ABSTRACT
The Earls Colne burial registers were predominantly kept by clergy, except for a period during the Protectorate when the register was kept by a lay record-keeper. The burial registers made various connections between the living and the dead, reflecting what Peter Laslett called the 'houseful', where the household was defined by all of those under the one roof. The godly household determined the links and connections to be found in the early modern parish registers. Paternal lineage was central in the description of children, as well as the designation of wife in relation to a husband from 1559 during the reign of Elizabeth 1 onwards. Replete with the language of preconceived notions, each entry of life and death, including the issue of any union, be it illicit or legitimated by the church, was entered onto the page of the register. Each burial entry had a cultural setting, which may have been as brief or expansive as the life it described.
