For rich and poor, sex is a dangerous business in Tudor England. In 1536, in the highly charged atmosphere of Henry VIII's court, Lady Margaret Douglas – the king's niece – dares to marry Lord Thomas Howard secretly for love. When he finds out, the king throws Howard into the Tower, where he writes some tragic poems and then dies.

Most of Henry VIII's wives finish badly. The first, Catherine of Aragon, is divorced and dies in disgrace; the second, Anne Boleyn, is beheaded; the third, Jane Seymour, dies shortly after giving birth; the fourth, Anne of Cleves, is pensioned off after Henry finds her so unattractive that he refuses to consummate the marriage; the fifth, Catherine Howard, is beheaded for adultery. Only the sixth, Catherine Parr, gets the better of the king, regularly beating him at cards and finally surviving him.

Nor is life any safer for the poor. In 1517, a man returning from a pilgrimage to Our Lady at Willesden (now in west London) meets a young woman at the roadside. She's left home to look for work in the City. Promising to help her, he takes her to a brothel in London's Southwark and hands her over to a prostitute. But the woman escapes, aided by a waterman's wife.

Women

When William Harrison divides society into four parts, he doesn't mention women or children. These are assumed to follow the rank of their husbands and fathers. Women are usually described as the daughter, wife or widow of someone else, reflecting their subordinate position. Because men own all a family's property, only widows or unmarried women can make wills; 90% of wills are made by men.

Childbirth is an exclusively female affair, with only female midwives in attendance and no doctors. After childbirth, babies are rapidly baptised because of high infant mortality, usually in the absence of their mothers. New mothers are not allowed in church until about 30 days after the birth, and then must be 'churched', or ritually purified.

In 1500, few girls are taught to read and write, but 100 years later, the literacy rate for women is as high as at any time until the 19th century. And, despite women's officially inferior status, Tudor popular ballads are full of witty wenches outwitting stupid swains or strong wives beating weak husbands with their ladles.

And then there is Bess of Hardwick. A Derbyshire squire's daughter, she triumphantly conquers the Tudor man's world by marrying (and outliving) four successively wealthier husbands, ending up as countess of Shrewsbury. Her marriage to the earl is extraordinarily quarrelsome – she even accuses him of adultery with Mary Queen of Scots. Her talents have been listed as 'sexual politician, estate manager and speculator, industrial investor, loan shark and architectural patron'. Her house – Hardwick Hall – can still be visited today.

In some communities, however, uppity women are punished in a ritual known as the Skimmington ride, in which neighbours mock wives who dominate their husbands and men are ridiculed as cuckolds.

By the late 16th century, the insistence of conduct books that women should be silent, chaste and modest suggests that, in reality, women are more independent. Pamphlet wars about the 'nature of women' show that their status is hotly debated.

Marriage

Most couples marry in their late 20s, when they have enough money to afford to live outside the parental home.

Because divorce requires special religious dispensations, most marriages end in the death of one partner. Such deaths are common, however, and 25-33% of all marriages are second or third marriages. Many families include children from a previous marriage, and many people have step-siblings.

Prostitution

Southwark, in south London, is the red-light district, with plenty of brothels (called 'stews' because of their origins as steambath houses) as well as diversions such as theatre. Both Philip Henslowe, a well-know theatre impresario, and his son-in-law Edward Alleyn, a celebrated actor, find owning a brothel profitable. Brothels are usually whitewashed and have a sign. At one point in 1546, Henry VIII orders the brothels to close, but such widespread clean-ups are rarely successful. The authorities occasionally raid such 'bawdy houses', some of which are moated and have high walls to repel attackers (including the crown).

Cases of abuse are not unknown. In 1550, for example, a London haberdasher called Middleton is taken to court for letting his wife, their daughter and a 10-year-old serving maid have sex with Nicholas Ballard, a gentleman.

In 1553, in Mary I's reign, Parson Chekyn of St Nicholas in Old Fish Street is paraded through the streets of London after being found guilty of offering the sexual services of his wife for money.

Some prostitutes are very expensive. A Mirror for Magistrates of Cities, published in 1584, says that a young man might have to part with 40 shillings or more in a brothel for 'a bottle or two of wine, the embracement of a painted strumpet and the French welcome [syphilis]'.

Find out more

Top