Pop culture

• London grew from having 60,000 people in 1500 to over 1 million by 1800
• Italian City states grew from having 10.5 million people in 1500 to 13.3 million people in 1600.
• Between 1518 and 1524, the publication of books increased by sevenfold in Germany
• Private cultural practices in urban areas:

  • Musical performances - servants singing as they worked and wealthy individuals purchasing instruments.
  • Reading Books - The printing press meant books were easier to purchase
  • Letters - Majority male intellectuals popularised the practice of holding long letter correspondences between one another.
• Factors which diversified culture in urban hubs:

  • Population Growth
  • Migration
• Rich merchants and bankers were at the top of the social hierarchy in urban areas while young apprentices ranked at the bottom.
• Groups united by trade, social class and nationality had different cultural practices and stayed concentrated in certain areas.
• News spread in urban areas by...

  • Word of Mouth
  • The town crier
  • Broadsheets
  • Broadsides
• Broadsheets and broadsides were both only printed on one side and were used to spread news. Broadsheets were found to have detailed the acts of petty criminals in both Bologna and Venice in the 1530s as well as the exploits of the 'monster of ravenna' - a horned beast with one leg and a large head.
• processions and pageants in urban areas were usually civic processions organised by guilds or were royal coronations:

  
  

  • Danish and English Monarchs processed through their capital cities
  • The pope's coronation and posesso (possession of the city) travelled through the city
• Solemn markings of holy days occured:

  • The Easter Sunday procession in Malaga
  • The San Giovanni procession in Florence (24 June)
• San Bartolomeo and the Fondaco dei Tedeschi in Venice housed the German community.
• The area around Santa Croce and Santo Spirito in Florence housed both German and Flemish weavers.
• less is known about rural culture than urban culture
• Aspects of rural life:

  • Lower literacy rates
  • Less access to books - lag in printing press introduction
  • Homes - and therefore gatherings - were smaller
• Approximately 90% of the population lived in rural areas
• Rural Festivals:

  • May Day - involved, drinking, dancing and feasting
  • Harvest Festival - Celebrated the bringing in of the harvests.
  • All Hallows and All Saints Day - marked the beginning of winter, honoured the saints and was used to pray for the recently deceased in purgatory.
• On All Saints and All hallows Day, villagers from England, Flanders, Germany and Austria baked Soulings (small, round cakes) to give to christened souls.
• This is Pieter Brueghel's 'the Fight between Easter and Lent' - dated 1559.

  
• This is 'the Peasant Wedding' by Pieter Brueghel - dated 1566-1569.