Entertainment During The Elizabethan Era

Logan Pieper

Mrs. Lloyd

English 4

21 February 2023

Entertainment of the Elizabethan Era Today children and adults can entertain themselves at the click of a button on televisions, phones, and computers. The technology of today was not available during the Elizabethan Era. The entertainment choices also changed according to one’s financial status. Compared to the lower class, the wealthy had many more opportunities. Due to the lack of modern technology, the upper class of the Elizabethan Era spent their free time playing cards, hosting meals, dancing, going to festivals, participating in tournaments, hunting, and other activities. There was not always an opportunity for entertainment outside. When it was cold

Dancing was known as the most popular way to meet people during the Elizabethan Era (Cartwright). Music is what brought everyone together, but you didn’t have dances without music. Dancing was something you could do inside and outside, Cartwright argued that dancing was fun, and also seen as a great way to exercise. When people came together to dance there were two most common styles of dances, the easy go with the flow type of dancing and the traditional English style (Alchin). Alchin stated that there were also many dances that were adopted from Italy, such as ballet, The Volt, and The Galliard. Usually the upper class were the only ones who used the dances imported from other countries (Alchin). These dances were brought back by merchants and nobles who had traveled to other countries and took in some of their culture. Elizabethans took their dancing very seriously, especially the upper class and royalty. They created step by step manuals with directions on how specific dances go. These manuals were exported all over England. A very simple but traditional dance in the Elizabethan era usually required two people. The pair usually consisted of one male and one female (Cartwright). The pairs would be in a big line across from each other or in a giant circle. In some dances you would switch partners throughout the dance and the dance wouldn't be considered finished until you return to your original

You could find these tournaments during festivals and at other big events (Cartwright). The most common tournament events were those centered around battle including jousting, fencing, and archery (Cartwright). They wore clothing that was formerly used in warfare such as metal armor, Cartwright stated that metal armor was no longer used in battle when gunpowder became an effective weapon. However, they liked to wear it for show during tournaments and competitions (Cartwright). Your fancy armor and skills reflected your reputation (Cartwright). Cartwright argued that when individuals would fence or joust, they would dull the weapons down, but if not careful those weapons would still be able to cause serious injury. Carttwright stated that while jousting, you would wear metal armor and in fencing you would only have a padded jacket. In fencing matches they would often use two types of shields, the Buckler which was a circular shield and the Target which was a square shield (Cartwright). Another weapon they used was the rapier which was similar to a sword (Cartwright). The final activity in the Tournaments was archery, Cartwright argued that out of all three events in the Tournaments, archery was the most popular. The reason for this is archery was still an important and active warfare activity (Cartwright). Cartwright stated that laws were put into place requiring people to practice their skills