Living Like a Tudor

Woodsmoke and Sage: A Sensory Journey Through Tudor England

Amy Licence

Take a 500-year journey back in time and experience the Tudor Era through the five senses.

Much has been written about the lives of the Tudors, but it is sometimes difficult to really grasp how they experienced the world. Using the five senses, Amy Licence presents a new perspective on the material culture of the past, exploring the Tudors’ relationship with the fabric of their existence, from the clothes on their back, roofs over their heads and food on their tables, to the wider questions of how they interpreted and presented themselves, and beliefs about life, death and beyond. This book helps recapture the past: what were the Tudors’ favorite perfumes? How did the weather affect their lives? What sounds from the past have been lost? Take a journey back 500 years, to experience the Tudor world as closely as possible, through sights, sound, smell, taste and touch.

Amy Licence is a bestselling historian of women's lives in the medieval and early modern period, from Queens to commoners. She is the author of Red Roses and The Lost Kings.

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Endorsements & Reviews

"In this rollicking exploration, historian Licence revels in details, her enthusiasm for her subject shining through each carefully curated quotation from a primary source. Licence opens a riveting window into the sights, smells, sounds, tastes, and overall feel of the age. From portraits to tobacco, from the regular ringing of bells to the foods a melancholy man should avoid, Licence unveils the dynamic reality of Tudor life." Booklist

"Living Like a Tudor deftly recreates the medieval landscape, drawing on the five senses to offer a glimpse of the sights, smells and tastes of 15th- through 17th-century England." Smithsonian Magazine