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BritishEntertainment in the 16th century included art, fencing, painting, the stocks and even executions.
While the 16th century and early 17th century squarely fall into theRenaissance period in Europe, that period was not only one of scientific and cultural advance, but also involved the development of changing forms of entertainment – both for the masses and for the elite.
Despite the great breadth of advancements in the arts during this time, the economic conditions of this period affected the types of entertainment available. There were threeclasses in society: A wealthynobility, amerchant class, and thepeasantry, who were typically poor.
The nobility could commissionartisans to entertain them with works of art, music and theatre (Kareti, 1997). They would also enjoy or participate in the sports offencing,falconry,horse riding andhunting; they enjoyed extravagant parties and dances, attended the opera house, and had the best seats in the theater.[1] At that timeCricket was also a game associated with the nobility. In 1563,Lawrence Humphrey praised the five classic sports of Greece for the nobility – "whirling, leaping, casting the darte, wrestling, running" and derided "dauncing, fayninge to instrumentes, playe at dise, chesse, or tennes."[2]
The middle class ofmerchants,wrights, inn keepers and the like, would occasionally enjoy the fine arts, for example the theater.Blood sports were popular – includingbear baiting,bull baiting,dog fighting andcockfighting. Travelling troupes of actors entertained the masses. Enterprisingbards would settle and build theaters – such asWilliam Shakespeare’sGlobe Theater (The Old Globe Theater History, 2005) inLondon.
The poor could rarely afford the theater, generally having to stand asgroundlings.Executions were seen as a form of entertainment (Alchin, 2005), as was attendingpublic humiliations in thestocks.
