Life in sixteenth century Europe | Thread profile

I'm posting this here and in the historical writing thread. Does anyone have book recommendations for researching culture, society and daily life in Western Europe from 1500-1600? The books can be country-specific. In particular. I'm interested in the Low Countries (Belgium), The Netherlands, France, Italy, England, Spain, Portugal, and Germany. More or less in that order. Only books...

The Age of Elizabeth by D M Palliser has some great info on England from 1547 - 1603. It's readable and a few hundred pages long. I just snuck another peek at it and it looks like it could be really useful for you!

Excellent! Just the kind of thing I'm looking for. Thanks for the tip!

William Manchester's A World Lit Only By Fire covers a somewhat earlier period, but I suspect much of daily life continued much the same in your chosen era. http://www.amazon.com/World-Lit-Only...2710337&sr= 1-1

Thanks!

I always forget the author's name, but FAMILY, SEX, AND MARRIAGE IN ENGLAND, 1500-1800 might be of help.

Terry Jones (of Monty Python fame) did a BBC series called Medieval Lives, which shattered a lot of the stereotypes we have of the Middle Ages. I still haven't seen the series, but there's an accompanying book, also called Medieval Lives, co-authored by Alan Eireira. Based on life and culture in the UK, but should be pretty applicable to European society. Highly recommend it.