The Townshends and their World Gentry, Law, and Land in Norfolk c. 1450-1551 [Hardcover]

This is the first scholarly history of the rise of the Townshends, who were to become the most famous landowning family in Norfolk. Moreton exploits to the full the rich family archives in order to tell the story of individuals such as Roger Townshend I, a prominent lawyer of the late fifteenth century, and his son, also Roger, a leading country gentlemen. Moreton traces the growth in the Townshends' wealth and power in the late middle ages, and sets them in their context as a major gentry family. Their lawsuits, their estates policy, and their sheep-farming activities reveal much about the nature of the gentry's relationship to land and its role in local society in late medieval and early Tudor England.

A stimulating evaluation of Wilhem's character. --German History

In the course of surveying the social and political ties of his chosen family--the Townshends--he has observations to make on the strength of county identities wwhich are fascinating....Challenges many cherished assumptions about gentry attitudes to authority. --Times Literary Supplement

Moreton has produced an interesting and important book which contributes to Norfolk local history while having many valuable things to say about the wider dynamics of early modern English society. --Sixteenth Century Journal