The Tudors

Learning Objective:To investigate what life was like for Tudor children.

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What do you think the biggest differences between growing up in Tudor times and growing up in

modern times would have been?Discuss your ideas.

If you were a poor Tudor boy, you would go out to work for your family from the age of about

six. Lots of boys became apprentices. This means that they worked for someone (such as a baker, blacksmith or tailor) for free. In return, they

would receive food, shelter and would be taught the trade. Once they were about ten, they would

start to be paid for their work. NEXTBACK

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Life as a Tudor child depended very much on whether you were a rich Tudor or a poor Tudor, and even if you were a boy or a girl. Men and women had very specific roles in Tudor times - the men worked and provided for the family while the women looked after the home.

A papermaker and his young apprentice

Neither boys nor girls from poorer families went to school as school was expensive. It was more beneficial for them to learn how to earn money so they

could survive. Sometimes, they would attend dame schools which would be held in the teacher’s home. The teacher, usually a woman, would teach the

children their letters and how to read. NEXTBACKwww.planbee.com

Girls from poor Tudor families would work as maids and servants until they were old enough to get married and look after their own households. It would then be their responsibility to take care of the children and the

house while her husband went to work.

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When they weren’t working, poor Tudor children enjoyed playing with toys such as balls (made from a pig’s bladder) or hoops. They didn’t have

many toys but would use what they had around them to amuse themselves. They would spend most of their time playing outside as their

houses were usually small and cramped.

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How do you think life

would have been different for rich Tudor

children?

Boys were taught Latin and Greek, maths and religion. They copied the

alphabet and the Lord’s Prayer from a hornbook. This was a slate covered with a layer of clear horn. Teachers were very strict. Any mistakes were

punished with lashes from a birch rod. NEXTBACK

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Rich children didn’t have to go out at a young age and work to support their families. This meant they were able to go to school, although only

if you were a boy. Girls were taught at home. They were taught to read and write as well as practical things like sewing, embroidery and

learning how to manage a household.

Rich boys would have had wooden boats or horses. They would also be taught to ride and hunt from a young age. When the weather was bad,

they would play cards, marbles or dice inside. NEXTBACKwww.planbee.com

Rich children wouldn’t have many toys but the toys they would have would

be of a high quality. This picture shows a little girl with her doll. The doll was probably carved from wood and would have had moveable legs and arms. She

would have had several different outfits to dress her doll in too.

This was one of the reasons why people tended to have more children than

today. The more children you had, the more likely it was that at least one of them would survive into adulthood. This

was especially important for rich families who wanted to pass on their

lands and titles to their sons. NEXTBACK

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Whether you were rich or poor, there was much more chance of dying as a child than there is today. Out of all the babies that were born in Tudor times, up to 60% (six out of every ten children) would die at birth. 20% (two out of

every ten children) would die before they reached the age of fifteen.

Reasons for high child mortality rate:

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Using what you already know about the period, why do you think so many children died young in Tudor times?

Write a list below:

•The Tudor diet wasn’t as healthy as our diet today. They didn’t know about vitamins or how to eat a balanced diet.

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Did you think of these reasons? •Tudors didn’t have as much medical knowledge as we do today. They didn’t have medicines or vaccinations to prevent or cure diseases.

•There were lots of illnesses like the plague which killed a lot of people and for which there was no cure.

•Women had children at home instead of at the hospital. This meant that if anything went wrong, there was little that could be done.

•Poor Tudors often lived in cramped conditions which contributed to the spread of diseases.