Synopses & Reviews
This book explores the complex ways in which Englands gradual transformation from a Roman Catholic to a Protestant nation presented men and women with new ways in which to fashion their own identities and to define their relationships with society.
The past generations research into the religious history of early modern England has heightened our appreciation for the persistence of traditional beliefs in the face of concerted attacks by followers of Henry VIII and his successor Edward VI. The book argues that the present challenge for historians is to move beyond this revisionist characterization of the English Reformation as a largely unpopular and unsuccessful exercise of state power to assess its legacy of increasing religious diversification. The contributors cast a post-revisionist light on religious change by showing how the Henrician break with Rome and the Edwardian implementation of a Protestant agenda had a lasting influence on the laitys beliefs and practices, forging a legacy that Mary Is efforts to restore Catholicism could not overturn.
If, as revisionist research has stressed, late medieval Christianity provided the laity with a wide array of means with which to internalize and individualize their religious experiences, then surely the events of the reigns of Henry and Edward vastly expanded the field over which the religiosity of English men and women could range. This book addresses the unfolding consequences of this theological variegation to assess how individual spiritual beliefs, aspirations, and practices helped shape social and political action on a family, local, and national level.
Synopsis
Explores the complex ways in which England's gradual transformation from a Roman Catholic to a Protestant nation presented people with new ways in which to fashion their identities and define their relationships with society. Argues that historians must move beyond the revisionist characterization of the English Reformation as an unpopular and unsuccessful exercise of state power to assess its legacy of increasing religious diversification. McClendon teaches history at the University of California-Los Angeles.
Synopsis
This book explores the complex ways in which England's gradual transformation from a Roman Catholic to a Protestant nation presented men and women with new ways in which to fashion their own identities and to define their relationships with society. It challenges the characterization of the English Reformation as a largely unpopular and unsuccessful exercise of state power. The events of the reigns of Henry VIII and Edward VI vastly expanded the field over which the religiosity of English men and women could range, creating a legacy of religious diversification that Mary I's efforts to restore Catholicism could not overturn. The contributors address this legacy to assess how individual spiritual beliefs, aspirations, and practices helped shape social and political action on a family, local, and national level.
Synopsis
Examines the irreversible legacy of religious diversification left by Henry VIII, Edward VI and the English Reformation.
Synopsis
Assessing the English Reformation's legacy of increasing religious diversification, this book explores the complex ways in which England's gradual transformation from a Roman Catholic to a Protestant nation presented men and women with new ways in which to define their relationships with society.
Description
Includes bibliographical references (p. [291]-355) and index.
About the Author
Muriel C. McClendon is Assistant Professor of History at the University of California, Los Angeles. She is the author of The Quiet Reformation: Magistrates and the Emergence of Protestantism in Tudor Norwich (Stanford, 1999). Joseph P. Ward teaches history at the University of Mississippi. He is the author of Metropolitan Communities: Trade Guilds, Identity, and Change in Early Modern England (Stanford, 1997). Michael MacDonald is Professor of History at the University of Michigan. His most recent book is Witchcraft and Hysteria in Elizabethan England (editor).