Sybil Jack also examines the fierce urban competition for resources and describes how the treatment of individual towns as favoured places enabled them to develop the economic leverage to monopolise certain functions.

Why should one study urban history? Were towns the precipitating element for change in the human way of life? By examining in turn various aspects of urban history in the period 1500-1700 this book attempts to examine recent historical ideas about towns in Britain. Was the urban system in Britain a relative failure or a comparative success? What changes took place in the level of urbanization in Britain? What were the dynamics of change? What explains the appearance of new towns and the decline of once flourishing settlements? Was the growing size of some towns fuelled by new or considerably altered functions? Towns in Tudor and Stuart Britain provides students with a wide range of material on a fascinating subject.

The aim of this reader - one of a set of four volumes on urban history covering the late 12th to early 20th centuries - is to gather together in an accessible form a number of key contributions to the study of the Tudor and Stuart town.

The Tudor and Stuart Town brings together many of the most important articles in the field of urban history.

Two centuries of dramatic change are covered by this exciting and richly illustrated work. Eighteen leading scholars explore the political, social, religious, and cultural history of the period when monarchs based in south-east England imperfectly attempted to extend their authority over thewhole of the British Isles. These centuries witnessed the Reformation, the civil wars, and two revolutions, in which two monarchs, two wives of a king, and two archbishops of Canterbury were tried and executed, and hundreds of men and women tortured and burned in the name of religion. Yet in the same period, an explosion ofliteracy and the printed word, transformations in landscapes and townscapes, new forms of wealth, new structures of power, and new forms of political participation freed minds and broadened horizons. These centuries marked the beginning of Britain's imperial power and its emergence as perhaps themost liberal and mature of European states. The integrated illustrations and maps form an essential part of the book, complementing all aspects of the text. It also contains a Chronology, Glossary, Family Trees of the monarchy, Further Reading, and an extensive Index.

Table of contents

This analysis of the secular impact of the Reformation examines the changes within English towns from the mid-16th to the mid-17th century.

The Stuart Age provides an accessible introduction to England's century of civil war and revolution, including the causes of the English Civil War; the nature of the English Revolution; the aims and achievements of Oliver Cromwell; the continuation of religious passion in the politics of Restoration England; and the impact of the Glorious Revolution on Britain. The fifth edition has been thoroughly revised and updated by Peter Gaunt to reflect new work and changing trends in research on the Stuart age. It expands on key areas including the early Stuart economic, religious and social context; key military events and debates surrounding the English Civil War; colonial expansion, foreign policy and overseas wars; and significant developments in Scotland and Ireland. A new opening chapter provides an important overview of current historiographical trends in Stuart history, introducing readers to key recent work on the topic. The Stuart Age is a long-standing favourite of lecturers and students of early modern British history, and this new edition is essential reading for those studying Stuart Britain.