Britain under the reign of the Tudors and Stuarts was a country marked by extraordinary and dramatic change. These were the centuries of the Reformation, civil wars, and two revolutions; a time of upheaval that saw the trials and executions of two monarchs, two wives of a king, and two Archbishops of Canterbury; and a time of religious controversy that resulted in the torture or burning of hundreds of ordinary people. But this was also the time that saw an explosion of literacy and the printed word, transformations in landscapes and townscapes, new forms of wealth, new structures of power, and new forms of political participation that freed minds and broadened horizons in the generations from 1485 to 1689. In this exciting and richly illustrated new work, eighteen leading scholars explore the political, social, religious, and cultural history of this tumultuous time.From the maneuverings of rulers and powerbrokers, both religious and secular, to the profound social and cultural changes that affected the lives of ordinary men and women throughout Britain--indeed, throughout the world--The Oxford Illustrated History of Tudor and Stuart Britain offers the most authoritative history of this great age ever published.