The Parish and Town on Tour in Medieval and Early Modern England: 1323–1624

Published data concerning various performance activities in medieval and early modern England is extensive. Not only does the data reveal a rich heritage of such activity occurring locally in parishes and towns, but also that there were many instances when parishes and towns actually took their performances on tour. By the end of the reign of Elizabeth such activity had almost ceased. Reasons for this seem tied to various policies enacted during the reigns of Henry VIII, Edward VI, Mary, and Elizabeth. Most of those policies in one way or another are linked to what we now term the English Reformations