John Bossy, who died on 23 October 2015 at the age of 82, had a long association with Past and Present. He became a member of the Editorial Board in 1973 and during the course of his career published a number of seminal articles and incisive reviews in the pages of the journal. He was one of the most original and distinctive historians of his generation, whose many publications on the religious and political history of early modern England and Europe shifted paradigms and set fresh agendas during his lifetime. Defiantly refusing to be categorized or constrained within conventional generic moulds and boundaries, his work is always stimulating and provocative. Less a tidy finished product than a set of hypotheses for further investigation, it reads as part of the ongoing dialogue and open ended conversation which John Bossy conducted with himself. He made an enduring mark on the field of early modern history and he leaves behind a powerful intellectual legacy.