Method

Evidence was sampled from two of the six communities classified here as cities and from nineteen of the thirty-two towns, between 1370 and 1599 (see the Notes below for the criteria used to define these categories and the records used to assign communities to them). The dates indicate the earliest and latest records examined for this project. The documents consulted were of two different types: (1) “Assembly Books,” including any kind of minute book, notes of meetings of mayor and aldermen, town orders/ordinances, or other events/decisions at assemblies of local officials that document concern with social behavior (except for financial accounts); and (2) the regular proceedings of public courts, equivalent to the records used in Chapter 3 for the courts of villages and market centers. Since the policies and orders recorded in the “Assembly Books,” were not necessarily enforced by the courts, the patterns described on the basis of this evidence may suggest earlier and/or more pronounced concern than is seen in the lesser public courts or the intermediate-level bodies.

Urban records used*

Abbreviations used in references:

1. Berks., Reading, 1431–1598, town. Borough (Corporation) Diary, Berks. RO R/AC 1/1/1.

2. Devon, (Great) Totnes, 1389–1525, town. Manor court rolls, Devon RO 1579 A/9/9–12, 17, 22–23, 25–26, and 29.

3. Essex, Colchester, 1372–9 and 1580–9, town. Court Rolls of the Borough of Colchester, vol. 3, 1372–9, ed. I. H. Jeayes (Colchester, 1941); borough court rolls, 1580–9, Essex RO Colchester Borough Court Rolls 144–154. I am grateful to Richard Dean Smith for the later information and references.