Charlotte Berry, The Margins of Late Medieval London, 1430-1541

Abstract

The Margins of Late Medieval London is a significant intervention in the historiog-raphy of pre-modern towns and cities. Berry ’ s book blends social and cultural approaches to examine the dynamics of exclusion, both social and geographical, across the cusp of late medieval and early modern eras in London. Developed from her University of London PhD, this monograph is organised around five broad themes, each of which concentrates on a different primary source base. Each of these themes – from socio-spatial networks, to mobility, and regulation of reputations – is related to its neighbours through a common framework of spa-tialising social history. The result is a nuanced approach to inclusion and exclusion that accords more significance to the strategies employed by the marginalised than the formal hierarchies that are so often the focus of traditional structural approaches to pre-modern urban history.