Elizabethan Aerobics and the Treadmill Desk

In order to extend the lifespans of those like me who work sitting at a desk some clever-clogs across the pond has recently introduced the treadmill desk (gasp) but how did our Tudor cousins keep fit?

A good deal of walking, lugging heavy things about and riding, and if you were posh hunting, and if you were particularly posh you may have joined the Queen in her early morning dancing:

In 1589, aged 57, according to John Stanhope, the Queen was 'so well as I assure you six or seven gallyards in a mornyng, besides musycke and syngynge, is her ordinary exercise.' The galliard was, like the Volta, an extremely exuberant dance and Elizabeth I lived to nearly 70 in an era when life expectancy was considerably less.

I know which sounds like more fun...