User talk:607kuldip
A brief history of 16th century England:[edit]
For 118 years from 1485 to 1603, England was ruled by The Tudors family from which the 5 rulers were Henry VII. Henry VIII, Edward VI, Mary I and Elizabeth I.
Below is a short description of the 5 respective rulers during the Tudor period.
- Henry VII----> defeated King [Richard III] at the Battle of Bosworth and became the first Tudor King. The Wars of Roses which has been dividing England for years ended.
- Henry VIII---> famous for having 6 wives. He revolted against the Catholic Church and made his own church (the Church of England)
- Edward VI---> A young ruler. Died at the age of 15.
- Mary I---------> nicknamed "Bloody Mary". She wanted to return England to Roman Catholicism and thus killed many (Protestants) who rebelled against her.
- Elizabeth I--> Elizabeth I's rule is remembered as the Golden Age of English history. Under her rule, England advanced in such areas as foreign trade, exploration, literature, and the arts.
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Henry VII
Education in 16th Century England[edit]
What proportion of people in England could read in the 16th century?
- Girls---->
Except for daughters of the nobility and rich families, formal schooling for girls was not encouraged, because girls were usually not considered worth the money to be sent to school.
They were usually kept at homes to help with household crafts so they could grow up to become useful wives.
By the mid 16th century, the situation became better since some girls were permitted to attend grammar school with their brothers. Later on, a few private schools were established for those young ladies whose families could afford the expense.
Up to the late 16th century, only about one tenth of the female population could read.
- Boys---->
a) Many village or poor children did not go to school because they could not afford the school fees. Some might attend the "Dame schools" which were served as daycare centres, run by illiterate women.
b) Wealthier families sent their boys to
1) choir schools at first, which were run by the monasteries of the Catholic Church. However, Heny VIII started a new church, The Church of England, so he closed down the monasteries and the choir schools as well. Thus, the boys would have to go to
2) either grammar schools where they learnt Latin OR petty schools where they just learnt to read.
c) The wealthiest or noble families preferred to employ private tutors to come to their houses and teach their children rather than sending them to schools.
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A Tudor schoolroom with the teacher
- During the era of Elizabeth I, the English Renaissance, which was a cultural and artistic movement in England starting from the early 16th century to the early 17th century reached its peak and there was a great flourish in humanities. Thus,
the importance of education was immensely publicized:
a) schools were better funded and equipped
b) more funding were provided for grammar schools so that poor boys could receive education. Thus,
At least one third of the male population could read in the late 16th century.
However, some children were still unable to attend to schools because they were needed as child labour for their families.
Did people have access to books?
In the 16th century, people produced books by the printing press instead of constructing them by hands (manuscript). Thus,
more books were produced in a shorter period of time
New information was also put into books instead of just those traditional works like the Bible or Lord's Prayer, etc.
The increased production of books also played a huge role in spreading information. This
helped with the development of the English Renaissance
Most books were sold by stationers who commissioned the printing of a book. The stationers might travel around the country, selling books at the major country fairs.
However, due to the high production cost, books were expensive. Thus, it was usually the
rich people who had access to books while the poor did not.
As few books were available at poorer schools, pupils read from [[hornbook| hornbooks] instead. Hornbooks were wooden boards with the alphabet, prayers or other writings pinned to them and were covered with a thin layer of transparent cow's horn.
-
Hornbook
What did people learn at schools?
- Girls---->
if they had the chance to go to school, what they learnt were still about encouraging chastity and developing skills of housewifery.
- Boys---->
they started to go to grammar schools at the age of six or seven and they
a) learnt mainly Latin, Greek, Arithmetic, Religious Study and English Literature
b) practised writing in ink by copying the alphabet and the Lord's prayer.
After attending grammar school, most boys became
a) apprentices of a certain trade and were trained by a master for seven years while
b) some very rich boys could attend universities (women were denied access to receive an university education).
Boys of poorer families rarely had the chance to attend university but they could still do so through a scholarship or financing from a wealthy patron.
What did people learn at universities?
There were only 2 universities in Tudor England, namely [Oxford and Cambridge Universities].
The education provided was very conservative---> topics on certain philosophical ideas (e.g Plato) and new approaches to medicine were largely ignored while traditional studies on the Church and the Bible were advocated, (e.g Jesus College, Oxford)
The other subjects available at universities can be grouped into 2 categories:
a) one, the [trivium] includes grammar, rhetoric, and logic
b) while the other, the [quadrivium] includes astronomy, geometry, arithmetic, and music
References:
- Websites:
http://www.woodlands-junior.kent.sch.uk/Homework/tudors/schools.htm
http://internetshakespeare.uvic.ca/Library/SLT/intro/introsubj.html
http://www.burbage-jun.leics.sch.uk/HTML%20files/tudors/index/index_page.htm
http://www.william-shakespeare.info/william-shakespeare-biography-childhood-and-education.htm
- Books:
The terrible tudors and the slimy stuarts