Tudor childhood
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Hello, friend, and welcome to the Renaissance English History Podcast, a part of the Agora Podcast Network and the original Tudor History Podcast. 16 years of telling Tudor history this summer. How exciting. Anyway, I am your host, Heather. I am, as always, just delighted that you are here with me spending the next 20 minutes or so together talking about Tudor history, which is, you know, one of my favorite things to talk about.

So today we are going to talk about childhood in Tudor England. So this is inspired by a book that I just got called Tudor Children by Nicholas Orme. And I highly recommend that you also check this book out if you are interested and want to take a deeper dive. So this is just going to be kind of the surface level on childhood in Tudor England. So let us get right into it.

It is a chilly February morning in 1547 in the village of North Patherton in Somerset. A clerk scratches a name into the parish register. John, son of Robert Hill, baptized this day. The baby is just a few hours old and already his name is part of the public record. He's been swaddled tightly like a little cloth burrito with only his red round face peeking out. His

His mother lies nearby, exhausted but alive, which is something not to be taken for granted. A midwife tends to her quietly. The father has chosen two local men as godparents, Robert's business partners perhaps, and a woman from the next cottage over, a fitting spiritual mother.

There's no portrait of this baby, no family Bible with his birth recorded in gold leaf, no cot in a separate nursery. But this child, like tens of thousands born in the Tudor period, has already entered the complex web of expectations, religion, and community.

We know we tend to imagine Tudor children as either miniature adults, because that's how they're often painted, or as long-lost lambs wandering barefoot through a brutal world that didn't see them as people. The truth, as it usually does, lies somewhere in the middle. And that middle is where we are headed today. So let's get started with birth and infancy.

To be born in Tudor England was to step into a world that mixed superstition, survival, and sacred duty. Childbirth was a woman's event attended by midwives, female neighbors, and, if you were lucky, an experienced matron who knew how to handle a breech birth or tie off a cord with a linen thread that had been boiled three times. Men were generally kept out unless things went very badly wrong.

Newborns were swaddled for the first few months of life, tightly bound with bands of linen supposedly to help their limbs grow straight. They were often left in cradles for long stretches with someone checking in periodically to feed them or change the cloth. And though modern parenting guides would be horrified, it wasn't uncommon for babies to be left alone while mothers worked, especially in working households where there was no such thing as maternity leave.

Also, a related episode years and years ago, after I had just had a baby of my own, I did an episode on pregnancy and childbirth in Tudor England. I think that was around 2014 or so. So if you want to dive deeper into that, I will add that episode into the show notes so you can go back and have an episode just dedicated to pregnancy and childbirth. So

Let's move on. Let's talk about names. Naming a baby was a very serious business. Many babies were named after the saint whose feast day they were born on, hence all of the Johns, Annes, and Marys. Baptism was usually within days of birth, if not hours, because infant mortality was high and the church taught that unbaptized babies couldn't enter heaven. A stillbirth or death before baptism brought not only grief but also spiritual uncertainty. The

It's actually an interesting little factoid that midwives were given the power to baptize in the case where maybe the mother had died, but the baby had survived for a couple of hours or, you know, had come out alive, but was definitely going to die. So midwives were actually given that power to baptize to make sure that the infant would go to heaven.

Godparents were hugely important, not just spiritually but socially. In poorer families, a well-chosen godparent, maybe someone with a little local influence, could open doors later in life. And for wealthier families, godparenting was a form of political alliance. When Princess Elizabeth was christened in 1533, her godparents included Thomas Cranmer and the Duchess of Norfolk. This wasn't just spiritual guidance, this was part of a strategy.

Of course, not all babies survived long enough for this to matter. Worm's research points to parish records that show multiple baptisms for the same parents within just a few years, child after child, often buried before their first birthday. And yet, for all the risk, these babies were deeply, deeply loved. Cradles were decorated, mothers sang lullabies, fathers commissioned tiny memorial brasses. They weren't forgotten souls, they were family.

In fact, the patrons at the corresponding level that get monthly mini courses, the mini course that we did this month was on the Reformation and the massive changes under Edward VI and how common people adapted to that. And one of the things that we talked about in that course was how for the average person before the Reformation, being raised when purgatory was just part of life and everything like that was taken for granted.

It was actually a comfort for people when you lost loved ones that you could still actually do something for them. You could still support them by saying masses for their soul and by asking saints to intervene. So it was like the relationship didn't actually really end. It just changed a little bit. And your loved ones who had passed on were still very much active parts of your life. And how that changed during the Reformation and how that really was important.

very disconcerting to people when you'd grown up thinking that if a child had died, the child was up in heaven actively interceding on your behalf. And you could intercede on their behalf by doing certain things, by lighting candles in their names, by giving money in their name. And when that ended...

the grief that that caused for people. And I think that's an interesting thing to think about, that we think about high infant mortality and you kind of think, well, were people as attached to them? And of course they were. And they had...

these rituals that kept them attached, that kept them actively part of the family even when they were no longer there, and just how all of that changed during the Reformation, I think is very interesting. And it's one of those things you don't think about that often, but it was a major part of why there were rebellions, why the Pilgrimage of Grace happened, the Prayer Book Rebellion, all of those things. So that is a different subject, but patrons who had that course come out last week will maybe recognize some of that.

So once a child passed through the dangerous hurdle of infancy, and that was by no means guaranteed, they began to integrate into the rhythms of the household, which in Tudor England wasn't just mom, dad, and the kids. A household could include extended family, servants, apprentices, sometimes even live-in employees if the family ran a business. Children were not the center of attention. They were expected to blend in, contribute when possible, and learn by observation.

In elite homes, children might be tended by nurses or rockers who helped with infants and governesses who started early lessons, usually in manners and religion. But even there, the idea wasn't to coddle. Childhood was preparation for adulthood, and the work started early. Young noble boys might be handed over to other aristocratic households by the age of seven to begin training and service.

And girls were often placed in noble homes to learn courtly behavior and household management, skills that would serve them in marriage.

For children of the working and middle classes, home life was a mix of labor and learning. A five-year-old would be expected to help with sweeping, fetching water, minding younger siblings, or assisting in simple craftwork. A child in a cloth-making family might help with carding wool. A child on a farm might collect eggs or shoo chickens from the garden. These weren't chores tacked on as character-building exercises. They were necessary contributions.

Discipline was firm. Physical punishment was not just accepted, it was actually encouraged. The whole spare the rod, spoil the child, that wasn't just a phrase that people used. It was actually seen as a moral duty. A parent who didn't correct a child with a switch was failing in their role. And it wasn't just parents. Schoolmasters, neighbors, employers all had the right to discipline. Tudor childhood was public.

Clothing also marked a child's growth and role. Both boys and girls wore gowns when they were small, usually until the age of six or seven. Then boys would be breeched, a rite of passage that involved receiving their first pair of breeches. It was a big moment, sometimes marked with small gifts or new shoes.

Girls' clothing stayed largely the same until marriage, growing longer and more elaborate with age, but always reflecting their status. Modest for poor girls, rich with embroidery or imported fabrics for the gentry. Children weren't treated as adults, but they also weren't protected from adult responsibilities. In many ways, childhood was a training ground. It wasn't some kind of sacred timeout the way we might see it more today.

What about education and schooling? If you picture a Tudor schoolroom, you might imagine rows of grim-faced boys chanting Latin verbs while a stern master prowls with a birch rod in hand. And honestly, you wouldn't be that far off.

Education in Tudor England varied wildly depending on gender, class, and geography. Some children never saw the inside of a schoolroom. Others might be reading Cicero by age eight. The structure was patchy, but the Reformation brought a surge in new schools and grammar education, especially for boys. Girls' education was less consistent, often informal and home-based, but not non-existent, especially among the merchant classes and the gentry.

For most children, the first step was the petty school, often held in a church porch or even someone's home. These weren't public schools the way we'd think of them today. They were often run by the parish or a local entrepreneur who could read and write well enough to teach the alphabet. The main goals were learning to read, usually through the Lord's Prayer and the alphabet, memorizing basic prayers, and understanding moral lessons.

Next came grammar schools, more formal, often endowed by local gentry or merchants hoping to bolster their souls and reputations. These focused on Latin grammar and classical authors. Virgil, Ovid, Cicero were the staples. The curriculum was rigid. The days were long. The expectations were steep. Boys might be there from 6 a.m. to 5 p.m. with a break for dinner and maybe a little bit of play.

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Kroger. Fresh for everyone. You ever finish a hike, a workout, or just a nonstop day juggling everything and think, okay, I need a snack and a nap. Yep.

Same. But before you crash, how about a dairy-powered recharge? Milk, yogurt, cheese, they're not just tasty comfort foods, they're tiny nutritional powerhouses. You're getting complete protein to rebuild muscle, carbs to give you an energy boost, and natural electrolytes like potassium and sodium to help you stay balanced and bounce back faster. And hey, chocolate milk after a workout?

It's a game changer. Your body will thank you and so will your taste buds. Even better, it's all super convenient. Shelf-stable milk and on-the-go yogurt packs are perfect for your gym bag, diaper bag, backpack, whatever your adventure looks like today. It's one of the easiest choices you can make for your health. So next time you're fueling your everyday or something more epic, fuel up with something real and satisfying. Find your favorite dairy products at your local grocery store today.

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Discipline was relentless. Orme notes rules from one school where boys were punished for whispering, dawdling, even arriving late from church.

It wasn't all drudgery, though. Some boys, especially those with ambition or well-placed patrons, used grammar school as a stepping stone to university, the inns of court, or even a royal appointment. People like Thomas More, Thomas Woolsey, William Cecil all rose through the grammar school pipeline. For middling families, education could offer real social mobility.

Girls, meanwhile, were much more likely to be educated at home, often with the help of literate mothers, chaplains, or even private tutors. Reading was considered important for piety, especially when the Bible in English came out. Girls were expected to read the Bible, books of hours, and moral instruction, but writing was seen as much less essential. That said, elite women like Lady Jane Grey, Elizabeth I, and Askew were highly educated,

fluent in multiple languages, and deeply engaged in the religious debates of the day. Education for girls wasn't impossible. It just wasn't a given. Materials were simple. Horn books with the alphabet printed on paper and mounted to a wooden paddle, primers for prayers and reading practice, and eventually more advanced Latin texts. There weren't textbooks the way we know them, and certainly no printed workbooks or worksheets.

So the Tudor school was not a very joyful place, but it was taken seriously. It wasn't about fostering creativity or critical thinking. It was about forming obedient, literate Christians. And for those who endured it, education could be both a burden and a ladder. I actually did another episode maybe 10 years ago called Tudor Tudors, and it was about education in the Tudor period too. So I will also put that in the show notes too if you want to dig into that.

What about leisure time? Was there ever any play or anything like that? All of the discipline and early responsibilities, Tudor children did find time to play, and they didn't need store-bought toys to do it.

Nicholas Orme's book makes it clear that play was a regular, visible part of childhood, especially in the early years before a child entered service or apprenticeship. Some games have barely changed over the centuries. Blind Man's Buff, Hopscotch, Tag, Leapfrog, Boys Rolled Hoops, Spun Tops, played at mock battles with wooden swords. Girls played with dolls, sometimes carved from wood, sometimes just bundles of cloth.

and staged imaginary households. Even the simplest object could become a game. Cherry stones were used like modern-day marbles. Animal bones might be used like dice. Seasonal games abounded, especially during May Day or Shrove Tide, when children were given license to be loud and silly.

That said, adults didn't always approve. There were always people who were yelling at kids to get off their yard, right? Church officials sometimes issued complaints about noisy games in churchyards, especially on a Sunday. Certain games were considered unchristian or disruptive, but others were tolerated, even encouraged, so long as they reinforced the social norms. Role-playing games where children mimicked adults were common. A girl might pretend to be a cook or a nurse.

A boy might act out being a priest or a soldier. Tudor society didn't draw a sharp line between play and training. Pretending to churn butter wasn't just cute, it was practice.

Toys were mostly homemade, except in households for the wealthy. There weren't toy shops as such, but merchants might sell miniature utensils, whistles, or carved animals at fairs or in towns. Wealthy families could afford imported toys. German dolls were popular, or miniature sets of armor. But most children made do with what they had. Stones, sticks, cloth scraps, whatever could be transformed by imagination.

and there was never quite enough time to play. As soon as a child was old enough to be useful, leisure time shrank. Play was tolerated, but it was never prioritized. Here's what was prioritized, religion and moral instruction. In Tudor England, religion wasn't a Sunday activity. It was the framework that shaped a child's entire worldview from the moment they were baptized. Whether Catholic or Protestant, or for many children caught in the confusing churn between the two,

Faith wasn't optional. It was survival, identity, and community all rolled into one.

Children learned to pray before they learned to write. The Lord's Prayer, the Apostles' Creed, and the Ten Commandments were usually among the first things that were memorized. These were drilled daily, in home, in church, and in school. Horn books included not just the alphabet, but these essential texts. Discipline wasn't just about obedience, it was about sin. A disobedient child wasn't just naughty, they were in spiritual danger.

The book points out that sermons and religious literature often use stories of children as moral examples. Sometimes this was to inspire, like tales of a pious child martyr who endured suffering for their faith. But more often it was to terrify. A popular genre included stories of children who lied, skipped church, or disrespected their parents and were struck down by divine punishment. One child who missed a Sunday service was supposedly swallowed by the earth.

Another dropped dead after stealing a loaf of bread. These weren't bedtime stories for a peaceful night of sleep. No, no, no, these were cautionary tales. Church attendance was mandatory. Children were expected to behave.

Many churches enforced seating plans, and misbehavior could be punished by the parish authorities. Singing psalms, standing for prayers, reciting catechism responses, children participated actively. And while they might not have grasped the theological debates of the day, they knew which monarch's name to pray for and which direction the wind of faith was currently blowing.

Religion wasn't just something they learned, it was the air that they breathed. And one misstep could, in theory, cost them their souls.

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So when my daughter was younger and I would take little toys and like wooden toys and coloring and stuff for her to do during church, that would have been frowned upon in Tudor England. And I probably would have been seen as, you know, really bad for allowing her to learn sin and not be paying attention and all of that because she was coloring in her coloring book. So another reason I'm glad I wasn't a parent in Tudor England.

What about adolescence? Of course, in the Tudor world, childhood didn't last long. By modern standards, it ended early and often abruptly. Most children were expected to enter some sort of work or service by the time they reached their very early teens. Sometimes it happened even earlier. By the age of 10 or 12, many boys were apprenticed to craftsmen or sent into other households to begin training for a trade.

Girls might be placed in service either as household servants or companions to wealthier families' daughters. These arrangements were about more than employment. They were about learning discipline, skill, and the hierarchy of society. You weren't just washing dishes or sewing seams. You were being shaped into a proper adult. And you were also making contacts for your future, people who might be able to help you out as you got older and help you find a better position later on.

Among the nobility and gentry, this process was a little bit more polished. Boys might be sent to another noble household to make connections, like little mini courtiers in training. Girls might learn music, embroidery, languages, and dance, all part of preparing for marriage. It was expected that these young people would internalize the values and etiquette of their hosts so they could someday run their own households with similar order and grace.

Legally, adolescence mattered. By age 14, boys could be held criminally responsible. By 12, girls could be married, though this was very rare in practice. Puberty marked the new phase of obligation. They might not be fully adult, but no one would call them a child anymore.

Leaving home was often permanent. A child who entered service might not return except to visit. For families with many children and limited means, this wasn't seen as a tragedy. It was the expected flow of life. So childhood in Tudor England wasn't an age, it was a stage, and it ended when you became useful somewhere else.

We often hear that childhood didn't exist in the past or that Tudor children were treated like little adults. But this book that I read, Nicholas Orme's book, the research complicates that idea. Tudor children weren't ignored or unloved. They were seen, heard, disciplined, instructed, and remembered. They just were expected to grow up fast. They lived in a world where death was common, work was necessary, and religion was non-negotiable.

They also played games, told jokes, misbehaved in church, and begged for toys at fairs. Their lives weren't soft, but they weren't invisible either. The Tudor view of childhood wasn't about protecting innocence. It was about preparing for survival. Childhood wasn't sentimental. It was functional. But within that function, there was room for affection, play, and joy, even if it didn't come with the softest blankets and sweet bedtime stories.

So when we look back on the lives of Tudor children, we don't find a lost world. We find similarities to our own worries, dreams, and small rebellions, just in rougher clothes.

So there we have it, my friend, a little intro to Tudor childhood. Of course, if you want to really dig into this, that book, Nicholas Oram's Tudor Children, very interesting, highly recommended. So I will stick a link to that in the show notes as well as those other episodes I mentioned. One other link I'm going to put in the show notes is for the Tudor Planner because the Indiegogo crowdfunder for that is on for another two weeks or so. So you can guarantee that you get a copy of the planner at the best price and you're

make 2026 your most tutorific year yet while staying on track with all of your goals and plans and activities. All right, my friend, thank you so much for being here. Thank you for spending this time with me. I sure do appreciate it. And as always, if you want to get in touch with me, you can find me on YouTube. That's where I am most of the time or in the Tutor Learning Circle.

Tudor Learning Circle is a social network just for Tudor history nerds. You can hop in there, TudorLearningCircle.com, all of the Tudor connections without the drama of social media. So Tudor Learning Circle, it's one of the nicest places on the internet. All right, friend. Again, thank you so much for being here. I will be back soon. Have an amazing week. In the meantime, bye-bye.

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