A Social History of England, 1200-1500

Rosemary Horrox is Fellow in History, Fitzwilliam College, University of Cambridge and lectures and writes extensively on later medieval English History. She is the author of Richard III: A Study of Service (1989) and of The Black Death (1994) and editor of Fifteenth-Century Attitudes (1994) and Beverley Minster: An Illustrated History (2000). W. Mark Ormrod is Professor of Medieval History at the University of York and is a specialist in the history of later medieval England. He is the author of The Reign of Edward III (1990) and Political Life in Medieval England 1300–1450 (1995) and has edited (with Philip Lindley) The Black Death in England (1996) and (with Nicola McDonald) Rites of Passage: Cultures of Transition in Fourteenth-Century England (2004).

• Preface; 1. Introduction: social structure and economic change in late medieval England S. H. Rigby; 2. An age of deference Peter Coss; 3. The enterprise of war Michael Prestwich; 4. Order and law Simon Walker; 5. Social mobility Philippa C. Maddern; 6. Town life Richard Britnell; 7. The land Bruce M. S. Campbell; 8. A consumer economy Maryanne Kowaleski; 9. Moving around Wendy R. Childs; 10. Work and leisure Mavis E. Mate; 11. Religious belief Eamon Duffy; 12. A magic universe Valerie I. J. Flint; 13. Renunciation Janet Burton; 14. Ritual constructions of society Charles Phythian-Adams; 15. Identities Miri Rubin; 16. Life and death: the ages of man P. J. P. Goldberg; 17. The wider world Robin Frame; 18. Writing and reading Paul Strohm; 19. Conclusion Rosemary Horrox; Further reading; Index.

"Not only historians but also anthropologists and social scientists will find A Social History of England relevant and engaging...a vivid narrative about the subtle and complex ways that medieval people-from the thirteenth century until the eye of the reformation-accommodated change, ordered and re-ordered social relations, clung to old ways of thinking or altered them, created new values, negotiated economic and institutional constraints, and ultimately contributed to broader discussions of religion, nationality, individualism, ritual, civic ceremony, self identity, and community." Elaine Clark, Journal of Interdisciplinary History