Tudor England Observed

John Stow was born in London in 1525. A moderate Protestant of the first generation, he lived through the reigns of Henry VIII, Edward VI and Elizabeth I and witnessed the coronation of the first Stuart monarch, James I. Stow's great achievement and legacy to us were his two books, Annales of England (1605) and, most famously, A Survey of London (1895). Looking at sixteenth-century England through the eyes of this literate, inquisitive and knowledgeable citizen of London, Barrett Beer presents us with a view of England quite different from traditional received interpretations. Drawing on Stow's uniquely common touch - no other contemporary chronicler stood so close to ordinary men and women - Beer reconstructs the popular perception of current affairs and history, affording us an unprecedented synthesis of Tudor history, thought and attitudes and allowing us a more informed insight into all aspects of sixteenth-century life.