Joyce Culpeper

What people wore

Limited wardrobes for the commoners

Many ordinary people owned only one set of clothes for daytime wear and lacked dedicated sleepwear, opting to sleep in their smocks and nightcaps.

Daily life

Inexpensive rushlights versus luxury beeswax

Rushlights, made from dried plant pith dipped in tallow, were a common and inexpensive light source for the poor. In contrast, beeswax candles were luxury items, costing up to six times more than tallow.

Work

Farming was the most common job

Farming was the primary occupation, with nine out of ten people living in rural villages or small towns.

Music

Nightly Patrols by Civic Musicians

Civic musicians called waits often patrolled town streets at night on winter nights, providing entertainment and calling out the time or weather.

At the table

The poor used acorns to make bread

When flour was scarce, the very poor would grind acorns to make bread as a desperate substitute.

Getting around

Carts were for cargo, not people

Carts and wagons were used to transport cargo, not people, and passengers who rode in them sat on the floor among straw or baggage. These vehicles were extremely slow and were widely considered an uncomfortable or shameful way for a person to travel.

What it cost

Cost of Basic Food Items

A loaf of bread (24 oz) cost 1 penny, and 1 pound of cheese cost 1 1/2 pence. A skilled worker could buy a dozen eggs for 4d and a pound of cheese for 1 1/2d with their daily wage.