Ten Facts on the Elizabethan Times

Considered the golden age of English history, the Elizabethan era saw a flowering of British culture in many different areas. Spanning the reign of Queen Elizabeth I, this period saw unprecedented peace and prosperity in England, especially when contrasted with the times just before and after it. In Elizabethan times, poetry, music, theater and literature dominated daily life at home while the explorations of the British abroad brought a steady stream of exotic news and influences to England's shores. In addition to an explosion of culture, the Elizabethan era contained many fascinating features.

The reign of Queen Elizabeth I stretched from 1558 to 1603, covering an especially monumental time in British history. The church of England declared independence from the Catholic Church the same year the Elizabeth took power so the queen had absolute power over both church and state.

Queen Elizabeth poured money into London's arts scene, building the city's first theaters and sponsoring productions. Shakespeare himself grew up and benefited from this atmosphere and even published his first play, "Henry IV," near the end of her reign.

In Elizabethan times, society divided into a strict social order that included six classes: the monarchy (or the Queen herself), the nobility, the gentry, the merchant class, the yeoman class (tradesmen) and laborers. Elizabethan laws even dictated what kind and color of clothes each class could wear so that they could be immediately identified.

The exploration of the New World and the South Pacific brought a slew of culinary treats into the kitchens and restaurants of England. Tomatoes, chili peppers, chocolate, cinnamon and avocados are just some of the hundreds of flavorful items that the British tasted for the first time during the Elizabethan era.

Except for country people, most British people in the Elizabethan era drank ale, beer, cider or wine instead of water. Water was contaminated and not safe to drink, especially in London; the alcohol content of alcoholic beverages helped to kill germs and bacteria.

Like the rest of Europe at the time, England went through a phase of witch hysteria during the Elizabethan era. In England, however, witches found guilty of murder were publicly hanged, not burned at the stake like in France.

When the British defeated the Spanish Armada in 1588, it became the undisputed ruler of the seas. This accounts for the explosive growth in prosperity during the Elizabethan period since the British navy controlled the world's naval trade, bringing vast material wealth to the area.

In Elizabethan England money existed as coins comprised of alloys of silver and gold, and the fineness, or exact weight of the silver or gold, of the coin determined its value. Pounds, made up of 240 pennies, were the common monetary standard.

Superstitions ran high in England during the reign of Queen Elizabeth, and chief among them was the belief in ghosts and haunted houses. Castles were an especially common haunt for ghosts; in fact, the ghost of Queen Elizabeth herself has been reported to haunt Windsor Castle to this day.

One of the queen's favorite art forms was poetry, and the written word flourished under her reign. Some poets even composed verses in dedication to Queen Elizabeth herself as a form of flattery, including the famous “The Faerie Queene” by Edmund Spencer.