
How to Behave Badly in Elizabethan England
A Guide for Knaves, Fools, Harlots, Cuckolds, Drunkards, Liars, Thieves, and Braggarts
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Narrated by:
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Jennifer M. Dixon
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By:
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Ruth Goodman
About this listen
Every age and social strata has its bad eggs, rule-breakers, and nose-thumbers. As acclaimed popular historian and author of How to Be a Victorian Ruth Goodman reveals in her madcap chronicle, Elizabethan England was particularly rank with troublemakers, from snooty needlers who took aim with a cutting "thee" to lowbrow drunkards with revolting table manners. Goodman draws on advice manuals, court cases, and sermons to offer this colorfully crude portrait of offenses most foul.
Mischievous listeners will delight in learning how to time your impressions for the biggest laugh, why quoting Shakespeare was poor form, and why curses hurled at women were almost always about sex (and why we shouldn't be surprised). Bringing her signature "exhilarating and contagious" enthusiasm (Boston Globe), this is a celebration of one of history's naughtiest periods, when derision was an art form.
©2018 Ruth Goodman (P)2019 HighBridge, a division of Recorded BooksListeners also enjoyed...
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- A Social History
- By: Elizabeth Norton
- Narrated by: Jennifer Dixon
- Length: 12 hrs and 20 mins
- Unabridged
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The Tudor period conjures up images of queens and noblewomen in elaborate court dress, of palace intrigue and dramatic politics. But if you were a woman, it was also a time when death during childbirth was rife, when marriage was usually a legal contract, not a matter for love, and the education you could hope to receive was minimal at best. Yet the Tudor century was also dominated by powerful and dynamic women in a way that no era had been before.
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I love this book!
- By Kathi on 08-17-17
By: Elizabeth Norton
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The Time Traveller's Guide to Medieval England
- A Handbook for Visitors to the Fourteenth Century
- By: Ian Mortimer
- Narrated by: Jonathan Keeble
- Length: 11 hrs and 45 mins
- Unabridged
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Imagine you could travel back to the 14th century. What would you see? What would you smell? More to the point, where are you going to stay? And what are you going to eat? Ian Mortimer shows us that the past is not just something to be studied; it is also something to be lived. He sets out to explain what life was like in the most immediate way, through taking you to the Middle Ages. The result is the most astonishing social history book you are ever likely to read: evolutionary in its concept, informative and entertaining in its detail.
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Detailed, Interesting and Entertaining
- By Marc-Andr? on 05-13-10
By: Ian Mortimer
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Henry IV
- The Righteous King
- By: Ian Mortimer
- Narrated by: James Cameron Stewart
- Length: 22 hrs and 15 mins
- Unabridged
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The talented, confident, and intelligent son of John of Gaunt, Henry IV started his reign as a popular and charismatic king after he dethroned the tyrannical and wildly unpopular Richard II. But six years into his reign, Henry had survived eight assassination and overthrow attempts. Having broken God's law of primogeniture by overthrowing the man many people saw as the chosen king, Henry IV left himself vulnerable to challenges from powerful enemies about the validity of his reign. Even so, Henry managed to establish the new Lancastrian dynasty and a new rule of law.
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Detailed and compelling
- By kayakman on 12-15-17
By: Ian Mortimer
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The Outcasts of Time
- By: Ian Mortimer
- Narrated by: James Cameron Stewart
- Length: 12 hrs and 35 mins
- Unabridged
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With the country in the grip of the Black Death, brothers John and William fear that they will shortly die and suffer in the afterlife. But as the end draws near, they are given an unexpected choice: either to go home and spend their last six days in their familiar world, or to search for salvation across the forthcoming centuries - living each one of their remaining days 99 years after the last. John and William choose the future and find themselves in 1447, ignorant of almost everything going on. The year 1546 brings no more comfort, and 1645 challenges them further....
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Disappointment
- By Kathy on 07-01-19
By: Ian Mortimer
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Chaucer's People
- Everyday Lives in Medieval England
- By: Liza Picard
- Narrated by: Jennifer M. Dixon
- Length: 12 hrs and 46 mins
- Unabridged
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Chaucer wrote about everyday people outside the walls of the English court-men and women who spent days at the pedal of a loom, or maintaining the ledgers of an estate, or on the high seas. In Chaucer's People, Liza Picard transforms The Canterbury Tales into a masterful guide for a gloriously detailed tour of medieval England, from the mills and farms of a manor house to the lending houses and Inns of Court in London. In Chaucer's People, we meet, again, the motley crew of pilgrims on the road to Canterbury.
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A delight
- By Tad Davis on 05-10-19
By: Liza Picard
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Naked Statues, Fat Gladiators, and War Elephants
- Frequently Asked Questions About the Ancient Greeks and Romans
- By: Garrett Ryan
- Narrated by: Stephen Graybill
- Length: 7 hrs and 32 mins
- Unabridged
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Why didn't the ancient Greeks or Romans wear pants? How did they shave? How likely were they to drink fine wine, use birth control, or survive surgery? In a series of short and humorous essays, Naked Statues, Fat Gladiators, and War Elephants explores some of the questions about the Greeks and Romans that ancient historian Garrett Ryan has answered in the classroom and online. Unlike most books on the classical world, the focus is not on famous figures or events, but on the fascinating details of daily life.
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Garret Ryan delivers an accessible and thoroughly entertaining deep dive
- By Rafael on 11-03-21
By: Garrett Ryan
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A Hidden History of The Tower of London
- England’s Most Notorious Prisoners
- By: John Paul Davis
- Narrated by: Julian Elfer
- Length: 10 hrs and 13 mins
- Unabridged
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Famed as the ultimate penalty for traitors, heretics, and royalty alike, being sent to the Tower is known to have been experienced by no less than 8,000 unfortunate souls. Many of those who were imprisoned in the Tower never returned to civilization and those who did, often did so without their head! It is hardly surprising that the Tower has earned itself a reputation among the most infamous buildings on the planet.
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History buffs, this is for you!
- By Amazon Customer on 05-11-22
By: John Paul Davis
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If Walls Could Talk
- An Intimate History of the Home
- By: Lucy Worsley
- Narrated by: Anne Flosnik
- Length: 9 hrs and 43 mins
- Unabridged
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Why did the flushing toilet take two centuries to catch on? Why did medieval people sleep sitting up? When were the two "dirty centuries?" Why did gas lighting cause Victorian ladies to faint? Why, for centuries, did rich people fear fruit?In her brilliantly and creatively researched book, Lucy Worsley takes us through the bedroom, bathroom, living room, and kitchen.
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Compelling.
- By Kirsten on 06-05-12
By: Lucy Worsley
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Lost Heirs of the Medieval Crown
- The Kings and Queens Who Never Were
- By: J.F. Andrews
- Narrated by: Roger Clark
- Length: 7 hrs and 54 mins
- Unabridged
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When William the Conqueror died in 1087, he left the throne of England to William Rufus . . . his second son. The result was an immediate war as Rufus's elder brother Robert fought to gain the crown he saw as rightfully his; this conflict marked the start of 400 years of bloody disputes as the English monarchy's line of hereditary succession was bent, twisted, and finally broken when the last Plantagenet king, Richard III, fell at Bosworth in 1485.
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Great Listen
- By PrettyinPink on 01-03-24
By: J.F. Andrews
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The Hundred Years War
- The English in France 1337-1453
- By: Desmond Seward
- Narrated by: Nigel Patterson
- Length: 8 hrs and 25 mins
- Unabridged
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From 1337 to 1453 England repeatedly invaded France on the pretext that her kings had a right to the French throne. Though it was a small, poor country, England for most of those "100 years" won the battles, sacked the towns and castles, and dominated the war. Desmond Seward's critically acclaimed account of the Hundred Years War brings to life all of the intrigue, beauty, and royal to-the-death-fighting of that legendary century-long conflict.
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Superb narrator and fascintating history
- By Julie Seavello on 05-30-21
By: Desmond Seward
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Tutankhamun's Trumpet
- Ancient Egypt in 100 Objects from the Boy-King's Tomb
- By: Toby Wilkinson
- Narrated by: David Timson
- Length: 12 hrs and 35 mins
- Unabridged
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In 1922, after fifteen years of searching, archaeologists finally discovered the tomb of King Tutankhamun. There, buried alongside the king's mummy, they found more than 5,000 unique objects, from the mundane to the extravagant, from the precious to the everyday. Tutankhamun's spectacular gold mask is justifiably famous, but the rest of the treasures remain largely unknown, their stories untold.
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The final 25 pages are missing
- By Robert on 02-03-24
By: Toby Wilkinson
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Great Ladies
- The Forgotten Witnesses to the Lives of Tudor Queens
- By: Sylvia Barbara Soberton
- Narrated by: Elizabeth Jasicki
- Length: 6 hrs and 58 mins
- Unabridged
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Some ladies who served at the Tudor court are only faceless silhouettes lost to the sands of time, but there are those who dedicated their lives to please their royal mistresses and left documentation, allowing us to piece their life stories together and link them to the stories of Tudor queens. These female attendants saw their queens and princesses up close and often used their intimate bonds to their own benefit. Some were beloved, others hated. This is the story of the ladies of the Tudor court like you've never heard it before.
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the title is deceiving
- By Dr. A. on 12-15-19
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Matilda
- Empress, Queen, Warrior
- By: Catherine Hanley
- Narrated by: Jennifer M. Dixon
- Length: 12 hrs and 57 mins
- Unabridged
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A life of Matilda - empress, skilled military leader, and one of the greatest figures of the English Middle Ages.
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Both entertaining and scholarly
- By Anonymous User on 09-10-19
By: Catherine Hanley
Good to know
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Perfectly explains weird Behaviors we cling to
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Lots of fun
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What an interesting cultural experience!
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So interesting
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The narration was good, I have no complaints.
A bit redundant and slow..
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Actually, the book’s title, “How to Behave Badly in Elizabethan England,” is just a little bit misleading since it covers the period from 1550-1660, which extends on beyond into the reign of the Stuarts. She covers a broad range subjects. There is a review of clothing and what it represented. There is a discussion of their attitudes toward sexual relations in all its forms and how the rules were applied as well as how their attitudes affected law, insults, and family. And certainly there is much about insults and other subjects related to language including slang and swearing which leads to a discussion of gestures as well (and no, the common rude or insulting gesture at that time was not the middle finger). And when I think of manners, I especially think of mealtime, which she discusses in detail. Of course, any discussion of bad behavior must include those relating to our bodies, including farting, burping, spitting and what to do when you’ve just got to go in a day when there were no public toilets nor indoor plumbing.
It is interesting to note that she does not just discuss bad manners from the perspective of the elite but has extensively researched various sources (even death records listing what possessions are left behind after one has passed on) to discover what was important to the average person. She notes that even the poor who had very little to leave to their descendents often listed items related to cleanliness such as napkins.
There are parts that are quite funny and some that is a bit surprising. She even discusses different ways of walking and how bowing developed over the century.
This is not a book that will change your life. You probably won’t learn anything that you really need to know or that will be useful to you except in a trivia quiz. But it is fun and that is part of what reading is for.
Just fun to read
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Not Quite What I Anticipated
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Ruth
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A Great Resource for Authors and Moviemakers
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