Historical understanding of the dynamics of economic and social change in the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries has been transformed by an enormous volume of original research. A fascinating picture has emerged of an economy and society in turmoil under the influence of population growth, inflation, the commercialization of agriculture, the growth of a huge capital city, the emergence of new forms of manufacturing, and changes in the international economic context. Traditional forms of production, traditional social structures and traditional values all came under increasingly insistent attack from the forces of change, leading to radical economic and social readjustments.