This is the first scholarly history of the city of Wells in the Middle Ages. David Gary Shaw traces the growth of Wells from a rural manor into the prosperous borough it became by the late twelfth century. Dr Shaw examines the variety of trades which flourished in Wells - including tanning, glove-making, and cloth-manufacture - and analyses the composition of the burgess community. He explores the importance of the family, the extent of social mobility, the position of women, and the roles of conviviality on the one hand, and religion on the other, in shaping communal activity and communal spirit. Dr Shaw makes full use of the rich archives of Wells to present in vivid and telling detail the anatomy of a medieval borough