Time Travel

Time Travel? There's a thought. Have you ever fancied travelling back in time?Where would you like to go? Just remember that things were not as we might imagine. 

Those Hollywood films show the most elaborate buildings, all clean and dusted, the most gorgeous clothes, satin, silk, velvet. It is all very tempting, although I wouldn't fancy wearing one of those heavy gowns all day, especially in the summer.

Judging by the necklace, I think this must be a representation of Anne Boleyn. Let us remember that a portrait of Anne was never painted during her lifetime, so nobody really knows what she looked like.

I am showing this image as an example of the clothes of upper class women in the sixteenth century. And those clothes were not washable, and dry cleaning had not yet been invented.

This is the only image of Anne Boleyn that is likely to resemble her at all. It was a ring, worn all her life by her daughter, Queen Elizabeth I.

Elizabeth was only two years old when her father ordered the execution of her mother. Can you imagine how that felt? No wonder she never married; she knew what love grew into and it wasn't a happy old age.

Sumptuary Laws 1363

In the year 1363, King Edward III introduced the Sumptuary Laws, which dictated what fabrics and colours could be worn by each class. More information can be found here.

The problem was that after the Black Death, in 1348, there was a tremendous shortage of labour and peasants who had formerly been tied to the land and the landowners, could now leave and command their own price.

They were getting too big for their boots, making more money than they needed and actually buying property of their own! My God! The King and nobles couldn't allow that, could they?

The sumptuary laws also dictated what people could eat. Only royalty could eat venison, only the nobility and wealthy could eat meat at all and the peasants were stuck with vegetables and what they could fish out of the sea, if they lived that close. Oysters were a cheap filler, although nowadays they are considered a delicacy.

Before you go back in time, you might remember that plague. Back in the fourteenth century and before, people regularly shared their homes with their animals.

It was not unusual to have a goat or even a cow tethered in the corner of the room where the family were eating. Of course, in most cases, the poorer people only had one room. The whole family would eat, rest and sleep in that one room and the animals went in with them.

Since my dog sleeps with me, I don't find that at all peculiar!

Most of this class did not have horses, but they did have dogs. Dogs were useful for catching rabbits and other small creatures that one could make into a stew to spice up those boring vegetables. You know, I don't eat vegetables, except potatoes and they weren't discovered till much later. I don't know what I would have lived on. I suppose I would have had to develop a taste for them.

A peasant in the fourteenth century could not afford to be fussy.

Before you time travel, you might remember the famous quote that Queen Elizabeth I had a bath once a month whether she needed it or not. 

You might also recall that King Louis XIV of France, known as the Sun King, only bathed twice in his entire lifetime. And he actually reigned longer than our own dear Queen Elizabeth II, who only recently celebrated her Platinum Jubilee for reigning for 70 years. King Louis reigned for 77 years, from 1638 – 1715.

There he is, looking magnificent, but if you happen to meet him on your time travel, don't get too close. He probably stinks to high heaven!

Another interesting fact that I recently learned from a documentary with historian Tracey Borman is that in the beautiful, over decorated and magnificent palace of Versailles, there were no toilets! None at all, neither indoor or outdoor.

There were chamber pots in every corner, so if someone wanted to err ... go, they would squat down on one of these and relieve themselves, with the whole court strolling past. It must have been awkward for the women, yanking those multitudinous layers of skirt up to squat down there and if any of them had a back like mine, they would have fallen over and spilled ... well, I'll leave that to the imagination! Apparently servants would wander about specially to take the pots away and empty them. Altogether now! YUK!

Toilets were not individual anywhere in medieval times. When those conveniences found their way inside, there would be two or three in a row, so you could go in and have a natter with a companion while you were there.

Cloaks and outdoor clothing were hung in the toilets when not in use, because the smell deterred the moths. 

But supposing you found a portal to another time. Would you use it? Go exploring? Would you keep it a secret, or would you charge money and make a bit on the side for others to go back? And would you worry about changing things? Would you even know if you had changed things?

Let me introduce you to some people who went time travelling and found out that they really much preferred the twenty-first and second centuries.

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Copyright 2022 by Margaret Brazear

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