The King's Reformation by G W Bernard
Henry VIII's reformation remains among the most crucial yet misunderstood events in English history. In this substantial new account Bernard presents the king as neither confused nor a pawn in the hands of manipulative factions. Henry, a monarch who ruled as well as reigned, is revealed instead as the determining mover of religious policy throughout this momentous period. In his crucial campaign to secure a divorce from Catherine of Aragon, Henry's strategy, as Bernard shows, was more consistent and more radical than historians have allowed. Henry attempted to determine the pace of religious change, refusing to introduce Lutheranism, but rather harnessing the rhetoric of the continental reformation in support of his royal supremacy. Convinced that the church needed urgent reform, in particular the purging of superstition and idolatry. Henry's dissolution of the monasteries and the dismantling of the shrines were much more than a venal attempt to raise money. The King sought a middle way between Rome and Zurich, between Catholicism and its associated superstitions on one hand and the subversive radicalism of the reformers on the other. With a ruthlessness that verged on tyranny, Henry VIII orchestrated the successive events of the most important twenty years of England's religious development.
"Big, erudite, trenchant and readable, this is a masterpiece drawing on decades of research and reflection, and a work of international scholarly importance" - Ralph Houlbrooke, University of Reading
G.W. Bernard is professor of early modern history in the University of Southampton. His books include Power and Politics in Tudor England (2000).
| SKU | Unavailable |
| ISBN 13 | 9780300109085 |
| ISBN 10 | 0300109083 |
| Title | The King's Reformation |
| Author | G W Bernard |
| Condition | Unavailable |
| Binding Type | Hardback |
| Publisher | Yale University Press |
| Year published | 2005-11-01 |
| Number of pages | 672 |
| Cover note | Book picture is for illustrative purposes only, actual binding, cover or edition may vary. |
| Note | Unavailable |