From Farm Servant to Queen: How Every Tudor Got Ready for Autumn
Renaissance English History Podcast: A Show About the TudorsShow Notes
Every September, all of Tudor England was on the move. In episode 3 of our autumn series, we climb the social ladder one rung at a time, from a seventeen-year-old farm servant looking for next year's job all the way up to Queen Elizabeth watching sea gods row across a lake that was dug just for her.
On the way, we find out why quitting your job without a written testimonial could land you in prison in 1563, wander through Stourbridge Fair (one of the biggest fairs in Europe, right outside Cambridge), peek into Sir William Petre's household accounts at Ingatestone, and follow the court to Elvetham in 1591, where the Earl of Hertford built a crescent-shaped lake with a ship-shaped island for a four-day visit. Plus the staggering cost of hosting Elizabeth on progress, and the nobles who tried very hard to get out of it, including one earl who simply wasn't home when she knocked.
This is episode 3 of 4 in our series on how the Tudors got ready for autumn.
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