Lawrence Stone Knihy

Covering a period of three and a half centuries between two great upheavals in landed society--the Dissolution of the Monasteries and the Agricultural Depression--this highly-acclaimed study examines the traditional view that for centuries English landed society has been open to infiltrationby families made newly rich through trade, office, or the professions. The Stones focus on the landed elite of Hertfordshire, Northamptonshire, and the Northumberland counties, combining case histories and examples with in-depth research to test the historical validity of one of the most cherishedbeliefs about English society, economics, and politics. For this abridged edition, the authors have retained the essential contents of the original hardcover while omitting the supporting scholarly aparatus.

In Road to Divorce, Lawrence Stone examines the complexities of marriage prior to the Marriage Act of 1753, highlighting the legal ambiguities surrounding the institution. Through detailed case studies, he illustrates how courting and marrying couples navigated these uncertainties, often finding themselves in morally and legally contradictory situations that led to personal crises. The narratives include unwise courtships, prenuptial pregnancies, forced marriages, bigamy, and hasty clandestine unions, often regretted later. These captivating accounts delve into how individuals adjusted their sexual conduct and matrimonial aspirations in response to an unclear legal landscape. Stone also traces the shift in the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries, where personal desires for love and affection began to overshadow family interests and parental control in the quest for a spouse. Drawing from court records, he reveals this moral transition through the voices of men and women, presenting vivid, human stories that illuminate the era's social dynamics. The work offers a compelling exploration of the evolving nature of romantic relationships and marriage, showcasing the intricate interplay between law, morality, and personal choice.

This fascinating book describes an 'heroic phase' in the writing of history - the last thirty years.

Contains much the best all-round analysis of the causes of the English Revolution that we have. It synthesizes and makes sense of the research of a whole generation of scholars.

Made by Lawrence Stone himself, this abridgement of his highly-regarded study omits many statistical details not needed by the non-specialized reader. It presents a new interpretation of the long-term social changes leading up to the English Revolution of the mid-seventeenth century.

* The first full study of a topic rich in historical interest and contemporary importance Despite the infamous divorce of Henry VIII in 1529, subsequent moral, political, and religious attitudes ensured that until 1857, England was the only Protestant country with virtually no facilities for full divorce on the grounds of adultery, desertion, or cruelty. Using a mass of transcribed legal testimonies, taken from hitherto unexplored court records, Professor Stone uncovers the means by which laity and lawyers reformed the divorce laws, and offers astonishingly frank and intimate insights into our ancestors' changing views about what makes a marriage. Using personal accounts in which witnesses speak freely about their moral attitudes towards love, sex, adultery, and marriage, Lawrence Stone reveals, for the first time, the full and complex story of how English men and women have contrived to use, twist, or defy the law in order to deal with marital breakdown.

Family histories of the Cecils, Earls of Salisbury, 1490-1733; the Manners, Earls of Rutland, 1460-1660; and the Wriothesleys, Earls of Southampton, 1530-1667.

This book studies the evolution of the family from the sixteenth to the eighteenth century and how the process radically influenced child-rearing, education, contraception, sexual behaviour and marriage.