23 Feb: MANTLE OF MALICE: Aspects of Tudor life: 2 Servants

The notion of a servant in the 21^st century is very different from that in Tudor times. Big households depended of a lot of people to run the house, cook the food, look after the gardens etc. The nobles knew that they could not live without their servants and, in the main, treated them well. The centre of any Tudor house was the Great Hall where everyone ate together, servants included. The whole household was called the family. The nobles ate

on a raised dais, which, in time, became known as the “high table” or “top table”. Servants were expected to be obedient and not think for themselves. Disobedience was harshly punished, usually with fines.

It was normal practise to be paid each quarter day - i.e. every three months. A young housemaid might earn £1 per annum,(£14k/$21k) today; the laundress, cook and children’s nurse, £2, (£28k/$42k) The highest paid servants in a manor house would be the chaplain and the bailiff, who both averaged about £3 per annum (£42k/$63k). Royal servants earned much more. Elizabeth I’s maids were paid £40 per annum (About £500K/$750k) and, because they were close to the Queen, they were frequently bribed by people wishing to have an audience with her.

Servants would also be provided with clothes, bed and board. It was customary to supply three sets of clothing or livery each year, their food and a bed. The beds were usually in the attic and might be small truckle beds or sacks stuffed with straw. In this way, although they worked long hours - from sunrise to possibly midnight, they were clothed, fed and protected by their employer. Many of their “free” contemporaries were unemployed or homeless and starving. In the big palaces, for example Hampton Court Palace, servants often slept on the floor in the room of the courtier they served. Others slept in the Great Hall and the kitchen workers slept in the kitchen.

Most people think of servants as being female, but in the early days, the majority were men. The Earl of Derby employed between 115 and 140 servants. Only 6 were women. Having a large number of male servants gave an impression of protection for the nobles and, should the need arise, they could be called upon to form a private army.

Mantle of Malice, Book 3 in The Tudor Enigma will be published on 23rd February 2015.

You can find out more and follow April here -

Website Blog Facebook Twitter Amazon.com Amazon.co.uk Goodreads