These essays examine the lives of those who lived on the margins of medieval and early modern European society. While some essays explore obvious marginalized classes, such as criminals, gypsies, and prostitutes, others challenge traditional understandings of the margin by showing that female mystics, speculators in the Dutch mercantile empire, and writers of satire, for example, could fall into the margins. Overall the impression gained is that marginalised groups and activities became progressively less tolerated during this period as the state gained in power, and local flexibility ceased to be an option.