THE TUDOR ENTERTERTAINMENT
WHAT WAS THE TUDOR PERIOD L IKE?
The Tudor period began in 1485 and ended in 1603. It
was an exciting time in history. Tudor lifestyles were
different to ours today in many ways including their
fashion, food and crime and punishment.
In Tudor times, rich and poor people liked making music.
The poor had to make their own musical instruments.
Shakespheare liked plays so much he joined an acting
company and travelled to London. Tudor people enjoyed
watching plays.
TUDOR SPORTS
There were many sports in Tudor times,
including bear-fighting, jousting and cock-
fighting but most people would usually attend
cock-fighting. Jousting was quite brutal and
dangerous. Sunday was the day for football,
which was a very rough game.
Indoor games included chess, draughts and
backgammon. Many people gambled on cards or
dice. Bear-fighting usually took place on
Thursday, in bear gardens or in cockpits. The
bear was fastened to a post with chains.
Jousting was a popular sport. It involved two armoured knights separated by a four-foot-high wooden barrier. Each knight carried a lance and the objective was to knock your opponent off his horse as he galloped past. On shrove Tuesday, schoolboys were allowed to bring their fighting cocks to school to do battle in the school cockpit.
A law was passed in 1512 that banned ordinary people from a whole range of games including tennis, dice, cards, bowls and skittles. This was because the government wanted people to work more and play less.
What Tudor sports were there?
WHAT WAS TUDOR MUSIC LIKE?
Every rich family paid professional musicians to entertain
their guests and to provide music for dancing. Henry VIII
was a very keen musician and had a large collection of
musical instruments which he played.
Henry was said to have been a very talented musician who
composed ballads and church music, although these have
all been lost. When he died he left a collection of
instruments that included: 5 bagpipes, 78 recorders -
Henry VIII was an exceptional recorder player and 78
flutes.
TUDOR PLAYS
Tudors were famous for acting and writing fantastic plays. The theatre
companies would buy plays from writers. They would usually hold
about 8 men and a few boys who were trained to play the women's
parts. All the parts were acted by boys. Women were never allowed to
act.
Who was William Shakespeare?
Shakespeare was born in a town called Stratford-Upon-Avon. If you
go there you can see the houses where he was born.
Shakespeare went to a very strict school.
CONCLUSION
To summarise, in the Tudor period, dancing and
music were popular past times and there were
different dance and music for different occasions.
In contrast to Tudor entertainment, there is a greater
range of choice of sport, music, dance and theatre
today. What would you like most out of today or
Tudor entertainment?
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