THE TUDOR ENTERTERTAINMENT

WHAT WAS THE TUDOR PERIOD LIKE? The Tudor period began in 1485 and ended in It was an exciting time in history. Tudor lifestyles were different to ours today in many ways including their fashion, food and crime and punishment. In Tudor times, rich and poor people liked making music. The poor had to make their own musical instruments. Shakespheare liked plays so much he joined an acting company and travelled to London. Tudor people enjoyed watching plays.

TUDOR SPORTS There were many sports in Tudor times, including bear-fighting, jousting and cock-fighting but most people would usually attend cock-fighting. Jousting was quite brutal and dangerous. Sunday was the day for football, which was a very rough game. Indoor games included chess, draughts and backgammon. Many people gambled on cards or dice. Bear-fighting usually took place on Thursday, in bear gardens or in cockpits. The bear was fastened to a post with chains.

Jousting was a popular sport. It involved two armoured knights separated by a four-foot-high wooden barrier. Each knight carried a lance and the objective was to knock your opponent off his horse as he galloped past. On shrove Tuesday, schoolboys were allowed to bring their fighting cocks to school to do battle in the school cockpit. A law was passed in 1512 that banned ordinary people from a whole range of games including tennis, dice, cards, bowls and skittles. This was because the government wanted people to work more and play less. What Tudor sports were there?

WHAT WAS TUDOR MUSIC LIKE ? Every rich family paid professional musicians to entertain their guests and to provide music for dancing. Henry VIII was a very keen musician and had a large collection of musical instruments which he played. Henry was said to have been a very talented musician who composed ballads and church music, although these have all been lost. When he died he left a collection of instruments that included: 5 bagpipes, 78 recorders - Henry VIII was an exceptional recorder player and 78 flutes.

TUDOR PLAYS Tudors were famous for acting and writing fantastic plays. The theatre companies would buy plays from writers. They would usually hold about 8 men and a few boys who were trained to play the women's parts. All the parts were acted by boys. Women were never allowed to act. Who was William Shakespeare? Shakespeare was born in a town called Stratford-Upon-Avon. If you go there you can see the houses where he was born. Shakespeare went to a very strict school.

CONCLUSION To summarise, in the Tudor period, dancing and music were popular past times and there were different dance and music for different occasions. In contrast to Tudor entertainment, there is a greater range of choice of sport, music, dance and theatre today. What would you like most out of today or Tudor entertainment?