Introduction: Commune at the cross roads
A domination of abbots
The crisis of the early fourteenth century
Classes of the commune before the Black Death
The struggle continues, 1335-1399
A turning point: the generation of 1400
Highpoint of vernacular religion: building a church, 1400-1548
Classes of the commune in 1522
Surviving Reformation: the rule of Robert Strange, 1539-1570
'The tyranny of infected members called papists': the Strange regime under challenge, c.1551-1580
Phoenix arising: crises and growth, 1550-1650
Only the poor will be saved: the preacher and the artisans
Gentlemen and commons of the Seven Hundreds
Immigrants
The revival of the parish
'More than the freeholders ought to have voices': parliamentarianism in one 'countrey', 1571-1643
'Moments of decision', August 1642 to February 1643
Afterword: Rural sunrise