Description
This book is a collection of essays by historians about the religious beliefs of dissenters in the late 16th and 17th centuries. The book is divided into three parts. The first part looks at the tax records of dissenters and churchwardens to see how widespread their beliefs were. The second part looks at the beliefs of dissenters themselves and how they differed from each other. The third part looks at the effects of dissent on society.
The book is divided into three parts. The first part looks at the tax records of dissenters and churchwardens to see how widespread their beliefs were. The second part looks at the beliefs of dissenters themselves and how they differed from each other. The third part looks at the effects of dissent on society.
The first part of the book looks at the tax records of dissenters and churchwardens to see how widespread their beliefs were. The second part looks at the beliefs of dissenters themselves and how they differed from each other. The third part looks at the effects of dissent on society.
The second part of the book looks at the beliefs of dissenters themselves and how they differed from each other. The third part looks at the effects of dissent on society.
The third part of the
There has been dispute amongst social historians about whether only the more prosperous in village society were involved in religious practice. In this 1995 book, a group of historians working under Dr Spufford's direction have produced a factual solution to this dispute by examining the taxation records of large groups of dissenters and churchwardens, and have established that both late Lollard and post-Restoration dissenting belief crossed the whole taxable spectrum. We can no longer speak of religion as being the prerogative of either 'weavers and threshers' or, on the other hand, of village elites. In her own substantial chapter Dr Spufford draws together the mosaic constructed by the contributors, adds radical ideas of her own, and disagrees with much of the prevailing wisdom on the function of religion in the late seventeenth century. Professor Patrick Collinson has contributed a critical conclusion to the volume. Review: Review of the hardback: 'The World of Rural Dissenters is of central importance not only to historians of religion but to all who are interested in the nature of early modern societies and in how to investigate them. The group directed by Margaret Spufford have settled many an old argument and through their expertise and enthusiasm have produced a challenging agenda for new research.' David Hey, The Agricultural History Review
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