ABSTRACT
The most important aims of urban government in the early modern period were social order - the quest for peace and harmony among citizens shaped the way towns were run. In common with other provincial centers, Canterbury had a range of civic and ecclesiastical courts through which to maintain and disseminate ideas of social order. The courts prosecuted cases of tithe dispute, matrimonial contention, sexual misconduct, contests over wills and slanderous utterances. In 1560, in a case of slander brought by Margaret Raven against Margaret Richardson, Magdalen Lewys of the parish of St Paul's in Canterbury came to court to give her testimony. Apparently asked what she knew of the alleged slander, she recalls the events of the day in question. Firstly, the legal definition of slander requires an audience, so Magdalen is careful to list exactly who was there and therefore affected by the story that Richardson told.
