1. Introduction -- 2. Prayers and purgatory : wills on the eve of Reformation, 1500-1538 -- 3. The old and the new ways : wills and charity, 1539-1580 -- 4. Piety and the Reformation parish, 1580-1620 -- 5. Charity and social control, 1580-1620 -- 6. For the most need : comparative views of reform