Facts of the 1500s

[nChrist]

(By Email - Is this true?)

Subject: Interesting Facts of the 1500's

The next time you are washing your hands and complain because the water temperature isn't just how you like it, think about how things used to be.

Here are some facts about the1500s:

Most people got married in June because they took their yearly bath in May, and still smelled pretty good by June. However, they were starting to smell, so brides carried a bouquet of flowers to hide the body odor.  Hence the custom today of carrying a bouquet when getting married.

Baths consisted of a big tub filled with hot water.  The man of the house had the privilege of the nice clean water, then all the other sons and men, then the women and finally the children Last of all the babies. By then the water was so dirty you could actually lose someone in it. Hence the saying, "Don't throw the baby out with the bath water."

Houses had thatched roofs-thick straw-piled high, with no wood underneath.  It was the only place for animals to get warm, so all the cats and other small animals (mice, bugs) lived in the roof. When it rained it became slippery and sometimes the animals would slip and off the roof. Hence the saying "It's raining cats and dogs."

There was nothing to stop things from falling into the house. This posed a real problem in the bedroom where bugs and other droppings could mess up your nice clean bed. Hence, a bed with big posts and a sheet hung over the top afforded some protection.  That's how canopy beds came into existence.

The floor was dirt. Only the wealthy had something other than dirt. Hence the saying "dirt poor." The wealthy had slate floors that would get slippery in the winter when wet , so they spread thresh (straw) on floor to help keep their footing. As the winter wore on, they adding more thresh until when you opened the door it would all start slipping outside.  A piece of wood was placed in the entranceway.
Hence the saying a "thresh hold."

(Getting quite an education, aren't you?)

In those old days, they cooked in the kitchen with a big kettle that always hung over the fire. Every day they lit the fire and added things to the pot.  They ate mostly vegetables and did not get much meat. They would eat the stew for dinner, leaving leftovers in the pot to get cold overnight and then start over the next day. Sometimes stew had food in it that had been there for quite a while. Hence the rhyme, "Peas porridge hot, peas porridge cold, peas porridge in the pot nine days old."

Sometimes they could obtain pork, which made them feel quite special. When visitors came over, they would hang up their bacon to show off. It was a sign of wealth that a man could "bring home the bacon." They would cut off a little to share with guests and would all sit around and "chew the fat."

Those with money had plates made of pewter. Food with high acid content caused some of the lead to leach onto the food, causing lead poisoning death. This happened most often with tomatoes, so for the next 400 years or so, tomatoes were considered poisonous.

Bread was divided according to status. Workers got the burnt bottom of the loaf, the family got the middle, and guests got the top, or "upper crust."
 
Lead cups were used to drink ale or whisky. The combination would sometimes knock the imbibers out for a couple of days. Someone walking along the road would take them for dead and prepare them for burial. They were laid out on the kitchen table for a couple of days and the family would gather around and eat and drink and wait and see if they would wake up. Hence the custom of holding a "wake."

England is old and small and the local folks started running out of places to bury people. So they would dig up coffins and would take the bones to a "bone-house" and reuse the grave. When reopening these coffins, 1 out of 25 coffins were found to have scratch marks on the inside and they realized they had been burying people alive. So they would tie a string on the wrist of the corpse, lead it through the coffin and up through the ground and tie it to a bell. Someone would have to sit out in the graveyard all night (the "graveyard shift") to listen for the bell; thus, someone could be "saved by the bell" or was considered a "dead ringer."

And that's the truth... Now , whoever said that History was boring ! ! !

Educate someone...Share these facts.
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If some of them are true, would you care to have some fun and give additional information?

[sincereheart]

ROFL! Now I can really count my blessings! Thank you!  

[Allinall]

I believe him!  He should know...  *Runs and hides before Tom remembers where his battle axe is*

[Shammu]

Yes its true, I have some pewter plates, that have been in my family from the mid 1600's.

[nChrist]

   

I thought much of this might be true. I was just thinking about how many graveyard shifts I worked in my 25 years, and I reflected on specific duties in cemeteries around the time of Halloween. WOW!! - you wouldn't believe what a tiny minority of weirdos do near Halloween in cemeteries.

I'm not sure if I would have survived with one of those dead-ringers.    One night, a huge owl flew right past my window, and I almost broke my neck when my head hit the top of the patrol car. NO, I didn't report an injury, nor did I tell anyone about the owl. It was a very dark night, and you can only imagine my first thoughts about the owl.  

In reading some other things about the 1500s, I would say that we are spoiled folks who would not survive long at that time.    One idea was good, I carry a bouquet of flowers everywhere I go now.  

[Willowbirch]

When it rained it became slippery and sometimes the animals would slip and off the roof. Hence the saying "It's raining cats and dogs."

I like your version. The one I heard was that sometimes it rained really hard in London, and dead animals clogged the sewers...

Another fact: Taverns used to put burnt bread in the bottoms of people's glasses to help soak impurities away from the wine. (I've been told this isn't true, but I heard the story from a reenactor.) When someone burst into the tavern with some really good news, folks would buy full mugs, and drink "to the toast", or to the bottom of the glass, hence the saying "drink a toast".

In Victorian days, if a man wanted a really good suit, it took about 9 yards of cloth to make. "The whole nine yards."

How did toast get its name? Bread used to be toasted beside the fire, in a metal contraption that could be turned by someone's toe when one side was done. This was called a "toe-stir", later shortened to "toaster", from which comes "toast".  

The first slotted electric toaster was invented before bakery-sliced bread.

In Medieval times, poor folks ate out of "trenchers", which were bowls made from hard old bread. By the time they'd eaten their soup, the bread would be softer, and then they'd eat their dishes. Talk about licking your plate...

Fashionable homes used to have a parlor with a "fainting couch" in it, which was frequently used by women who had to wear such tight corsets that they would get dizzy from lack of air.

The invention of the telephone was supposed to eliminate the "southern drawl." There was much debate over how to greet someone by telephone; many people wanted to use sailing terms when communicating this way, and if Alexander Graham Bell had decided, we would be answering the phone with a crisp "Ahoy!"

[nChrist]

Oklahoma Howdy to Willowbirch,

       Thanks, I needed those laughs. Truth is many times stranger and more funny than fiction. I found some old family documents, and many of them contained the very funny and strange truth of the times.

I've heard the story of the "trenchers" and I think it is completely true. The rest of them are very interesting, and I would guess that they are completely true. I like the idea of a "toe-stir", and I want one of those.  

Love In Christ,
Tom