This 1967 volume was the result of a project which originated a decade before its publication, when scholars from eleven British universities met under the presidency of the late R. H. Tawney and decided to create a work of co-operative scholarship covering the entire social and economic history of rural England and Wales from the neolithic period to the twentieth century. This was the first of eight volumes to appear, and deals with such topics as the structure of farming regions, agricultural techniques, and estate management by the crown. Based as it is on studies that span the entire kingdom, a picture of Tudor and early Stuart England and Wales emerges which differs at many points from the conventions of textbooks. Full account has been taken not only of previous scholarship, but also the national archives, while the manuscript deposits in the various county record offices have been freely tapped.