A Typical Day in the Life of Aristocratic Children in 15th Century England

A Typical Day in the Life of Aristocratic Children in 15th Century England

“A typical day began with mass in the family chapel followed by a light breakfast of bread, cheese and ale (at six or seven o’clock acccording to the season) and then serious study— formal lessons in French and Latin with a smattering of law and mathematics— until dinner at perhaps ten or eleven.

Later, there would be more enjoyable lessons, riding, archery, dancing, learning to play a musical instrument, or perhaps sewing and embroidery in the company of ladies of the household.

Supper followed in the late afternoon after Evensong, and then there would be time to play games such as ‘buck hide’, a form of hide-and-seek, or to amuse themselves with dolls before bedtime.

It was a communal life in which privacy was almost non-existent. The girls would have slept together, the younger with the elder, and innocence would have been lost at an early age.”

From “The Kingmaker’s Sisters: Six Powerful Women in the Wars of the Roses” by David Baldwin. (2023 ed.; pp.30-31)

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