The Diocesan Population Returns for 1563 and 1603

This comprehensive edition makes available two of the most important sources for population studies in the early modern period. The bishops' returns of 1563 and 1603 represent the earliest census-type information that has survived in England and Wales. The 1563 returns, surviving from twelve dioceses, record the number of households; the 1603 documents, from nine dioceses, were intended to survey religious nonconformity and estimate the number of communicants in each parish. A full introductory essay explores the origins of both surveys, and illustrates their significance for local and demographic historians, and those concerned with social and economic history, government and the church.