This post represents how daily life might of been as a common folk in 17th century England.
I awoke at dawn to what seemed as though another rather uninteresting day, or at least it had been the normal day layout to me. At a fairly quick pace, I rose out of my mattress and began to dress myself for the day to come. Once I had put on my knee breeches as well as my waistcoat and long jacket, I put on my insect-infested wig due to some whit hairs on my head and strolled out of the door post haste, not eating anything anything before I left.
Luckily, several events occurred that peeked my interest. I started the morning off by witnessing the execution of a man, most likely a criminal or fugitive, whilst everyone in the town was gathered around. Once the head of the man had been sliced off of the rest of his body, the executioner took out the heart of the man's now lifeless body, for all the people of the crowd to see. This excruciatingly brutal act entertained the majority of the people that had huddled to spectate the event, but that wasn't anything new.
Although, the streets of our very own London seemed to be equally as gruesome. The aroma you smelt the instant you had stepped on the roads was enough to drive you right back into your abode. On top of that, dead corpses of stray cats, dogs, and other various animals filled the streets which caused an awful feeling in your stomach causing you to almost regurgitate. There were also very few sewers for the surface water, resulting in a all-around unpleasant jog down the street. But, as terrible as it appeared, it was normal and home. I mean, men and women's hygiene wasn't something to be proud of either..
Regardless, I carried myself through the day and walked past the other events going on around me. One time, I stopped to look inside of a small house which from what I could tell was that of a doctor's, even though he honestly looked as though he has as much knowledge as me when it came to medicine. I watched as he slowly slit a cut with a cleaned off knife into the arm of another citizen, who from afar I could tell needed the bloodletting in order to help him.
The next thing I happened to get a glance of was a man among the other common folk who looked as though he was attempting to flirt with a nice maiden. You could very easily tell that she was uninterested in him, and that he was being frowned upon by the several people in the vicinity of him. It was very uncommon of people , not just common folk, but people as a general whole to hint at or especially do sexual acts that would result in illegitimate births. After taking a moment to appreciate the fact that I hadn't ended up like him, I continued on my way.
By now it was beginning to get dark, around mid-day, and by then I had endeavored in other entertaining activities such as walking in a royal park and observing the ever-so-fun sport of bear-baiting. Now I decided to treat myself and eat a very delectable dinner. There was an wide array of meats, fish, vegetables, and a side of weak beer. This feast took me a while to devour entirely, but after a bit of time I had swallowed everything down. Once that was over with, I had ended the day early and gotten myself into bed once again. Although it was very average, this was fairly good day in comparison to what could have happened.
Bibliography:
Picard, Lisa. "Sex, Lice, and Chamber Potsin Pepys' London." 17 February 2011. British Broadcasting Company. http://tinyurl.com/LondonDayintheLife.
Pictography:
"17th Century London." Drawing illustrating 17th Century Life in England. Blopspot.com. http://sphotos-g.ak.fbcdn.net/hphotos-ak-snc7/581052_343706905737819_447989164_n.jpg
