Cambridge Studies in Early Modern British History Stewards, Lords and People

Stewards, Lords and People analyses the role of the estate steward in the social mechanisms of later Stuart England. No mere rent collectors, the stewards acted as entrepreneurs, election agents, almoners, ambassadors, and conduits of their lords' patronage and in many other roles. The landed estates were one of the fundamental structures of early modern England. They were omnipresent, for they were not confined to the countryside but penetrated into every borough and city. English society was composed largely of landlords and tenants. It follows that to understand the nature of this society the relationship between the two must be studied, and in particular the role of the man who linked them: the estate steward. Stewards, Lords and People analyses the role of the estate stewards in the social mechanisms of later Stuart England. It is based on many years of research among more than 10,000 letters exchanged by stewards and their masters about estates as widely distributed as Northumberland and Cornwall, Cumberland and Sussex.