This collection of essays in honor of Professor A.J. Slavin deals with a topic of growing importance in early modern English history - the interplay between the state, the sovereign and society. Many of the most absorbing fields of current research and debate on both sides of the Atlantic are addressed, among them the role of administrative history, the problems of legal enforcement, and the relations between local and central government. By dealing with subjects as intriguing and diverse as Anne Boleyn's sexuality, witchcraft and sorcery, political corruption and fear of crime, State, Sovereigns and Society makes a significant and stimulating contribution to our understanding of the past and will appeal to scholars and all those interested in the interplay between constitutional and social history.