The bad etiquette guide

TRACY BORMAN relishes an entertaining manual for flouting the rules of polite society in the 16th and 17th centuries

How to Behave Badly in Renaissance Britain by Ruth Goodman Michael O’Mara Books, 320 pages, £20

In her last book, Ruth Goodman told us how to behave as a Tudor. In this highly entertaining sequel, she gives us the opposite advice. This might seem an odd premise, but the reasoning is, as ever, impeccable. As the author points out, bad behaviour can be much more illuminating than good. It is thanks to those who rebelled against the norms imposed by ruling elites, the church and society, that we find out what these conventions reveal about the age.

The narrative covers the period 1550– 1660, which Goodman convincingly argues is when so much of our 21st-century way of life began: from democracy and language to religion and culture.

Against this turbulent backdrop, the ‘ bad behaviour’ of ordinary people, clergymen, courtiers and even queens is explored. Occasionally, their actions are thoughtless – messy eating, poor hygiene and snotty noses, to name but a few – but often they had a definite purpose. For example, when Elizabeth I left the French ambassador in a deep bow for 15 minutes before permitting him to rise, she was making a point: England would not bow to pressure from its mighty neighbour.

Even apparently straightforward social norms, such as kissing, were fraught with difficulty. Wet slobbery kisses could easily offend, but so could elaborate air kisses. On the other hand, as German merchant Samuel Kiechel discovered in 1585, failing to kiss at all was “regarded and imputed as ignorance and ill breeding”.

Women’s bad behaviour generally held heavier penalties than men’s. Likewise, society was more damning of the poor’s transgressions than the nobility’s.

Goodman prises out a host of illuminating details, quoting liberally from contemporary sources. Her research is as comprehensive as the advice she metes out to those wishing to emulate the bad behaviour of their ancestors. Want to mock a Tudor soldier? Then thrust a large wooden spoon down the left side of your girdle, stick out your left elbow and walk with your feet 6 inches apart. To rebel against stiff ruffs and suffocating corsets, invest in some green cloth for a spot of cross-dressing.

But beware of becoming too confident about your manners. As the author admits, what was insulting in one decade was positively encouraged in the next. Tracy Borman is author of The Private Lives of the Tudorss (Hodder & Stoughton, 2016)