The Strange and Absurd Rules Of Elizabethan Manners
England was the clear winner of the latter half of the 16th century. Flourishing under the reign of their industrious and stylish monarch, Queen Elizabeth I, it was between 1558 and 1603 that England emerged as the world’s first real superpower.
Elizabethan England also saw the birth of a cultural and courtly movement that makes even the most stringent and alien ritualized historical decorum look like totally reasonable practices. Sure, England was winning history at the time, but some of the rules of aristocratic etiquette they and the rest of the world operated under were straight up bananas.
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#etiquette #queenelizabeth #weirdhistory
@proud2bpagan
March 13, 2026 at 1:23 am
With my dancing,id be an outcast..ppl take one look and ponder whether its a dry heave set to music, or a medical emergency
@alwaysbewhoyouare9592
March 13, 2026 at 1:23 am
Why was everyone ugly during this time?
@rainbowgirlism
March 13, 2026 at 1:23 am
1:22 looks Victorian, not Elizabethean
@JulieGair
March 13, 2026 at 1:23 am
My Scottish mum always insisted "we are illegitimately related to the Queen mother so we must have proper table manners, in case we are ever invited to the Castle". I always responded "mum, "illegitimately" means no Castle ever". She would respond "shut up, you silly twit". I have impeccable table manners, just in case😂.
@DavidHammerbeck
March 13, 2026 at 1:23 am
The claim that Elizabeth's England was the world's first superpower is idiotic. Rome? Persian Empire before that? Spain and Portugal had colonized the Americas while England was still content with brutalizing the Irish. When, during Elizabeth's reign, she sent her first ambassador to attempt to set up trade with the Mughals, the latter accounted for over 20% of the world's GDP, while England was on the margins of world trade. And the Vikings had the North Sea Empire in the latter part of the first millennium.
@Reagangabs
March 13, 2026 at 1:23 am
It’s really not that hard to have proper etiquette and be mannerly. Essentially, it’s just paying attention to people around you and thinking would they like if I did this in public? If you find these rules too constricting, maybe you live in a manner that others do not agree with either. How hard is it to say, please and thank you and dress appropriately for the weather or the occasion not to bump into people and do not chew with your mouth open. Most of these are basic things that anyone with an ounce of good breeding already does.
@ChristiColonel
March 13, 2026 at 1:23 am
Everyone should have manners class.
@MsKiele
March 13, 2026 at 1:23 am
Why are all the pictures everything but Elizabethan. Snarky voice.
@LisaLove-c9h
March 13, 2026 at 1:23 am
They auntie lol
@FrankCruz-j3c
March 13, 2026 at 1:23 am
I would have been a very wealthy person. Not caring of title, nor allegiance. With my own vast land holdings independent of the crown. Never to be bothered by anyone, but those I would invite to see, such as men of Science and learning.
@FrankCruz-j3c
March 13, 2026 at 1:23 am
This era created a race of "Poufs."
@ThomasLiden-c2q
March 13, 2026 at 1:23 am
Watching this makes me more greatful than I already am that I live in this era. We only have to worry about the heat that's going to kill us eventually.
@ThomasLiden-c2q
March 13, 2026 at 1:23 am
So the manners of the Electric Slide is all about; are your manners bland or can you add Style!
@ThomasLiden-c2q
March 13, 2026 at 1:23 am
If you do the Electric Slide in Country Line Dancing the way it's supposed to be done, it gets bland. If you put in your own style in the right places, it's A GREAT DANCE!
@mcraig1969
March 13, 2026 at 1:23 am
Good manners are still practiced within most Southern US families. Nothing says "common" like not using good manners.
@VersieKilgannon
March 13, 2026 at 1:23 am
Starting to understand why we've gotten so seemingly rude and impolite over the years. We're not worse people. There's just too much mental exhaustion over rules that deliberately don't make practical sense in our current era 😂
@dyskelia
March 13, 2026 at 1:23 am
0:08 no…Spain was a superpower before the Elizabethan age. That’s why defeating the armada was such a big deal to them
@WinnieTheJew
March 13, 2026 at 1:23 am
2:20 "Because any lesson worth learning is worth punching!" 😂
@Lalito401
March 13, 2026 at 1:23 am
I will read PRIDE AND PREJUDICE again,it's been way to long.i rem Mr.Darcy whom every lady wanted to date😊
@v.britton4445
March 13, 2026 at 1:23 am
Trying to ignore the art from the wrong eras.
@NCDowns
March 13, 2026 at 1:23 am
I swear I know this narrators voice, like I've heard it in cartoons or something. Also reminds me of Steven Colbert
@chloeanne2823
March 13, 2026 at 1:23 am
There photos from the victorian and georgian era shown. Elizabethan era was about 200 to 350 years before
@doodlebug2701
March 13, 2026 at 1:23 am
Why are alot of the pictures shown here not of the elizabethan era.??
@orpheus1662
March 13, 2026 at 1:23 am
I saw this Africa lady in Facebook teaching her kids these weird table manners 😂
@btetschner
March 13, 2026 at 1:23 am
It's interesting that the highest compliment given was that one had good manners.
@btetschner
March 13, 2026 at 1:23 am
Having a Weird History drink!
Drinking a cup of Twinings Darjeeling Tea with milk*†…while watching this Weird History video!
* Inspired from the Weird History videos of the Royal Family.
† The tea bags are in purple packaging.
@MacAnderville
March 13, 2026 at 1:23 am
Sorry. A vid about the Elizabethan era with continual stock images of the late Victorian period? They are 300 years apart!! If you dont know the difference, you shouldn't be teaching anything about history.
Edit: 3:00 "Absolutely wear tails and make sure they're even"?!?! That is 1920's fashion!!! That's it. Not even finishing this video.
@thomasjones4306
March 13, 2026 at 1:23 am
Did he just say “Elizabeef?” Lol
@btetschner
March 13, 2026 at 1:23 am
A+ video!
LOVE IT! What a fascinating topic, social events must have been complicated!
@btetschner
March 13, 2026 at 1:23 am
Imagine if the average citizen had to take a class in manners!
@rustygribbler420
March 13, 2026 at 1:23 am
If I traveled back to meet ElizabethI I would bring a good amount of toilet paper a day my phone too 😂 Tell the the queen indoor plumbing it's gonna be big
@zerokhan858
March 13, 2026 at 1:23 am
day in the life of a true Elizabethan geezer
@roguelove807
March 13, 2026 at 1:23 am
You can't pet the dogs or cats? I would have been shunned
@JDWanko
March 13, 2026 at 1:23 am
How about Roman etiquette?
@jaynerichards7527
March 13, 2026 at 1:23 am
You mean 16th century. The 1500s were 16th century
@fubukifangirl
March 13, 2026 at 1:23 am
Elizabeth was a lousy ruler. She could have used her position to improve the lives of all the women in England but chose to pull the ladder up behind her.
@lovefromwonderland
March 13, 2026 at 1:23 am
Lord almighty I would’ve been kicked out so fast. Elbows on the tables, scratching yourself, blowing on your food… not to mention I definitely would forget to take my hat off more than once 😅
@isaakwang750
March 13, 2026 at 1:23 am
I can draw a lot of parallels between this and current military "manners", especially in guard regiments
@sleepyjoe8394
March 13, 2026 at 1:23 am
Is this channel aimed toward 80iq people?
@krw73
March 13, 2026 at 1:23 am
Hmmmm…. So there was an expectation of basic social manners in public? Children were expected to learn proper manners? Definitely sounds like something you could probably use today.
@wenderella81
March 13, 2026 at 1:23 am
We def need manners school today. Manners were a big thing in my family when I was a child. My grandmother used to teach us to drink with a pinky up. Imagine my surprise when I grew up to find out the history of "pinkies up" and never did it again.
@Akhal-teke
March 13, 2026 at 1:23 am
Based on my female temperament, I would’ve been burned at the stake
@bethaniebooth-rk7pm
March 13, 2026 at 1:23 am
What song is played in the background at the beginning?
@jksk01
March 13, 2026 at 1:23 am
Ask Ren what he thought of winter in Canada compared to the UK
Comments are closed.