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Imagine yourself waking up one morning and realizing that in your sleep you were teleported back in time. Looking around you realize you are in Renaissance Britain. Your survival now depends on how well you can blend in with that culture and how well you can navigate the pitfalls of social etiquette and everyday habits. From very basic questions such as ‘How would you track the passage of time?’ ‘Where would you take a bath (and how often?)’ ‘Where and how would I sleep (ever heard of bi-phasal sleep?)’ to existential questions such as ‘What will I do if I fall ill? (small hint here: seeing a doctor is not always the best idea…)’, ‘What happens if I fail to show up in Church’, ‘What if I wear the wrong clothes?’, ‘How do I get a job?’ … your life will depend on the right answers to all these questions and more.
In this seminar, we will look at British culture in the Renaissance (mostly Tudor times) and try to find answers to the above questions. Looking at everyday habits and cultural discourses around such fields as ‘Clothing and Proper Behaviour’, ‘Food and Drink’, ‘Hygiene, Illness and Death’, “Love and Marriage” as well as ‘Work and Leisure’, we will develop an understanding of Renaissance life and culture, focussing not merely on the rich and prosperous, but also the common person. We will read a combination of secondary texts and original sources from the time to build up our knowledge of the essential aspects of British Renaissance Culture.
A reader will be provided at the beginning of the seminar. |
