Welcome to the city
of London in the last few decades of the 1500s!
Queen Elizabeth the First is on the throne, and the Elizabethan Period
in England is a time of great political ambition, economic growth, artistic
innovation, and religious fervor.
Whether you are upper class, middle class, or poor, you live in what is
likely the greatest city in Europe.
But you have
more pressing concerns: you’ve just been robbed of all the money you had. What do you do?
Go to #1 if you
seek help from the courts. Go to #2 if
you take matters into your own hands.
#1. How the legal system responds depends on your
social class. Decide what your
background is as you see what the law can do for you.
Do you have any further business with
the courts? If not, you can go to work
(#3) if you are middle class or poor. If
you are upper class or from a wealthy middle class family, you can go to school
(#4) or church (#5). You are too young
to join the military; a rich person who wants to be a knight will still be in
school.
#2. You pursue the cutpurse to the southern half
of the city across the River Thames, into a neighborhood called Southwark. (More information: http://mccandlessa.people.cofc.edu/walk-Southwark.htm) It is a dangerous and exciting place.
If you find some entertainment first, go
to #6. If you confront the thief, go to
#7.
#3. You might have any number of jobs in this
period. What do you do for work?
Are you an apprentice or do work in
unskilled labor (like ditch-digging or cleaning toilets)?
How much money do you make?
When the day is done, what do you have
for dinner? Go to #8.
#4. Education is expensive; you either pay to go
to school outside the home or (if you are upper class) you have private
tutors. What are you studying?
When the day is done, what do you have
for dinner? Go to #8.
#5. You are a truly devoted worshipper to be going
to church on a weekday, but you are not alone.
You are a Christian; your grandparents were part of the Catholic church,
but the Queen’s father created the new Church of England, so you are Anglican
and a Protestant. (More information: http://elizabethan.org/compendium/7.html)
If you are an ordinary member of the
Church of England, what do you believe?
Perhaps you are an extremist
Puritan. (Your descendants will go on to
found the colonies that become the United States.) What do you believe?
When the day is done, what do you have
for dinner? Go to #8.
#6.
Southwark is where you can find all manner of illicit entertainment. Today you can gamble on fighting animals (called
“baiting”: http://www.elizabethan-era.org.uk/elizabethan-bear-bull-baiting.htm) or see a play
(http://novaonline.nvcc.edu/eli/spd130et/elizab.htm).
Do you confront the thief (#7) or head
home for dinner (#8)?
#7.
You have found the young man who has stolen your money. What do you attack him with, your words (http://www.renfaire.com/Language/insults.html) or your
weapons (http://www.elizabethan.org/compendium/26.html
and http://fencingclassics.wordpress.com/2012/03/29/secret-history-of-the-sword-dead-poets-society-rencontre-in-hog-lane-1589/#more-2162)? Or perhaps it starts with words and then becomes violent? Remember that you will have to be middle or
upper class to afford a proper rapier for a duel. Otherwise you will have to fight with
whatever you can find.
After you win back your money, you can
go to work (#3), school (#4), church (#5), or to get something to eat (#8).
#8.
You’ve no doubt worked up an appetite.
What will you eat?
Now that your day is through, you can
spend your free time however you like.
Go to #9.
#9.
You might have any number of hobbies or sports that enliven your
day. How do you relax after the
stressful experience of the morning?
***
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