PrefaceAbbreviationsList of tables and figuresIntroduction1. Ian Archer 'Popular politics in 16th and early 17th century London'2. Michael Berlin, 'Reordering ritual: the parish and ceremony in London, 1520-1640'3. Tim Wales, 'Thief-takers and their clients in London, c.1670-1720'4. Faramerz Dabhoiwala, 'The pattern of sexual immorality in seventeenth and eigthteenth-century London'5. Maragret R. Hunt, 'London wives and marital 'rights' in the Court of Exchequer in the early eighteenth century'6. Laura Gowing, '"The freedom of the streets": women and social space in London, 1560-1640'7. Margaret Pelling, 'Skirting the city? Disease, social change and divided huoseholds in the seventeenth-century metropolis'8. Paul Griffiths, '"Uniformity" in the Goldsmiths' Row: visualizing order in early Stuart Cheapside'9. Jeremy Boulton, 'The poor among the rich: a long-term view of pauperism in London's West End'10. Sara Pennell, '"Great quantities of gooseberry pye and baked clod of beef": victualling and eating out in early modern London'11. Mark Jenner, 'From conduit community to commercial network? Water in London, 1500-1725'

Events such as the fire of London and the Plague, and locations like the Globe, are part of our ‘national heritage’ however until recently the history of London between 1500 and 1750 has been little studied. As a city London underwent exceptional changes - its population soared from around 50,000 in 1500 to approximately 200,000 in 1600 and by 1700 it was nearly half a million. Covering the themes of polis and the police, gender and sexuality, space and place, and material culture and consumption the book encounters thieves, prostitutes, litigious wives, the poor, disease, ‘great quantities of gooseberry pye’ and the very taxing question of fresh water. Focuses on the experiences and perceptions of Londoners, rather than giving an account of a depersonalized and disembodied thing called “London”. Will be essential reading for anyone interested in the history of London or in the social and cultural history of early modern society.