Life in Elizabethan England

QUESTION: What sense do you get of what life was like in Elizabethan England?

Although often referred to as the "Golden Age of England" due to the lavish lifestyle of the aristocracy and successful international naval conquests, in reality life in Elizabethan England was very difficult for the majority. 

Population
The population was far smaller than the 65 million currently living in this country: starting at 2.1 million when Elizabeth I became monarch in 1558 and rising significantly to 4.2 million by her death in 1603 . 
There are multiple reasons for this population increase, one of the main ones being that urbanisation began to spread. Towns and cities started to pop up and grow, with as much as 15% of the population living in urban areas by the end of the era.

Entertainment
There were lots of ways to entertain oneself in the Elizabethan era. Theatre was not the expensive, elitist practice it now is so often perceived to be, and particularly in cities then everyone, from prince to pauper, would gather to see productions of the latest William Shakespeare production. This began on temporary stages in pub gardens (or inn-yards) until theatre became so popular that large stages and amphitheatres where erected around London particularly. The population was largely illiterate, so this form of entertainment was truly the only way to broadcast stories to a wide audience, and to hear these stories without needing an expensive education.

Religion
The Elizabethan era was one of relative religious tranquility. Previous rulers Henry VIII and Mary I, Elizabeth's Father and Sister, had caused the religious alignments of the country to swing back and forth, provoking chaos and leading to a schism in religious beliefs of it's citizens. Henry had created the Church of England, detaching itself from the Catholic faith and following it's own brand of protestant christianity. Mary had fought this during her own reign, making catholicism the national religion once more and burning thousands of protestants at the stake for refusing to conform. Elizabeth compromised, once again diverting to the Church of England, but allowing catholics to legally go about their lives. However, catholics were not allowed to practice publicly and becoming a catholic priest was illegal.

Superstition
Often when watching a Shakespeare play it is hard to understand the usage of the supernatural, as they do not fit our idea of realism, meaning we must suspend our disbelief. However, in the age they were written in the idea of witches, ghosts, wizards and fairies were very real. Their association with the countryside in many of the plays is important, as in that era it was a place of treachery and danger. Often it was impossible to travel from city to city without encountering pillagers, so it would have been an easy idea to conform to that the hills and forests were filled with mysterious supernatural beings.

Money
The majority of the English Population was poor, a contrast to the lavish image of the aristocratic minority that we remember today. A common servant or labourer would make only £2-5 a year. This, however, was a lot more than it sounds in today's terms. This amount would provide enough to buy just enough food to provide for a man and his wife. However, some deductions would have to be made for rent, and for the children. Most paupers would grow their own vegetables, particularly in the country.

Jobs
In the countryside, often there would be three different types of people found in a local inn - labourers, yeomen and husbandmen. Labourers move from farm to farm, working on the land in exchange for a fee. Yeoman rent their land to others, and Husbandmen rent the land they work on.
The pay was very poor for labourers, however sometimes the landowners would accommodate them in the barn.

The rise of urban population meant a new breed of middle-class traders that would buy an exchange goods in markets or harbours. Often these goods would come from faraway lands such as India or Italy; this mean there was also lots of merchant seafarers, travelling via boats to buy international goods.

Medicine
Elizabethan medicine and healthcare was extremely primitive. Most of the practices relied on superstition and astrology. They often followed the philosophies of Aristotle and Hippocrates, ancient Greek philosophers. During this age the great Bubonic plague or "Black Death" hit London, killing almost a third of the population. A popular cure for the plague involved placing strong smelling flowers around the pores and nostrils. There was very little understanding of the body or how we work.