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?