Festive culture in pre-reformation rural Suffolk

This thesis is a study of the relationship between festive culture and rural communities in the pre-Reformation period. Using a wide range of evidence, both material and documentary, it uses the county of Suffolk as a case-study. This thesis argues against the prevailing view that festive culture constituted a distinct break from everyday life. It demonstrates that festive culture was an important part of the quotidian working routine and, as such, takes as its starting point evidence of festivity rooted in everyday practices, much of which has never been studied in detail before. This study argues for consideration of the commerciality of festive culture since a large proportion of the evidence is, necessarily, of a financial nature, and it proposes a new methodology for examining the place and function of festivity in pre-Reformation communities. The first four chapters survey a wide range of pre-Reformation festive behaviour, exploring its organizational and economic significance, its relationship to the landscape, and its impact on personal possessions. The last two chapters redress the concept of festive culture as entertainment, and festive culture as carnival. They argue that these expressions of festive culture are just as important to everyday livelihoods as they are a break from the working routine