Community, Class and Careers [Paperback]

A study of Cheshire and Lancashire society in the late fourteenth and early fifteenth centuries.This study of Cheshire and Lancashire society in the late fourteenth and early fifteenth centuries is a unique attempt to reconstruct the social life of an English region in the later Middle Ages. It offers an unusually rich and wide-ranging analysis of a dynamic regional society at a dramatic stage in its history.This study of Cheshire and Lancashire society in the late fourteenth and early fifteenth centuries is a unique attempt to reconstruct the social life of an English region in the later Middle Ages. It offers an unusually rich and wide-ranging analysis of a dynamic regional society at a dramatic stage in its history.This study of Cheshire and Lancashire society in the late fourteenth and early fifteenth centuries is a unique attempt to reconstruct the social life of an English region in the later Middle Ages. Drawing on the voluminous archives of the two palatinates and the extensive muniment collections of local families, it offers an unusually rich and wide-ranging analysis of a dynamic regional society at a dramatic stage in its history.List of maps and tables; Acknowledgements; Abbreviations; Genealogical table; Introduction; 1. The regional society; 2. The county communities; 3. Lesser solidarities; 4. The population; 5. Landed society; 6. The peasantry; 7. Towns, trade and industry; 8. The church; 9. Military service; 10. Power, patronage and provincial culture; 11. Conclusion; Bibliography; Index.