Literacy and the Social Order Reading and Writing in Tudor and Stuart England [Paperback]

An exploration of the social context of reading and writing in pre-industrial England.In this exploration of the social context of reading and writing in pre-industrial England, David Cressy tackles important questions about the limits of participation in the mainstream of early modern society.In this exploration of the social context of reading and writing in pre-industrial England, David Cressy tackles important questions about the limits of participation in the mainstream of early modern society.In this exploration of the social context of reading and writing in pre-industrial England, David Cressy tackles important questions about the limits of participation in the mainstream of early modern society. To what extent could people at different social levels share in political, religious, literary and cultural life; how vital was the ability to read and write; and how widely distributed were these skills? Using a combination of humanist and social-scientific methods, Dr Cressy provides a detailed reconstruction of the profile of literacy in sixteenth- and seventeenth-century England, looking forward to the eighteenth century and also making comparisons with other European societies.List of maps; List of graphs; List of tables; Preface; 1. Reading, writing and the margins of literacy; 2. The acquisition of literacy; 3. The measurement of literacy; 4. Literacy and loyalty; 5. Lay illiteracy in ecclesiastical records; 6. The structure of illiteracy; 7. The dynamics of illiteracy; 8. Literacy and society in England and beyond; Appendix: illiteracy in 414 English parishes, 16414; List of abbreviations; Notes; Bibliography; Index.