A Community Transformed: The Manor And Liberty Of Havering-atte-bower 1500-1620

A community transformed The community of Havering-atte-Bower in Essex developed in a precocious fashion during the medieval and early modern periods. The distinctive characteristics seen in this royal manor and Liberty during the later Middle Ages were transformed after 1500. A shared outlook and a willingness to work together for common goals were disrupted. Economic power, influence over religion and local government, and the implementation of social control, formerly distributed among more than a hundred families of middling status, were by 1620 concentrated into the hands of just a few gentlemen and nobles. Havering was at the same time becoming integrated into a wider social and political context. Yet beneath these changes the household unit and common experiences while moving through the stages of the life cycle provided continuity. By the early seventeenth century, Havering contained many features found in English life more generally in the eighteenth century. A community transformed traces the restructuring of Havering between 1500 and 1620 through detailed analysis of demographic patterns, the economy, religion, social and cultural forms, and local administration and law. Mclntosh's study, the most complex and richly drawn portrait of any English community in this period, goes beyond local history in illuminating the transition from medieval to early modern life. A community transformed is the sequel to Professor Mclntosh's acclaimed work Autonomy and community: the royal manor of Havering, 1200-1500, published by Cambridge in 1986. A community transformed Cambridge Studies in Population, Economy and Society in Past Time 16 Series Editors PETER LASLETT, ROGER SCHOFIELD a n d E. A. WRIGLEY ESRC Cambridge Group for the History of Population and Social Structure a n d DANIEL SCOTT SMITH University of Illinois at Chicago Recent work in social, economic and demographic history has revealed much that was previously obscure about societal stability and change in the past. It has also suggested that crossing the conventional boundaries between these branches of history can be very rewarding. This series exemplifies the value of interdisciplinary work of this kind, and includes books on topics such as family, kinship and neighbourhood; welfare provision and social control; work and leisure; migration; urban growth; and legal structures and procedures, as well as more familiar matters. It demonstrates that, for example, anthropology and economics have become as close intellectual neighbours to history as have political philosophy or biography. For a full list of titles in the series, please see end of book. A community transformed The manor and Liberty of Havering, 1500-1620 MARJORIE KENISTON McINTOSH Associate Professor of History University of Colorado at Boulder The right of the University of Cambridge to print and sell all manner of books was granted by Henry VIII in 1534. The University has printed and published continuously since 1584. CAMBRIDGE UNIVERSITY PRESS Cambridge New York Port Chester Melbourne Sydney PUBLISHED BY THE PRESS SYNDICATE OF THE UNIVERSITY OF CAMBRIDGE The Pitt Building, Trumpington Street, Cambridge, United Kingdom CAMBRIDGE UN