Literacy and the Social Order
Reading and Writing in Tudor and Stuart England

An exploration of the social context of reading and writing in pre-industrial England.

David Cressy (Author)

9780521032469, Cambridge University Press

Paperback / softback, published 23 November 2006

260 pages
22.8 x 15.2 x 1.7 cm, 0.39 kg

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, 1641–4
List of abbreviations
Notes
Bibliography
Index.

Subject Areas: Early modern history: c 1450/1500 to c 1700 [HBLH], British & Irish history [HBJD1]