More than a quarter of a century ago Professor F.J. Fisher, in a most memorable phrase, referred to the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries as the ‘dark ages’ of English economic history. Since he wrote an entire generation of research has thrown a flood of light onto many matters that were then almost entirely obscure. New methodologies have been developed, new sources of evidence exploited, and the frontiers of historical understanding rolled back uncovering in the process a wide range of developments whose existence was entirely unsuspected in 1956. Some old controversies may have been laid to rest, but new ones aplenty have sprung to life, and both student and teacher are now faced with an awe inspiring mass of literature to master if they are to come properly to grips with the subject. There are several short introductory books available which give an excellent overview of the economic and social history of the period, and a number of useful pamphlets by acknowledged authorities devoted to particular aspects of it. However, there has not hitherto been one which provided a substantial amount of information about all major aspects, set firmly in an interpretative context. What follows is an attempt to fill that gap.

The work is explicitly designed as a text-book. This does not mean that only those studying for examinations will find it interesting, but that its purpose is to provide a synthesis of present understanding, organized in such a way that the reader may easily locate the discussion of any particular matter in which he is interested.