Of course, I couldn’t write about Tudor education without including figures of the likes of Henry VIII, Mary I and Elizabeth I but I also wanted to research the education of everyday people. Did they attend school? If so, did their curriculum differ from that of royalty?
The more I dug into it the more I became fascinated by the subject. I found the differences in education even between Henry and his siblings, let alone humble people, to be enlightening. We know from records that Henry was a well-educated young man and it is a shame there is so little evidence remaining from common people on their experience of school. Whilst we do have accounts from colleges and even small snippets from school pupils it would be wonderful to know what children of humble birth thought of education. All I could do was put together the various options available and what a day at school may have included.
I looked into the various different schools but also other methods of education including apprenticeships and household service. Service may not seem to be educational but for young people in the Tudor era it taught them the skills they needed to earn a living or set up their own household. Apprenticeships may appear to be fairly modern so I was surprised to find the Tudors had formal apprenticeships with contracts and guilds governing many of the trades.
Writing about education and work had me contemplating what they did for fun so I went ahead and included a chapter on pastimes, it is strange to think of the Tudors playing football but they did! Maybe not exactly how it is played today but they played. The Tudors also gambled, they gambled on everything and it is amusing to look at household accounts and see Henry VIII owing hundreds of pounds in a dominoes game!
The tutors were my favourite aspect, I loved researching the different people who taught the Tudors. Who were they? What did they teach? There are of course names many people will recognise such as Roger Ascham and Juan Luis Vives but I enjoyed finding out more about the more obscure Bernard Andre, John Skelton and Giles Duwes. These men were responsible for tutoring some of the most famous Tudors we know but they were not the only ones to have an influence on education.
Sir Thomas More and Desiderius Erasmus encouraged the spread of humanism across England. Whilst writing Educating the Tudors I became captivated by Erasmus so much so that I am currently researching a book on the man himself.
There were unfortunately fewer options available to females in terms of education which led me to researching how they spent their days. My next book therefore will be The Lives of Women in the Tudor Era where you can find out how females grew up, reached adulthood, married and the occupations they had.
Educating the Tudors has been an incredible journey from writing to publication. I have made some wonderful friends along the way and been given a wealth of advice and support. If anyone is thinking about writing, my advice is to go for it, it can be hard writing around work but any progress is still progress.
Amy McElroy
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