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Birth, Marriage, and Death: Ritual, Religion, and the Life Cycle in Tudor and Stuart England
Contributor(s): Cressy, David (Author)
ISBN: 0198201680     ISBN-13: 9780198201687
Publisher: Oxford University Press, USA
OUR PRICE:   $156.75  
Product Type: Hardcover - Other Formats
Published: June 1997
Qty:
Annotation: From childbirth and baptism through to courtship, weddings, and funerals, every stage in the life-cycle of Tudor and Stuart England was accompanied by ritual. Even under the protestantism of the reformed Church, the spiritual and social dramas of birth, marriage, and death were graced with elaborate ceremony. Powerful and controversial protocols were in operation, shaped and altered by the influences of the Reformation, the Revolution, and the Restoration.
Additional Information
BISAC Categories:
- History | Europe - Great Britain - General
- Social Science | Customs & Traditions
- Social Science | Women's Studies
Dewey: 942.05
LCCN: 97182367
Lexile Measure: 1590
Physical Information: 1.63" H x 6.49" W x 9.5" (2.48 lbs) 658 pages
Themes:
- Cultural Region - British Isles
- Chronological Period - 16th Century
- Chronological Period - 17th Century
- Chronological Period - 18th Century
- Sex & Gender - Feminine
 
Descriptions, Reviews, Etc.
Publisher Description:
From childbirth and baptism through to courtship, weddings, and funerals, every stage in the lifecycle of Tudor and Stuart England was accompanied by ritual. Even under the Protestantism of the reformed Church, the spiritual and social dramas of birth, marriage, and death were graced with
elaborate ceremony. Powerful and controversial protocols were in operation, shaped and altered by the influences of the Reformation, the Revolution, and the Restoration.

Each of the major rituals was potentially an arena for argument, ambiguity, and dissent. Ideally, as classic rites of passage, these ceremonies worked to bring people together. But they also set up traps into which people could stumble, and tests which not everybody could pass. In practice,
ritual performance revealed frictions and fractures that everyday local discourse attempted to hide or to heal.
Using fascinating first-hand evidence, David Cressy shows how the making and remaking of ritual formed part of a continuing debate, sometimes strained and occasionally acrimonious, which exposed the raw nerves of society in the midst of great historical events. In doing so, he vividly brings to
life the common experiences of living and dying in Tudor and Stuart England.