David M. Palliser – författare

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.

Professor Palliser focuses here on towns in England in the centuries between the Norman Conquest and the Tudor period, on which he is an acknowledged authority. Urban topography, archaeology, economy, society and politics are all brought under review, and particular attention is given to relationships between towns and the Crown, to the evidence for migration into towns, and to the vexed question of urban fortunes in the 15th and 16th centuries. Two essays set urban history in a broader framework by considering recent work on town and village formation and on the development of parishes. The collection includes two hitherto unpublished studies and is introduced and put in context by a new survey of English towns from the 7th to the 16th centuries.

Professor Palliser focuses here on towns in England in the centuries between the Norman Conquest and the Tudor period, on which he is an acknowledged authority. Urban topography, archaeology, economy, society and politics are all brought under review, and particular attention is given to relationships between towns and the Crown, to the evidence for migration into towns, and to the vexed question of urban fortunes in the 15th and 16th centuries. Two essays set urban history in a broader framework by considering recent work on town and village formation and on the development of parishes. The collection includes two hitherto unpublished studies and is introduced and put in context by a new survey of English towns from the 7th to the 16th centuries.