Everand Logo

Welcome to Everand!

  • Discover millions of ebooks, audiobooks, and so much more with a free trial

    Only $11.99/month after trial. Cancel anytime.

    How to Behave Badly in Elizabethan England: A Guide for Knaves, Fools, Harlots, Cuckolds, Drunkards, Liars, Thieves, and Braggarts
    How to Behave Badly in Elizabethan England: A Guide for Knaves, Fools, Harlots, Cuckolds, Drunkards, Liars, Thieves, and Braggarts
    How to Behave Badly in Elizabethan England: A Guide for Knaves, Fools, Harlots, Cuckolds, Drunkards, Liars, Thieves, and Braggarts
    Audiobook10 hours

    How to Behave Badly in Elizabethan England: A Guide for Knaves, Fools, Harlots, Cuckolds, Drunkards, Liars, Thieves, and Braggarts

    Written by Ruth Goodman

    Narrated by Jennifer M. Dixon

    4/5

    ()

    About this audiobook

    Every age and social strata has its bad eggs, rule-breakers, and nose-thumbers. As acclaimed popular historian and author of How to Be a Victorian Ruth Goodman shows in her madcap chronicle, Elizabethan England was particularly rank with troublemakers, from snooty needlers who took aim with a cutting "thee," to lowbrow drunkards with revolting table manners. Goodman draws on advice manuals, court cases, and sermons to offer this colorfully crude portrait of offenses most foul. Mischievous readers will delight in learning how to time your impressions for the biggest laugh, why quoting Shakespeare was poor form, and why curses hurled at women were almost always about sex (and why we shouldn't be surprised). Bringing her signature "exhilarating and contagious" enthusiasm (Boston Globe), this is a celebration of one of history's naughtiest periods, when derision was an art form.
    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherHighbridge Company
    Release dateFeb 12, 2019
    ISBN9781684416035
    How to Behave Badly in Elizabethan England: A Guide for Knaves, Fools, Harlots, Cuckolds, Drunkards, Liars, Thieves, and Braggarts

    More audiobooks from Ruth Goodman

    Related to How to Behave Badly in Elizabethan England

    Related audiobooks

    European History For You

    View More
    View More

    Related podcast episodes

    Related articles

    • Article

      Our Common Humanity

      May 1, 2020

      Our Common Humanity
      10 min read

    • Article

      Are Some LGBTQ Histories Being Overlooked?

      Jun 8, 2023

      What challenges are there in charting the experiences of LGBTQ [lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and queer] people in the periods you study? Florence Scott: I work on England in the early medieval period, and the biggest challenge I have is a lack

      7 min read

    • Article

      Are You Weird?

      Sep 6, 2021

      Are You Weird?
      5 min read

    • Article

      Stilling The Pendulum

      Feb 13, 2023

      Stilling The Pendulum
      5 min read

    • Article

      When Honesty Is Intimate

      Jun 29, 2021

      I’ve always enjoyed having places to go and hang out with a collection of people, somewhere where they know your name. When I lived on Thompson Street in Greenwich Village for a time, back when it was still an Italian neighborhood, I admired the old

      2 min read

    • Article

      “Our Forebears Embraced The Joy Of Sex. They Had A Great Time”

      Jul 8, 2021

      Ellie Cawthorne: What do you think are the main things that we’ve got wrong about the history of sex? Fern Riddell: Everything. If you look at what you learned in school, perhaps what you were told by family and friends, by TV and films, there’s so l

      8 min read

    • Article

      The Merit Trap

      Sep 1, 2018

      The Merit Trap
      21 min read

    • Article

      The Belief System That Doesn’t Add Up

      Aug 26, 2021

      IMAGINE WAKING-UP TO DISCOVER oneself living in a theocracy; in workplaces and even when chatting with friends it becomes obligatory to signal one’s belief. Kids are subjected to indoctrination sessions at school. The national broadcaster schedules r

      4 min read

    • Article

      The Strange Death Of Tolerance

      Aug 23, 2023

      The silly donkeys at Coutts got their just deserts in the Nigel Farage affair. A few grossly overpaid execs stood down, and they will no doubt move on to even more overpaid positions. The irrepressibly perky Farage will feel he has won a great victor

      3 min read

    • Article

      Speaking Freely

      Jul 14, 2019

      wins a wonderfully warm unisex Weka Woo hat and a Wyld Hug scarf, together valued at $160, from Naturally Wyld. Both use Pilana yarn that comes from organically and ethically farmed sheep. Pilana’s lightweight blend encapsulates the best attributes o

      9 min read

    • Article

      It’s Only Human Nature

      Feb 23, 2023

      ‘‘PEOPLE LIKE COLDPLAY and voted for the Nazis. You can’t trust people, Jeremy.” Super Hans, the crack-addicted dispenser of violence and wisdom in the noughties sitcom Peep Show and the Tory cleric, Jonathan Swift, might not be obvious bedfellows. T

      3 min read

    • Article

      It’s Only Human Nature

      Feb 23, 2023

      ‘‘PEOPLE LIKE COLDPLAY and voted for the Nazis. You can’t trust people, Jeremy.” Super Hans, the crack-addicted dispenser of violence and wisdom in the noughties sitcom Peep Show and the Tory cleric, Jonathan Swift, might not be obvious bedfellows. T

      3 min read

    • Article

      Our Library

      Sep 25, 2023

      His father's boot Felled, dazed, silent, he has fallen; knocked full length on the cobbles of the yard. His head turns sideways; his eyes are turned towards the gate, as if someone might arrive to help him out. One blow, properly placed, could kill

      3 min read

    • Article

      What is Money, Anyway?

      May 15, 2017

      What is Money, Anyway?
      5 min read

    Related categories

    Reviews for How to Behave Badly in Elizabethan England

    4/5

    37 ratings3 reviews

    What did you think?

    Tap to rate

    Review must be at least 10 words

    • 5/5
      I saw this after I read How to be a Tudor, and this is just as entertaining. Ruth Goodman has quickly become one of my favorite authors!
    • 3/5
      Sorry, Ruth, I really like your work in general, but this one is a bit of a slog. It's possible that I may have enjoyed it more if it had been a physical book, but I got bogged down for a long time in the insults section and it took a while to start up again. As per usual, meticulously researched and engaging writing. I was delighted to see the references to women fighters, and I think the conceit of the book works. It's extremely tailored to the time period, and extremely detailed, so if you're into Elizabethan manners, go for it.

      Advanced Readers copy provided by Edelweiss.
    • 4/5
      audiobook nonfiction (social history - Shakespearean times)
      Interesting and entertaining look at social customs during Elizabethan times, from the proper way to stand/walk/bow/doff your cap (based on your social class), to background about sword fighting and other modes of battle, how to hurl insults at people and pick a fight, table manners, and so forth. Would be most helpful to Shakespearean actors and scholars, but also interesting to the rest of us layfolk.