Increased interest in the area o f ‘popular religion’ among historians is a relatively recent phenomenon. John Bossy traces its origins to the school o f ‘religious sociology’ which was inaugurated in France in 1931 by the canon law historian, Gabriel le Bras. 1 It is certainly true that historians o f the Francophone world have proved themselves to be forerunners in this field o f research, publishing widely, from a relatively early stage, on the experiences o f the laity in late medieval and early modem France.2 The term itself, however, is fraught with difficulty and any historian who might naively consider attempting to definitively unravel its meaning, faces a minefield o f objections.