This thesis is an early modern urban study that focuses both on national trends and events but also acknowledges the distinctive nature of the individual town. It takes a holistic approach to economic, administrative and socio-cultural changes and developments in a small but significant Berkshire town. The years after the dissolution of Abingdon abbey in 1538 were a critical time of losses, problems and opportunities for Abingdon. In the light of the town's successful development later in the century how serious were the challenges that it faced and what factors contributed to its survival? After a historiographical introduction and discussion of sources, two chapters investigate the town's medieval development under monastic lordship. The central chapters explore different aspects of change in Abingdon during the reformation period. In practical administrative terms the town's response was opportunistic and positive, due to a happy convergence of government policy and the continuity of local elite leadership. Economic and social strength and diversity gave stability, and a detailed rental survey demonstrates how the acquisition of public and private property benefited the town's elite. However, cultural and religious changes had some ill effects. Chapters 8 and 9 discuss Abingdon's successful administrative, economic and social development under the new institutions of the borough and Christ's Hospital established in the 1550s. Experienced leading men were supported by a thriving middling group of tradesmen. A brief discussion about the relationship between civic culture, civil discipline and puritanism later in the 1500s follows. The thesis concludes that Abingdon's resilience and survival was based on its diversified economic development and on social and cultural continuities. Abingdon's richly documented experience of reformation change demonstrates the need for continuing research into individual towns and offers an important contribution to our understanding of the age of reformation in English urban history.
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:bl.uk/oai:ethos.bl.uk:543694 |
| Date | January 2011 |
| Creators | Cumber, Janey |
| Contributors | Archer, Ian W. : Rosen, Adrienne B. |
| Publisher | University of Oxford |
| Source Sets | Ethos UK |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | Electronic Thesis or Dissertation |
| Source | http://ora.ox.ac.uk/objects/uuid:3a40ab4c-6bd1-4a88-be9a-36185f7ef591 |
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