"Between 1529 and 1540, Henry VIII enacted a series of statutes intended to reverse the commercialization of the parish. Parishioners acquired the power to regulate their clergy and, in most cases, to compel the presence of the rector or vicar. The statutes segregated the clergy from commercial activity. Robert C. Palmer examines this transformation of the English parish and argues that it constitutes an important and hitherto unrecognized part of the English Reformation." "Palmer analyzes an extensive set of data drawn from common law records to reveal a vigorous and effective effort by the laity to enforce the statutes of 1529. Motivated by both economic incentives and traditional ideals, the litigants used the statutes to compel the residence of their clergy and to make the commercial activities of lease-holding and buying for resale and profit the sole province of the laity. Inserting the rector back into the parish. Palmer shows, dramatically altered the economic, educational, and religious context of parish life."--BOOK JACKET