Elizabethan Entertainment Elizabethan Entertainment was extremely important to people who lived in the Elizabethan era. The lives of Elizabethans were hard, the mortality rate was high due to frequent outbreaks of the Bubonic Plague and life expectation was low. Elizabethan entertainment was popular whenever there was something to celebrate! A betrothal, wedding, victories and festivals. Court entertainment was regular, often a nightly occurrence combined with feasts, jousts and banquets often accompanied by music and dancing. But the poor people enjoyed entertainment from acting troupes, tournaments, dancing, trained animals, mummers (dancers), mystery plays, jugglers and strolling players. Tournaments, Games, Sports, Gaming and Gambling also played an important part in Elizabethan entertainment.
Types of Elizabethan Entertainment There were many different types of Elizabethan Entertainment many of which are detailed as follows:
Feasts - A large, elaborately prepared meal, usually for many persons and often accompanied by court entertainment. Often celebrated religious festivals
Banquets - A ceremonial dinner honoring a particular guest
Fairs - The Annual Summer Fair was often a bawdy affair
Plays - Starting as plays enacted in town squares followed by the actors using the courtyards of taverns or inns ( referred to as Inn-yards ) followed by the first theatres ( great open air amphitheatres built in the same style as the Roman Coliseum ) and then the introduction of indoor theatres called Playhouses
Mystery Plays - Re-enacting stories from the Bible
Festivals - Celebrating Church festivals
Dancing - Elizabethan dances enjoyed by the Upper Classes, Royalty and Nobility included the Cinque-pace, Galliard, Pavane, Roundel, Tordion and the Volta
Jousts / Tournaments - A series of tilting matches between knights
Games and Sports - Sports and games which included archery, bowling, cards, dice, hammer-throwing, quarter-staff contests, quoits, skittles and wrestling
Animal Sports - Including Bear and Bull baiting. Dog and Cock fighting
Hunting - Sport followed by the nobility often using dogs
Hawking - Sport followed by the nobility with hawks
For additional information about the sporting forms of entertainment click the following Link to Elizabethan Sports and for information about Elizabethan plays click Elizabethan Theatre
Elizabethan Entertainers The Names and Types of Elizabethan Entertainment were as follows:
Jesters - A fool or buffoon at Elizabethan courts
Mummers - A masked or costumed merrymaker or dancer especially at a festival
Minstrels - Travelling musician who sang of legends (declined in the Elizabethan era)
Troubadours - Travelling musician who sang of courtly love (declined in the Elizabethan era)
Acting Troupes - Travelling actors
Jugglers - Also used tricks, deception, or fraud
Elizabethan Entertainment - Religious Feasts, Fairs and Festivals Elizabethan people loved entertainment! The more entertainment the better! Feasts Fairs and Festivals were all common occurrences and were celebrated during specific times of the year most of which were dictated by the Church and religious festivals. A calendar of Elizabethan entertainment in terms of religious feasts, fairs and festivals can be accessed by clicking the following link Elizabethan Customs and Festivals
Interesting Facts and Information about Elizabethan Entertainment This section regarding Elizabethan entertainment provides a full over-view of facts and information about of Elizabethan Merry making!
Elizabethan Elizabethan Entertainment Details, facts and information about the Elizabethan Entertainment and Elizabethan Sports can be accessed via the Elizabethan Era Sitemap.
Elizabethan Entertainment
Interesting Facts and information about Elizabethan Entertainment
Elizabethan Entertainment - the types of entertainment and the Elizabethan Entertainers
