Guilds and the Parish Community in Late Medieval East Anglia c. 1470-1550

This book is a study of two forms of social and religious organisation - the parish and the guild - in England in the immediate pre-Reformation period. It examines the records of many of the guilds (or fraternities) of East Anglia in the years 1470-1550, in order to understand their form, functions and popularity in the years before the break with Rome. The spread of fraternities across East Anglia, the size of individual guilds, types of member, and the benefits of guild membership are all studied in detail. The social and religious functions of the fraternities are then compared with the parish, through a study of the records of two Norfolk market towns (Wymondham and Swaffham) and two Suffolk villages (Bardwell and Cratfield). The contribution of the guilds to the social and religious life of the local community is considered, along with the position of the fraternity within the parish hierarchy. A final chapter studies the fortunes of the guilds during the early years of the Reformation, up to their dissolution in 1548. This study sheds much light on local forms of organization in late medieval England, and the impact of the Henrician Reformation at parish level.