Synopses & Reviews
This book explores the culture of conformity to the Church of England and its liturgy in the period after the Reformation and before the outbreak of the Civil War. It provides a necessary corrective to our view of religion in that period through a serious exploration of the laypeople who conformed, out of conviction, to the Book of Common Prayer. These "prayer book Protestants" formed a significant part of the spectrum of society in Tudor and Stuart England, yet until now they have remained an almost completely uninvestigated group.
Synopsis
Studies conformity to the Church of England after the Reformation.
Synopsis
'... a remarkable book ... the force of [Dr Maltby's] argument is inescapable. No historian of the Reformation, of the rise of Anglicanism, or of popular religion in the localities, can afford to neglect her work.' John Guy,The Church Times
Description
Includes bibliographical references (p. 276-294) and index.
Table of Contents
Acknowledgements; List of figures; List of tables; 1. Introduction: the good, the bad, and the godly? The laity and the established church; 2. Conformity and the church courts, c. 1570-1642; 3. The rhetoric of conformity, c. 1640-1642; 4. Sir Thomas Aston and the campaign for the established church, c. 1640-1642; 5. Parishioners, petitions, and the Prayer Book in the 1640s; 6. Conclusion: laity, clergy, and conformity in post-Reformation England; Appendix 1. Petitions for the Book of Common Prayer and episcopacy, 1640-1642; Appendix 2. Subscribing Cheshire parishes and townships, 1641; Appendix 3. Five subscribing Cheshire communities; Bibliography.