This classic study of a single community in early modern England has had a major influence on the interpretation of the social dynamics of the period. It opens with a chapter establishing this small Essex parish in the national context of econmic and social change in the years between 1525 and 1700. Thereafter the chapters examine the economy of Terling; its demographic history; its social structure; the relationships of the villagers with the courts of the church and state; the growth of popular literacy; the impact of the reformation, and the rise in puritanism. The overall process of...