Abingdon in Context

Abingdon has been well served by many generations of local historians, but they tended to the antiquarian, describing local personalities and events with little reference to the regional or national environments. Manfred Brod uses Abingdon as a case study, examining how national political processes played out in this small Berkshire town.

Abingdon has been well served by many generations of local historians, but they tended to the antiquarian, describing local personalities and events with little reference to the regional or national environments. Manfred Brod uses Abingdon as a case study, examining how national political processes played out in this small Berkshire town. He follows the history of Abingdon from the Reformation to the Revolution, placing it into its national context, and describing the gradual loss of the town's traditional liberties in terms of the equally gradual development towards a modern centralised state. A feature of the book is a section of detailed biographical information on individuals and families who had influence in, or over, the town in the period it covers.