This book is a study of the dimensions and value of literacy in pre-industrial England. It grew from a larger interest in social structure and cultural change in the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries and supplies one line of attack on a vexed and important question. What were the limits of participation in the main stream of early modern society? To what extent could people at different social levels share in the political, religious, literary and cultural episodes for which their age is famous? How vital was the ability to read and write, and how widely distributed were those skills? If we can reconstruct the profile of literacy in pre-industrial England and examine the uses to which it was put we may better understand the pattern of communications and its importance for social cohesion and change.

The approach adopted here involves a combination of humanist and social science methods. Traditional archival and literary research into education, religion, social commentary and law is blended with a quantitative investigation of social structure and cultural attainment. I have tried to expose with candour the formidable problems of evidence and analysis with which this undertaking is encumbered, while providing the reader with reliable information about the penetration and significance of literacy. Attention is drawn to gaps in the evidence as well as to firm conclusions, and there is an implicit invitation to interdisciplinary collaboration and further research.