This famous book was the first up-to-date survey of its field for a generation; even today, when work on early modern social history proliferates, it remains the only general economic history of the age. This second edition, substantially revised and expanded, is clear in outline, rich in detail, stressing continuity as well as change, balancing the glamour of privilege with the misery and privation of the poor, and dealing with the dark side of Tudor life -- vagabondage, starvation, superstition and cruelty -- as well as its heroic achievements.

The first volume of The Cambridge Urban History surveys the history of British towns from their post-Roman origins in the seventh century down to the sixteenth century. It provides the first detailed overview of the course of medieval urban development, and draws on archaeological and architectural as well as historical sources. The volume combines thematic analysis with regional and national surveys, with full coverage of developments in England, Scotland and Wales, and the whole represents a major step forward in the understanding of the medieval British town.

This famous book was the first up-to-date survey of its field for a generation; even today, when work on early modern social history proliferates, it remains the only general economic history of the age. This second edition, substantially revised and expanded, is clear in outline, rich in detail, stressing continuity as well as change, balancing the glamour of privilege with the misery and privation of the poor, and dealing with the dark side of Tudor life -- vagabondage, starvation, superstition and cruelty -- as well as its heroic achievements.

The first volume of The Cambridge Urban History of Britain surveys the history of British towns from their post-Roman origins in the seventh century down to the sixteenth century. It provides the first ever detailed overview of the course of medieval urban development, and draws on archaeological and architectural as well as historical sources. The volume combines thematic analysis with regional and national surveys, with full coverage of developments in England, Scotland and Wales. The international team of contributors represent historical, geographical and archaeological expertise, and the whole marks a major step forward in the understanding of the medieval British town. Part I examines historiographical tradition and the origins of British towns. Parts II and III focus on the early and later medieval periods respectively, and Part IV contains a sequence of systematic regional surveys. Extensively illustrated, the volume also contains ranking lists of towns and an extensive bibliography.

Medieval York provides a comprehensive history of what is now considered England's most famous surviving medieval city, covering nearly a thousand years. The volume examines York from its post-Roman revival as a town (c. 600) to the major changes of the 1530s and 1540s, which in many ways brought an end to the Middle Ages in England. York was one of the leading English towns after London, and in status almost always the 'second city'. Much research and publication has been carried out on various aspects of medieval York, but this volume seeks to cover the field in its entirety. David Palliser offers an up-to-date and broad-based account of the city by employing the evidence of written documents, archaeology (especially on the rich results of recent city centre excavations), urban morphology, numismatics, art, architecture, and literature. Special attention is paid to the city's religious drama and its wealth of surviving stained glass. The story of Medieval York is set in a wide context to make comparisons with other English and Continental towns, to establish how far York's story was distinctive or was typical of other English towns which have been less fortunate in the survival of their medieval fabric. It is essential reading for anyone interested in York's past and in its rich heritage of medieval churches, guildhalls, houses, streets, and city walls - the most complete medieval circuit in England.

The three volumes of The Cambridge Urban History of Britain represent the culmination of a tremendous upsurge of research in British urban history over the past thirty years. Mobilizing the combined expertise of nearly ninety historians, archaeologists and geographers from Britain, continental Europe and North America, these volumes trace the complex and diverse evolution of British towns from the earliest Anglo-Saxon settlements to the mid-twentieth century. Taken together they form a comprehensive and uniquely authoritative account of the development of the first modern urban nation.