Liza Picard's
Elizabeth's London completes a trilogy of books on London throughout history, starting with
Restoration London and followed by
Dr Johnson's London. From the outset, Picard admits that
Elizabethan London proved an even greater challenge to reconstruct, as "few buildings survive", and "artefacts and clothes from the time are rare". Nevertheless, through painstaking detail, Picard wonderfully recreates the crowded chaotic sights and smells of everyday life in late 16th-century London.
Her journey starts, like so many admirers of the city from Chaucer to Ackroyd, on the river Thames, "a uniform opaque grey" in Elizabeth's time, but "fairly unpolluted, judging from all the fish in it," and "a superb processional route between the royal palaces." From here Picard surveys London life, from its main streets, its water supply and its civic buildings of timber and stone, to the houses, people, clothes, food, drink and entertainment that defined one of the most prosperous cities in 16th-century Europe.
Everything is told in all its raw, sensual detail, from the ways in which "the butcher's professional skills" were used to disembowel those unfortunate enough to be convicted of capital offences, to the cost of pins for dressmaking--one shilling and eight pence per thousand. At times, the sheer detail of Picard's book can be overwhelming, and there is no specific argument that unites her observations, but the sheer scale of information is extremely impressive. - Jerry Brotton, Amazon.co.uk
Contents:
Illustrations
Preface
Prologue
Part 1: The Place
Chapter 1. The River
Chapter 2. The Main Streets, Water Supply and Sewerage
Chapter 3. The Buildings
Chapter 4. Interiors and Furniture
Chapter 5. Gardens and Open Spaces
Part 2: The People
Chapter 6. Health, Illness and Medicine
Chapter 7. Foreigners
Chapter 8. Clothes and Beauty
Chapter 9. Food and Drink
Chapter 10. Sex, Marriage, Family Life and Death
Chapter 11. Education
Chapter 12. Amusements
Chapter 13. Networks and Boxes
Chapter 14. Crime, Punishment and the Law
Chapter 15. The Poor
Chapter 16. Religion, Superstition, Witchcraft and Magic
Epilogue
Appendix 1. Words and Pronunciation
Appendix 2. Currency, Wages and Prices
Appendix 3. An Elizabethan Invoice
Notes
Index
Review:A work of impressive learning, full of details of everyday practicalities that most history books ignore. - Scotland on Sunday
Elizabeth's London is, like its predecessors, a storehouse of fascinating information. Every page contains a nugget. - Lucy Moore, Daily Mail
