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In the 1970s historians began to research the daily lives of people in Elizabethan England. They identified three groups of people; the rich, the poor and the ‘middling sort’.

The gentry

The gentry were landowners and during this period they began to build and extend their homes to reflect their status. They had the following:

• Multiple storied houses with lots of glass in the windows.
• Orchards and kitchen gardens - these would provide the family with fruit and vegetables and allowed them to be self-sufficient.
• Lavish food - a feast in a gentleman’s house would consist of a variety of different types of meat including venison and swan and these would be accompanied by fine wines imported from France and Italy. After the meal there might be a sweet course consisting of sweetmeats and marzipan confections.
• Land - the Elizabethan gentry gained their wealth from their land. About two percent of the population were gentlemen and they owned over half the land in England at the time. The rents from their estates meant that the gentry did not have to work and they were free to enjoy leisure pursuits such as hunting. Not every gentleman owned the same amount of land. There were dukes and earls who owned large estates but some of the lesser gentry had smaller estates. However, they all owned land and this is what members of the gentry had in common.
• Political power - they acted as Justices of the Peace and helped the monarch to maintain law and order in the provinces. Some of them were Members of Parliament and helped the queen to govern the country. Although there was a divide between the gentry and the ‘common people’ it was not impossible to cross that divide. Those men who made money through trade or law could sometimes buy land and then they could enjoy the wealth and status of a gentleman. It is important to remember that there was social mobility in Elizabethan England and it was possible to move from one class to another.

The 'middling sort'

The term ‘middling sort’ was used by Elizabethans to describe those people who had more than the poor but who had not reached the dizzy heights of the gentry.

• The houses of the yeomen were much bigger than those of the labourers who worked for them. They might have chimneys, glass in the windows and a number of rooms (including two stories) thereby denoting their relative wealth and status.
• Work - in the town the ‘middling sort’ was made up by the tradesmen and craftsmen who ran their own businesses. In the countryside the ‘middling sort’ was the yeoman and the husbandmen who farmed some land of their own. Although they did not have the vast amounts of money of the gentry they lived a more comfortable existence than the labouring poor.
• Food - Yeomen could afford to eat well but they did not have the number of servants or the lavish possessions of the gentry. Whilst yeomen families may have eaten meat it would be simple such as beef, pork and mutton. Bread was an important part of their diet but unlike the gentry, who ate white bread regularly, the ‘middling sort’ would save this for cakes and pastry for guests. ‘Yeoman’ bread had more bran left in it. They would drink beer and mead instead of wine. Like the gentry they were able to grow fruit and vegetables in their gardens and orchards but they did not have exotic fruit.

The labouring poor

Half of the population in Elizabethan England were the labouring poor. Unlike for the gentry and the ‘middling sort’ there is not a great deal of written evidence concerning the labouring poor.

• The houses of the labouring poor were very simple one storey dwellings. They did not have chimneys and the smoke from the fire escaped through the thatch. There were few windows and they did not have glass in them. A labourer would have very few possessions perhaps a bed a table and a chair.
• Work - most of the labouring poor worked in the countryside on the farms of yeomen and husbandmen. Few labourers worked on the same farm throughout the year and most went from farm to farm looking for work. Although farmers needed lots of labour at harvest time for the rest of the year labourers could struggle to find work. They often found it difficult to pay their rent and buy food or fuel.
• Land - some labourers might be lucky enough to have an acre or two of land and they might enjoy common rights (this would allow them to graze their animals on the common land). Two thirds of labourers had only their cottages and gardens. Although some labourers built houses on waste land an Act of Parliament tried to stop this in 1589 by stating that all houses had to have four acres of land.
• Food - barley and rye bread was the staple diet of the labouring poor. It was supplemented by a soup called pottage made from vegetables grown in the labourer’s gardens. During good times labourers might have eggs, cheese, fish or bacon but during hard times labourers struggled to put food on the table. In 1594 the bad weather caused terrible harvests and grain prices soared. This led to hardship for many labourers and when the harvests of 1596 and 1598 also failed many labourers and their families starved to death.