Life in the 1500's...

Most people married young, like at the age of 11 or 12.  Life was not as 
romantic as we may picture it.  
Home was a 3 bedroom house with a small parlor,
which was seldom used (only for company), kitchen, and no bathroom.
Sleeping arrangements: 
Mother and Father shared a bedroom.  Girls    shared the bed
with their sister and also with the servant girls.They didn't
sleep like we do lengthwise but all laid on the bed crosswise. 
At least they had a bed.  The other bedroom was shared by brothers 
and field workers. They didn't have a bed.  Everyone just wrapped up
in their blanket and slept on the floor.  They had no indoor heating so
all the extra bodies kept them warm.
They were also  small people, the men only grew to be about 5'6" and
the women were 4'8".   
Marriage:
Most people got married in June.  Why?  They took their yearly bath
in May, so they were till smelling pretty good by June, although they were
starting to smell, so the brides would carry a bouquet of flowers to hide
their  b.o. 

Like I said, they took their yearly bath in May, but it was just a
big tub that they would fill with hot water. The man of the house would
get the privilege of the nice clean water.  Then all the other sons and
men, then the women and finally the children. Last of all the babies. By
then the water was pretty thick. Thus, the saying, "don't throw the baby
out with the bath water," it was so dirty you could actually lose someone
in it.
 
When you came into the house you would notice most times that the
floor was dirt.  Only the wealthy had something other than dirt, that's
where the  saying "dirt poor" came from. 

COOKING ARRANGEMENTS 
In the kitchen they would cook over the fire, they had a fireplace in the
kitchen/parlor, that was seldom used and sometimes in the master 
bedroom.
They had a big kettle that always hung over the fire and every day they
would light the fire and start adding things to the pot.  Mostly they ate
vegetables, they didn't get much meat.  They would eat the stew for 
dinner then leave the leftovers in the pot to get cold overnight and then 
start over the next day.  Sometimes the stew would have food in it that
had been in there for a month!  Thus the rhyme: peas porridge hot, 
peas porridge cold, peas porridge in the pot nine days old." 

Sometimes they could get a hold of some pork.  They really felt special 
when that happened and when company came over they even had a rack
in the parlor where they would bring out some bacon and hang it to show 
it off.  That was a sign of wealth and that a man "could really bring home
the bacon."  They would cut off a little to share with guests and they
would all sit around and "chew the fat." 

If you were going traveling and wanted to stay at an Inn they usually
provided the bed but not the board.

The bread was divided according to status.  The workers would get the
burnt bottom of the loaf, the family would get the middle and guests 
would get the top, or the "upper crust". I wonder if the centuries to 
come come will view us as we view those of past centuries