Excerpts from

The Tunnyng of Elynour Rummyng

Brynge dysshes and platters,
With all theyr myght runnynge
To Elynour Rummynge
To have of her tunnynge
She leneth them on the same,
And thus begynneth the game.
(ll.127-133)

In these lines, Elynour is paid not with coin, but personal household items. Throughout the poem Skelton provides a laundry list of items that ale seekers would bring in place of money. These items could be as basic as thimbles or clothes. This scene shows dishes being brought in exchange for a cup of Elynour's ale. As demonstrated by the portrayal of Elynour, an alewife would have a very lucrative business as people loved to drink in the alehouses.

She breweth noppy ale,
And maketh thereof port sale
To travellars, to tynkers,
To sweters, to swynkers
And all good ale drynkers,
That wyll nothynge spare,
But drynke tyll they stare
And brynge themselves bare,
(ll.103-109)

While the predominate patrons of Elynour's alehouse seem male, many women did come and partake of the ale. This list of people entering the alehouse demonstrates that Elynour would have interacted with every type of person in the middle to lower class. The lower classes in the Renaissance would have all frequented the alehouses as opposed to the taverns or inns. The gentry and wealthy would have frequented these more prestigious drinking establishments. In the alehouses, the alewife would control the making, selling and purchasing of the ale. Essentially, Elynour was in control of all those who entered her establishment. While women could not be "tradesmen" such as grocers, goldsmiths or shoemakers they could be alewives and were able to be successful. This was one of the only occupations for women, and yet Elynour as a female would have exerted a great deal of power over her male ale seekers.

Come whoso wyll,
To Elynoure on the hyll,
With, Fyll the cup, fyll!
And syt there by styll,
Erly and late:
Thyther cometh Kate,
Cysly and Sare,
With theyr legges bare,
And also theyr fete
Hardly full unswete;
(ll. 113-122)

This excerpt demonstrates the prostitution leased out of the alehouse. Kate, Cysly and Sare in the poem were indeed prostitutes. While prostitutes would also have bordellos and houses to work out of, they would enter the alehouses as well. Click to learn more about Renaissance deviant sexuality.

The male customers who stopped into Elynour's alehouse may have also been approached by these women. Elynour and these three women being called by name and the male "travelers and tinkers" being unidentified suggest that Elynour and the prostitutes were regulars in the alehouse as opposed to the male drinkers.