The period from 1550 to 1660 in Europe was a time of crisis, of seething social change and worsening material conditions. In the Iron Century Dr Kamen lays his emphasis on the social side of the history of these crucial years, paying particular attention to the poor and dispossessed – for the underprivileged this century was truly a cruel time of iron, not the golden age which a study of its political, intellectual and cultural achievements might suggest.
