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Allegory of the Tudor dynasty (detail), attributed to Lucas de Heere, c.1572: left to right, Philip II of Spain, Mary, Henry VIII, Edward VI, Elizabeth.

The Tudor period usually refers to the period between 1485 and 1603, specifically in relation to the history of England. This coincides with the rule of the Tudor dynasty in England. Usually the term is used more broadly to include Elizabeth's reign as well (1558 – 1603), although this is often treated separately as the Elizabethan era.

The Tudor municipalities were comparatively small and overcrowded. The cobbled streets were narrow, dirty due to open sewers running alongside and carrying the filth to the nearest river. Rats and flies thrived, spreading diseases such as typhus and the plague. Few of the inhabitants lived to be older than 40, and children often died before they were five.^{[citations needed]}

The very rich usually lived in large mansions in the countryside, with up to 150 servants. The mansions had many chimneys for the many fireplaces required to keep the vast rooms warm. These fires were also the only way of cooking food.

The food consumed by the very rich in this period consisted largely of venison, and often of blackbirds and larks. However, potatoes had not reached the table to any great extent, because farmers had only just begun growing them, although explorers such as Sir Walter Raleigh had brought them to Britain. Honey was normally used to sweeten food; sugar was only rarely available, but when they did have it, they put it on all their food, including meat. The poor never had sugar or potatoes and seldom ate meat. They would occasionally catch rabbits and fish but most of the time they ate bread and vegetables such as cabbage and turnips.

Poorer children never went to school. Children from better-off families had tutors to teach them reading and French. However, boys were often sent to schools which belonged to the monasteries and there they would learn mainly Latin in classes of up to 60 boys. The school day went from dawn until dusk and the schoolmasters would frequently beat their pupils. Children from royal families had private lessons where they usually were the only pupil.

The rich used to go hunting to kill deer and wild boar for their feasts. They also enjoyed fencing and jousting contests. Most rich people watched bear fighting and the poor played a kind of football where the posts were about a mile apart, they jumped on each other, often breaking their necks and backs. There were some theatres and people enjoyed watching plays, particularly those of the young playwright William Shakespeare, operas were also a favourtie among the richer part of the community, with binoculars they would watch the intensity and romance of opera artists.^{[citations needed]}

The English Reformation began in this period with the Henrician Reformation. Rich children went to school. Mostly boys went but few girls went! Some people were taught at home by a tutor.

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• Tudor style
• Tudor rose
• Tudorbethan architecture
• Tudor people
• Early Modern Britain

• Tudor food - learning resources from the British Library

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