The English poll taxes of 1377, 1379, and 1381 taxed householders, wives, dependants, and servants individually. The tax records therefore provide information about people who are rarely, if ever, mentioned in other documents - frequently including details of occupations and relationships. The widely varying documents associated with the taxes are being published in three volumes, to make this massive resource accessible to social and economic historians, demographers, and genealogists. This first volume, which covers all three taxes for Bedfordshire to Leicestershire, includes extensive editorial descriptions of the documents, explanations of the collection and recording processes, and a discussion of the relevance and value of this exciting material. Full indexes of original and contemporary place names and a glossary of occupations will appear in the third volume.