Chapter 2

The Regions of Great Britain and English Society

The Island….

Quick Geography• England, Scotland, and

Wales occupy one island (Great Britain).

• Northern Ireland and the Republic of Ireland occupy the second island.

• GB covers 244,000 sq. km.• 965 km in length, 508 km

wide.• Britain can be divided into

Lowland Britain and Highland Britain

Lowland Britain

• Located in South East Britain (Blue).

• Consists of low-lying and fertile land suited for agriculture.

• The climate is warmer than in the north.

• More heavily populated than the north.

Highland Britain

• North West (Scotland)• Consists of hilly or

mountainous countryside.• Thin soils, with pockets of

fertile lowland.

English Society in the 17th Century

• England became a colonizing nation because they were wealthy and powerful, and by defeating the Spanish Armada in 1588 they had the freedom to travel the high seas.

• England built colonies in India, South Africa,North America, and other parts of the world.

• Trade with the colonies enriched England even more.

English Society

• English population grew rapidly• English entrepeneurs (merchants, manufactures,

and landholders) found unprecedented opportunities to become wealthy.

• To the upper class the future looked promising and the country was ready to become a world power.

English Society Pyramid

• Make a pyramid with the following 3 slides:

Upper Class

• Kings• Owners of factories & workhouses• King’s advisors• Nobility• Church officials

Middle Class

• Soldiers• Merchants• Landowners• Manufacturers• Military officers• Professionals• Teachers

Lower CLass

• Cottagers• Workers• Peasants• Unemployed

Guilds

• Guilds: organizations to protect skilled workers such as carpenters, blacksmiths, stone masons, dress makers, etc.– Agriculture & ordinary workers worked long hours

with little pay (10 pennies/day) and lived in terrible conditions

Diet

• Food:– Poor: mostly bread & beer, occasionally meat &

cheese– Wealthy: mostly meat (strongly flavoured to hide

un-freshness)– Fruits & vegetables unpopular– Forks just coming into fashion– New imported foods: pineapples, maize, potatoes,

coffee, tea, chocolate– Coffee houses became popular

Crime and Punishment

• Crimes of treason and offenses against the state were treated with the same severity that murder and rape are today.

• Offenses such as manslaughter, robbery, rape, piracy, and capital crimes entitled one to hanging, usually in the town square.

• A woman found guilty of poisoning her husband was burned alive.

• A cook who poisoned his customers was boiled to death in a cauldron of water or lead.

• Public ridicule to criminals!

Family

• Boys can marry at 14, girls at 12. Usually didn’t happen until age at 21.

• Wives are the property of their husbands and depend on their husband for life.

• A little boy is dressed in skirts, pretty much like his sisters, until the age of six or seven, when he gets his first pair of breeches or breech hose.

• Breeching is a rite of passage for a boy, and a big deal for a boy. A father would now take on a bigger role to raise his boy.

Breeching

Health

• Average age was 35 in the early 1600’s.• New medicine finally emerging. Some still

believe the body consisted of blood, black bile, phlegm, yellow bile.

• Often left to superstition and myth.

Fun• Tennis and shuttlecock. Board games like chess,

backgammon.• Theatre was very popular.• In the early 17th century the stage jutted out into

the audience. Boys played women's parts! • ‘Sports' like cock fighting and bull and bear baiting

were popular. (A bear or bull was chained to a post and dogs were trained to attack it).

• The first English newspaper was printed in 1621.

English Monarchy Activity