How to Behave Badly in Renaissance Britain

Also sold under "How to Behave Badly in Elizabethan England: A Guide for Knaves, Fools, Harlots, Cuckolds, Drunkards, Liars, Thieves, and Braggarts." This one is the British edition, Elizabethan England is the American one.

Then do not buy. It is the exact same book. Silly me, I figured Ruth Goodman and her publishers had come out with a book that covered more source material, or perhaps the later Elizabethan/early Stuart transition. WRONG. This is the exact same book, packaged with a different cover. At least I am blessed enough to have a dear friend who will enjoy this as a gift.

This is a very entertaining book, which my wife is thoroughly enjoying.

This book is identical to “How To Behave Badly In Elizabethan England”. It should be described as such.

Ruth Goodman, who undoubtedly is known to the vast majority of people in this country gives us here a book that is not only fascinating, but also rather humorous. Different subjects have their own chapters, and within them sub-chapters of various related subjects, giving us a good basic grounding in and knowledge of our ancestors during the English Renaissance.We all know that many things about us and the questions we ask have long been considered in the past, and that a number of attitudes on different topics have been more in align with our present world. Of course things like religion do have differences at times, as well as something like medicine where the science was woefully lacking on many ailments. As we see here adolescents behaved badly, people lost control and their cool, and thus fights and arguments were around the same sort of things today. Although nowadays you would not report your neighbour for adultery to the Lord Mayor of London, and of course if you give an instruction manual to someone entering service today you do not have to have printed in it a reminder not to kill the guests.Taking us on a journey then, so we can see the similarities as well as the differences between the British in the 16th and 17th Centuries reminding us all that in many ways we are still very much linked in our thoughts and goals. As we see nowadays there are what we call lager louts, but back in the day, not only weren’t people in this country not drinking such a thing, but beer was looked upon as suspect, being foreign, unlike ale.As the author admits, this is only really scratching the surface, but what we are given is more than enough food for thought and shows us not only what were considered good manners in the period, but also bad, and what could be used to cause slight offence, without going the whole hog. It has to be admitted that the cussing of our forebears was much more inventive than today, where we just tend to shout swear words at each other, and that insults against people that bordered on their reputation and respect were taken much more seriously than many do today.It is also interesting reading this to see that even in the period this book covers we can see different conventions going in and out of fashion, as well as clothing, and how words can start to change their meaning somewhat, into something that may have been less insulting than in the past. Illustrated with a number of woodcuts from the period this does give us some great visual imagery, and adds to the text, where we are also reminded that the context of some of the things here has changed over the centuries, and what would have been considered rude then isn’t so much today, although there are numerous instances here where what was considered good behaviour back then is still very much the same today.

Sheds light on a hundred ways in some very puzzling aspects of Shakespeare's plays, on the life of London in particular, and of some of the sources of current repressive and permissive thinking. Who knew until this readable account?

What a gem this book is! Packed with information but delivered with a lightness of touch that makes it a joy to read. As a history student, Ruth Goodman is a historian I admire and aspire to, not only for her thorough research, but the way she makes history enjoyable, entertaining, and accessible to all.

An interesting and informative look at bad behaviour in the Tudor and Stuart eras. As always Ruth Goodman backs up her research with personal experience, adding another dimension to the story.

Ruth has done some great tv programmes, concentrating on real life issues of ordinary people and her books are the same. Very interesting and full of her practical research into our forebears lives. Sort of living museums in print. Great.