ABSTRACT
This chapter presents a loosely chronological organization while examining the demographic parameters of parish society, the spiritual and gendered landscape of the church, the process by which the Elizabethan parish purchased their church’s benefice from the queen, and the foundations of a puritan parish, which truly represents a tremendous transformation. Saint Stephen was situated on the periphery of the city, with a small group of merchants who provided the parish officials. The vast information from the rent collection and tithe collection allows for the creation of social models to gauge issues of population transience or stability within the parish. The process involved rent collectors and tithe collectors who gathered the money owed and then delivered it to the churchwardens. Of course, the information was written by the churchwardens, which means the information is presented from their perspective. In analyzing the spiritual transformation of the parish, another salient point must be considered: the parishioners were never monolithic in their beliefs.
