Ruffs, Pipes and Pearls

When Francis Drake returned home from the Spanish West Indies, he carried with him pearls to present as gifts to Elizabeth I. Around London’s Inns of Court, every gentleman smoked a pipe of American tobacco, believing it projected an air of civility. But the cultural impact of colonisation worked both ways: the Englishmen who settled in Jamestown, Virginia, took with them goffering irons to crimp fabric and make ruffs.

In this edition of Not Just the Tudors, Professor Suzannah Lipscomb is joined by Dr. Lauren Working to explore how England’s desire to colonise the Americas influenced both those they met and those back home, resulting in lasting cultural change.

For this episode, the Senior Producer was Elena Guthrie. It was edited and produced by Rob Weinberg. The researcher was Esther Arnott.

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