This is a study of the religious practices of lay people in the diocese of Salisbury during the late middle ages. Andrew Brown explores lay piety in its contexts of landscape, society and the church, and assesses the impact of the Reformation on the region and its people.

`excellently researched book..thought provoking work' Albion `reveals a thoroughness of Brown's scholarship in working with many unedited materials, much of which has never been studied before ... Andrew Brown's study of popular piety in the diocese of Salisbury from 1250 to 1550 constitutes a valuable contribution to our understanding of this fascinating topic. And his balanced approach to issues of religious conformity and dissent is deserving of both our admiration and emulation.' Chris Nighman, University of Toronto, Confraternitas, Volume 7, No. 1, Spring 1996 `a welcome volume, offering a wide-ranging regional analysis of pre-Reformation piety of a sort notable bu its absence in recent years ... the book provides a neat survey of the more institutionalized aspects of piety within the diocese. Its carefully crafted chapters combine both thematic and chronological treatments ... Dr Brown writes well, with a pithy wryness and neat turn of phrase which are both amusing and very much to the point this is a useful book, offering worthwhile contributions to recent debates ... it clearly demonstrates the possibilities for further considerations of late medieval piety in other English dioceses.' R.N. Swanson, University of Birmingham, EHR Jun'97 `the range of material examined is remarkable and the detail made available to the reader is often fascinating ... The treatment of confraternities, and of Orsanmichele in particular, is thorough, interdisciplinary and convincing. For the sheer amount of material it presents and discusses, this substantial book makes an important contribution to the study of piety and charity in Florence and elsewhere in the late medieval and early modern periods.' John E. Law, University of Wales, Swansea, The Historical Association 1996 A careful, balanced, and sensible study of a controversial period in Church History. s