At the end of the chapter he exclaims in a one-sentence paragraph, “For the love of God.”
The punishments for those found violating the strictures is profound and ugly, and Mortimer does not allow us to turn away. There was a long period of debate and discussion in the parliament before each infringement on the rights of Catholics to practice is enacted.
One of things I liked most about this non-traditional history was Mortimer directly addressing his readers: in the section on religion, he explains how Queen Elizabeth established a Protestant state and outlawed Catholicism. Mortimer tells us “you won’t find the answers to in traditional history books” so he attempts to address those gaps in our knowledge about everyday life. Just the list of tradesmen and merchants brings on a long period of daydreaming: tucker, tailor, baker, victualer, cutler, draper, cooper, currier, glover, hatter, hosier, cordwainer, costermonger, needlemaker, ostler, scrivener…the list goes on. My greatest interest in the period had been language: there are so many words no longer in use which seem to capture something unique in the lives of people: Mortimer spends some time explaining words, even words we use now for their meanings might well have changed since the sixteenth century. Mortimer gives us statistics on how many books were being published and the results are startling.
People were reading-even women-and while much of what was available to them were religious tracts, there began to be something more as the period (1550-1600) wore on. On the pro side, world-wide exploration was in its infancy, and it must have been thrilling to discover new products coming in from overseas, changing the way people thought about their own culture. Cleanliness and sanitation were two of the most off-putting descriptions Mortimer shares, but we also shrink at “medical care” and the somewhat arbitrary nature of punishment and death. By carefully going through all the contingencies of leadership, life, and labor, he shows us that life was difficult at best-the early, and not quite thought-out beginning of city living. We may, for instance, subscribe to the notion that Elizabethan England was a period of the flowering of art and language, and it was…to a point. Mortimer expects us to have pre-conceived notions and to develop questions as we read. His sense of humor and level of detail bridges any gaps in understanding why Elizabethan England may not be a place we would want to live. We all know why Elizabethan England fascinates us and Ian Mortimer is a wonderful guide.
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