Literacy and the Social Order: Reading and Writing in Tudor and Stuart EnglandIn 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. |
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Common terms and phrases
able to read Association oath Baxter Bible Brinsley Cambridge Christian church clergy cultural decade deponents depositions Devon diocese of Durham diocese of Exeter diocese of Norwich document East Anglia East Hanningfield ecclesiastical court economic elementary Elizabethan England English evidence figures gentlemen gentry grammar schools Graph Hadleigh Hearth-tax households illiteracy illiterate John labourers learn to read level of illiteracy licence literacy literate Little Baddow Little Oakley London Marks Tey marriage Middlesex parish register Parndon popular literacy population pre-industrial England Prittlewell probate inventories progress Protestation puritan ranking reading and writing Record Office reign religious Richard Richard Baxter rural sampled mark mark schoolmasters seventeenth century sign their names signatures and marks skills Social group society Spufford Stambridge structure of illiteracy subscribers Suffolk Table teachers teaching Thomas trades tradesmen and craftsmen Tudor and Stuart unable to sign Vow and Covenant Wanstead wealth weavers William women write their names yeomen