official reports, the works of modern social historians and the literature of every period, it traces the development of English society over 900 years. The chapters range over life in the castles, palaces and monasteries, in the homes of rich merchants and in the hovels of peasants, describing the work and play of the inhabitants, their clothes, food and possesions, their servants and animals, their pleasures and suffering, their beliefs and attitudes, their schools, fairs, shops and markets, hospitals and prisons, theatres and churches, farms and factories, taverns and brothels covering every aspect of medieval and modern life.

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