The Elizabethan Era's Most Horrifying And Disgusting Realities

Black teeth were all the rage

The Elizabethan era began on November 17, 1558, when Queen Elizabeth I ascended to the throne. The era is remembered as a time of beautiful clothing, luxurious homes, and great art, but it wasn't all frilly collars and gold accents. Poor and rich alike were constantly living in grime, ate loads of sugar and meat, and dropped dead if they so much as breathed wrong. Let's take a look at the Elizabethan customs that made the era one of the most metal periods of Western history.

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Sugar is delicious; no one's arguing that. But the Elizabethans were so obsessed with the sweet stuff that they ate it any chance that they got. As the Tudors imported more and more sugar from the West and East Indies, they used it for everything from salad dressing to preserving fruit and even some medical remedies. Sugar was so expensive that it was rarely eaten by anyone but the rich, but oral care not being what it is today, it caused their teeth to rot. Though this was likely an uncomfortable situation for the upper class, all peasants saw was a hot new look they just had to have. Poor people did whatever they could to make their teeth look they were falling out because fashion follows the rich, for better or worse.