Going to Church in Medieval England

An engaging, richly illustrated account of parish churches & churchgoers in England, from the Anglo-Saxons to the mid-sixteenth century Parish churches were at the heart of English religious & social life in the Middle Ages & the sixteenth century. In this comprehensive study, Nicholas Orme shows how they came into existence, who staffed them, & how their buildings were used. He explains who went to church, who did not attend, how people behaved there, & how they—not merely the clergy—affected how worship was staged.                                                
The book provides an accessible account of what happened in the daily & weekly services, & how churches marked the seasons of Christmas, Lent, Easter, & summer. It describes how they celebrated the great events of life: birth, coming of age, & marriage, & gave comfort in sickness and death. A final chapter covers the English Reformation in the sixteenth century & shows how, alongside its changes, much that went on in parish churches remained as before.