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Thursday, September 3, 2009

.:Elizabethan Entertainment, In General:.

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

Types of Elizabethan Entertainment and What They Were:
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

All of the above was directly from http://www.elizabethan-era.org.uk/elizabethan-entertainment.htm .

Elizabethan Entertainment was a huge part of the lives of nearly all whom lived in this era in England. The lives of Elizabethans were hard which is why entertainment was so highly regarded, a chance to celebrate was never turned down. Court entertainment was regular and often a nightly occurrence for the higher societal people especially the nobles and royal. Where as the entertainment the poor had was totally different. However feasts and festivals were frequent during specific times of the year, most of which were dictated by the church.

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