David Cressy

Gypsies, Egyptians, Romanies, and--more recently--Travellers. Who are this marginal and mysterious people who first arrived in England in early Tudor times? Are tales of their distant origins on the I

The story of the reign of Charles I -- told through the lives of his people. Prize-winning historian David Cressy mines the widest range of archival and printed sources, including ballads, sermons, sp

The story of the reign of Charles I - through the lives of his people. Prize-winning historian David Cressy mines the widest range of archival and printed sources, including ballads, sermons, speeches

This is the story of saltpeter, the vital but mysterious substance craved by governments from the Tudors to the Victorians as an 'inestimable treasure.' National security depended on control of this o

Dangerous Talk examines the 'lewd, ungracious, detestable, opprobrious, and rebellious-sounding' speech of ordinary men and women who spoke scornfully of kings and queens. Eavesdropping on lost conver

How could mere words send people to court, to prison, or the scaffold? Dangerous Talk shows how private words had public consequence, how malicious tongues caused social damage, seditious words challe

England on Edge deals with the collapse of the government of Charles I, the disintegration of the Church of England, and the accompanying cultural panic that led to civil war. Focused on the years 164

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.

This collection features 15 of Cressy's essays published between 1976 and 1996 exploring the interaction of rulers and subjects, and the linkage between the affairs of the kingdom and everyday life.

Cressy examines how the orderly, Protestant, and hierarchical society of post-Reformation England coped with the cultural challenges posed by beliefs and events outside the social norm. Drawing on loc

From childbirth and baptism through to courtship, weddings, and funerals, every stage in the lifecycle of Tudor and Stuart England was accompanied by ritual. Even under the Protestantism of the reform

From childbirth and baptism through to courtship, weddings, and funerals, every stage in the lifecycle of Tudor and Stuart England was accompanied by ritual. Even under the Protestantism of the reform

Coming Over discusses the English migration to New England in the seventeenth century and shows the importance of English connections in the lives of American colonists. David Cressy reviews the information available to prospective migrants, the decisions they had to reach and the actions necessary before they could settle in America. English men and women moved to New England with a variety of motives, and in a multitude of circumstances. 'Puritanism', involving religious harassment in England and the desire to follow God's ordinances in America, was only one of many factors impelling people to move. Rather than developing in wilderness isolation, the society and culture of seventeenth-century New England were constantly shaped by their English roots. A two-way flow of correspondence, messages and information linked colonists to their homeland. Family duties, political sympathies, friendships, business and legal obligations all led to a continuing attachment across the Atlantic. In tr

Religion and Society in Early Modern England is a thorough sourcebook covering interplay between religion, politics, society, and popular culture in the Tudor and Stuart periods. It covers the crucial