandoned during the 16th century. Death in childbirth was also common. Moreover, due to the high costs of seeing a physician and the use of non-advanced medicine, people were unable to cure all diseases with their homemade medicine. Surgical procedures were also very basic without the use of high-tech machines and instruments. As the tools and instruments were not thoroughly and properly disinfected, wounds of patients were often infected which led to many deaths during the operations.

Diet

Vegetables were food for the poor as the rich considered food from the ground as lowly, while meat was a luxury for the rich. The upper classes had a variety of meat to choose such as venison, beef, pork, lamb and fowl. They could also choose from many different fish such as salmon
Salmon
Salmon is the common name for several species of fish in the family Salmonidae. Several other fish in the same family are called trout; the difference is often said to be that salmon migrate and trout are resident, but this distinction does not strictly hold true...

, eel
Eel
Eels are an order of fish, which consists of four suborders, 20 families, 111 genera and approximately 800 species. Most eels are predators...

 and different shellfish
Shellfish
Shellfish is a culinary and fisheries term for exoskeleton-bearing aquatic invertebrates used as food, including various species of molluscs, crustaceans, and echinoderms. Although most kinds of shellfish are harvested from saltwater environments, some kinds are found only in freshwater...

. They occasionally took vegetables such as turnip
Turnip
The turnip or white turnip is a root vegetable commonly grown in temperate climates worldwide for its white, bulbous taproot. Small, tender varieties are grown for human consumption, while larger varieties are grown as feed for livestock...

s, carrot
Carrot
The carrot is a root vegetable, usually orange in colour, though purple, red, white, and yellow varieties exist. It has a crisp texture when fresh...

s, and radish
Radish
The radish is an edible root vegetable of the Brassicaceae family that was domesticated in Europe, in pre-Roman times. They are grown and consumed throughout the world. Radishes have numerous varieties, varying in size, color and duration of required cultivation time...

es; and fruit
Fruit
In broad terms, a fruit is a structure of a plant that contains its seeds.The term has different meanings dependent on context. In non-technical usage, such as food preparation, fruit normally means the fleshy seed-associated structures of certain plants that are sweet and edible in the raw state,...

s such as apple
Apple
The apple is the pomaceous fruit of the apple tree, species Malus domestica in the rose family . It is one of the most widely cultivated tree fruits, and the most widely known of the many members of genus Malus that are used by humans. Apple grow on small, deciduous trees that blossom in the spring...

s, plum
Plum
A plum or gage is a stone fruit tree in the genus Prunus, subgenus Prunus. The subgenus is distinguished from other subgenera in the shoots having a terminal bud and solitary side buds , the flowers in groups of one to five together on short stems, and the fruit having a groove running down one...

s, and woodland strawberries
Strawberry
Fragaria is a genus of flowering plants in the rose family, Rosaceae, commonly known as strawberries for their edible fruits. Although it is commonly thought that strawberries get their name from straw being used as a mulch in cultivating the plants, the etymology of the word is uncertain. There...

. However, meat was still the main component of their diet. They were also fond of fancy desserts like pastries, tarts, cakes, and crystallized fruit and syrup.
Bread
Bread
Bread is a staple food prepared by cooking a dough of flour and water and often additional ingredients. Doughs are usually baked, but in some cuisines breads are steamed , fried , or baked on an unoiled frying pan . It may be leavened or unleavened...

 took up an important part in the diet during the Elizabethan era, and people of different statuses ate bread of different qualities. The Upper Classes ate fine white bread called Manchet while the poor ate coarse bread of barley or rye. Typical menu of the time

Therefore, both the rich and the poor had imbalanced diets. The lack of vegetables and fruits in their diets also caused a deficiency in Vitamin C, which usually results in scurvy
Scurvy
Scurvy is a disease resulting from a deficiency of vitamin C, which is required for the synthesis of collagen in humans. The chemical name for vitamin C, ascorbic acid, is derived from the Latin name of scurvy, scorbutus, which also provides the adjective scorbutic...

.

Availability of food

Trade and industry flourished in the 16th century, making England more prosperous, benefiting the upper and middle Classes by improving their standard of living, therefore there was enough food for them. However, the lower classes did not benefit much and did not always have enough food. As the English population was fed by its own agricultural produce, starvation and poverty were common during the 1590s because there was a series of bad harvests. More efforts were also placed on the trading of wool in the 16th century which put less attention in the agricultural aspect of the economy, resulting in further starvation of the lower classes. There was also famine in England in 1594-1600 and in Cumbria, the poorest and most isolated part of England, people died of starvation. Diseases and natural disasters also contributed to the scarce supply of food at that time.

Moreover there was the population explosion during the 16th century. Just by looking at London, there were only 100,000 people when Mary Tudor died, but by the time Elizabeth I died, the number of people there had doubled. There was also serious inflation at that time, and many people were competing for food. The wealth-gap problem was also huge. While a very small proportion of the population enjoyed their life in luxury, a large number of people could barely maintain their daily life. There were children, men and women begging in the cities and the children only earned six pence a week. With the industry in the country growing, the landlord could use his land for industrial or other purposes anytime, and the farmers would be thrown out of job. Also, even when the situation became so serious, instead of welfare, the government spent a huge amount of money on wars and voyages of exploration.
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