Ramsey

"In a detailed study of the small English market town of Ramsey, the authors examine the inner life of this fascinating community from the twelfth century to the end of the sixteenth century. The book centers on the lives of medieval men and women and explores their social roles, activities, family relationships, and religion. It also considers the spatial and social boundaries that existed between the town's lord - the rich and powerful Benedictine monastery of Ramsey Abbey - and its tenants." "The people of Ramsey included clerics, knights, and laborers, and their activities overlapped to the point that the infamous tripartite division of medieval society - into those who prayed, fought, and worked - becomes meaningless. The book also crosses chronological boundaries, moving through decades of rebellion, plague, demographic turnover, violence, bloodshed, and war, and ending with religious upheaval that spelled the death of the 600-year-old abbey and the intrusion of an ambitious new lay landlord with courtly connections."--BOOK JACKET.