Publication
Yale University Press, c2005 (Second Edition). First Edition c1992.
Collection
Call number
Th-L44-19732
Status
Available
Call number
Description
Religion & Spiritualit Nonfictio HTML: This prize-winning account of the pre-Reformation church recreates lay people's experience of religion in fifteenth-century England. Eamon Duffy shows that late medieval Catholicism was neither decadent nor decayed, but was a strong and vigorous tradition, and that the Reformation represented a violent rupture from a popular and theologically respectable religious system. For this edition, Duffy has written a new Preface reflecting on recent developments in our understanding of the period. From reviews of the first edition: "A magnificent scholarly achievement [and] a compelling read."�??Patricia Morrison, Financial Times "Deeply imaginative, movingly written, and splendidly illustrated...Duffy's analysis ...carries conviction."�??Maurice Keen, New York Review of Books "This book will afford enjoyment and enlightenment to layman and specialist alike."�??Peter Heath, Times Literary Supplement "[An] astonishing and magnificent piece of work."�??Edward T. Oakes, Commo… (more)
User reviews
LibraryThing member Pianojazz
For me, "The Stripping of the Altars" was an eye-opener. Most of us who have a cursory knowledge of the English Reformation have been led to believe that the medieval Roman Catholic Church in England had stagnated, that it was hopelessly corrupt, and that it no longer met the spiritual needs of the
Why, then, did Henry VIII ultimately succeed with his Reformation? Was it the violence, the threat of torture, of having one's property expropriated, one's family destroyed? Certainly Mary Tudor, in forcibly returning England to the Catholic fold, was guilty of as many excesses as was her despotic father. Yet it took Elizabeth, with her "middle way", to finally secure England for the Protestant cause, albeit at a cost. Neither truly Catholic nor truly Protestant (i.e., Calvinist), Elizabeth and her advisers succeeded in crafting what has today become the Anglican Communion, a most interesting blend of both versions of Christianity. (Indeed, a dear friend of mine, a lapsed Catholic and now an Episcopalian, refers to the U.S. version of Anglicanism as "Catholic lite.")
Those of us who have followed the travails of the Anglican Communion in recent months know just how fragile are the bonds of fellowship holding Anglicanism together. Elizabeth never succeeded in totally reconciling the authoritarian nature of Catholicism with the individuality of Protestantism; the magisterium of the Church pitted against the believer's "walk with Jesus." That tension still exists today in all branches of the Anglican Communion--many yearn for a hierarchy eager to tell the believer how to live, what to believe, and how to get into heaven; certainty as preferable to ambiguity; black and white over shades of gray.
Duffy, to his credit, shows why Catholicism was so compelling to its adherents. Indeed, in reading the memoirs of various Anglicans, lay and clergy, who have converted to Catholicism in the intervening years, in worshiping in the Roman Catholic Mass, and in viewing the travails of 21st century Anglicanism, one understands Catholicism's continuing allure. Duffy's book shows us that the modern Christian's needs aren't so different from those of six centuries ago.
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English people. Duffy puts the lie to that myth. He shows, instead, that late medieval English Catholicism was alive, vibrant, and relevant. Why, then, did Henry VIII ultimately succeed with his Reformation? Was it the violence, the threat of torture, of having one's property expropriated, one's family destroyed? Certainly Mary Tudor, in forcibly returning England to the Catholic fold, was guilty of as many excesses as was her despotic father. Yet it took Elizabeth, with her "middle way", to finally secure England for the Protestant cause, albeit at a cost. Neither truly Catholic nor truly Protestant (i.e., Calvinist), Elizabeth and her advisers succeeded in crafting what has today become the Anglican Communion, a most interesting blend of both versions of Christianity. (Indeed, a dear friend of mine, a lapsed Catholic and now an Episcopalian, refers to the U.S. version of Anglicanism as "Catholic lite.")
Those of us who have followed the travails of the Anglican Communion in recent months know just how fragile are the bonds of fellowship holding Anglicanism together. Elizabeth never succeeded in totally reconciling the authoritarian nature of Catholicism with the individuality of Protestantism; the magisterium of the Church pitted against the believer's "walk with Jesus." That tension still exists today in all branches of the Anglican Communion--many yearn for a hierarchy eager to tell the believer how to live, what to believe, and how to get into heaven; certainty as preferable to ambiguity; black and white over shades of gray.
Duffy, to his credit, shows why Catholicism was so compelling to its adherents. Indeed, in reading the memoirs of various Anglicans, lay and clergy, who have converted to Catholicism in the intervening years, in worshiping in the Roman Catholic Mass, and in viewing the travails of 21st century Anglicanism, one understands Catholicism's continuing allure. Duffy's book shows us that the modern Christian's needs aren't so different from those of six centuries ago.
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LibraryThing member Angelic55blonde
This is a classic written by one of the preeminent historians of the Reformation. The first half, and pretty much the majority of the book focuses on teh Catholic Church prior to the Reformation. The last part focuses on the Reformation from Henry VIII to Elizabeth I. The book is extremely long but
Because there is so much detail contained in this book, it is a long read and can sometimes get a little tedious or slow to read. Because of this, I would not recommend this to anyone who isn't highly interested in the Reformation.
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that is because the autor has packed into it extreme amounts of detail as well as research. This historian has done excellent research on this topic which is why the reader can be confident in the information they are getting. The author included pictures throughout the book which helps with bringing the Reformation and the Catholic religion in the 1400s to life for the reader. It also helps make the book a little less tedious to read.Because there is so much detail contained in this book, it is a long read and can sometimes get a little tedious or slow to read. Because of this, I would not recommend this to anyone who isn't highly interested in the Reformation.
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LibraryThing member jsburbidge
Now a classic study of the changes in the life of the Church in the English Reformation.
Everyone seems to have a bias on this topic; I should declare mine: I am an Anglo-Catholic, liturgically on the conservative side and doctrinally more or less aligned with, say, Rowan Williams. As such I have no
This is carefully researched, though (as is the case with most histories of this sort) individual details may be contested, or at least challenged as not necessarily as ready for generalization as they might be, especially as actual use will have varied considerably in different areas of the country and parish by parish: the late mediaeval world, just beginning to adjust to the printing press, was not a very uniform one. Nevertheless, Duffy's arguments can, I think, be said to represent a position which are, or should be, the default, at least inasmuch as they show (1) that the devotional life of the late mediaeval world was not arid, but lively, and that the observances of the rhythms of the church year were deeply integrated into the life of the community; (2) that the doctrine expressed by the observances of the typical late mediaeval parish (or many late mediaeval parishes) was not some kind of aberration away from the broader tradition of catholic belief; (3) that the English Reformation did considerable harm to the fabric of daily life, especially after its Henrician phase, but beginning even under Henry; (4) that prior at least to the ham-fisted attempts by Mary Tudor to restore the catholic faith there was more sympathy, generally, with the old religion than with the new.
The defaced statues, smashed windows, and defaced rood-screens (however many were a product of this phase of the Reformation and however many of the later depredations of Cromwell's soldiers) are an effective metaphor for the damage to devotional life the book describes.
It lies outside Duffy's scope, but it is worth pointing out that (despite the type of evidence put forward in More and Cross's Anglicanism, drawn largely from the Caroline and Jacobean divines) the overall thrust of the Elizabethan settlement and even more of the final compromise after the Commonwealth was to exclude most of the traits which we would now identify as Catholic within the Anglican Church, downplay many others (bishops were kept but no particularly high doctrine was officially declared for their order), and exclude most of the elements of "the beauty of holiness" which even rather middle-of-the-road parishes used to take for granted as a characteristic of Anglicanism. You could find isolated exceptions, but in general it is true to say that the doctrinal and devotional revivals of the Oxford Movement and the improvement in liturgy and church design which came out of Cambridge a little later were relying on a very thin thread of continuity indeed within the Church of England.
Everyone seems to have a bias on this topic; I should declare mine: I am an Anglo-Catholic, liturgically on the conservative side and doctrinally more or less aligned with, say, Rowan Williams. As such I have no
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antipathy towards late mediaeval catholicism as such, and on theological grounds a good deal of criticism to make of the reformers under Edward and Elizabeth. (See, for example, the serious criticisms levelled by Dix against Cranmer and his colleagues, never really rebutted.) Note that Duffy's study is one of life "on the ground", as it were, but one's doctrinal views can influence how one reads the text.This is carefully researched, though (as is the case with most histories of this sort) individual details may be contested, or at least challenged as not necessarily as ready for generalization as they might be, especially as actual use will have varied considerably in different areas of the country and parish by parish: the late mediaeval world, just beginning to adjust to the printing press, was not a very uniform one. Nevertheless, Duffy's arguments can, I think, be said to represent a position which are, or should be, the default, at least inasmuch as they show (1) that the devotional life of the late mediaeval world was not arid, but lively, and that the observances of the rhythms of the church year were deeply integrated into the life of the community; (2) that the doctrine expressed by the observances of the typical late mediaeval parish (or many late mediaeval parishes) was not some kind of aberration away from the broader tradition of catholic belief; (3) that the English Reformation did considerable harm to the fabric of daily life, especially after its Henrician phase, but beginning even under Henry; (4) that prior at least to the ham-fisted attempts by Mary Tudor to restore the catholic faith there was more sympathy, generally, with the old religion than with the new.
The defaced statues, smashed windows, and defaced rood-screens (however many were a product of this phase of the Reformation and however many of the later depredations of Cromwell's soldiers) are an effective metaphor for the damage to devotional life the book describes.
It lies outside Duffy's scope, but it is worth pointing out that (despite the type of evidence put forward in More and Cross's Anglicanism, drawn largely from the Caroline and Jacobean divines) the overall thrust of the Elizabethan settlement and even more of the final compromise after the Commonwealth was to exclude most of the traits which we would now identify as Catholic within the Anglican Church, downplay many others (bishops were kept but no particularly high doctrine was officially declared for their order), and exclude most of the elements of "the beauty of holiness" which even rather middle-of-the-road parishes used to take for granted as a characteristic of Anglicanism. You could find isolated exceptions, but in general it is true to say that the doctrinal and devotional revivals of the Oxford Movement and the improvement in liturgy and church design which came out of Cambridge a little later were relying on a very thin thread of continuity indeed within the Church of England.
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LibraryThing member oataker
At first sight confirms all we ever thought about medieval Catholicism, but the message is that this was popular and regretted when it was lost. Details the enthusiasm for return to images and sacramentalism in many parishes and their efforts to preserve images when they were out of favour.
Very long book but beautifully written passages make it compelling reading.
It is an answer to the standard Protestant account of the Reformation provided by Dickens in the 80s.
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Purgatory was a dominant fear and tremendous efforts were exerted to call upon those left behind to shorten it with prayer. The Host was worshipped and when Mary returned people in Kent were forced to kneel before it. He says that the service was widely understood, even in Latin, and there was a lot of religious material available in English. However Bibles were rapidly removed when Catholics returned and sermons were about morality not knowledge. Elizabeth's long reign ensured that all the imagery eventually was lost and did not return.Very long book but beautifully written passages make it compelling reading.
It is an answer to the standard Protestant account of the Reformation provided by Dickens in the 80s.
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LibraryThing member RevWyke
A wonderful book! Duffy provides a clear, bottom-up view of the English Reformation. It provides the reader with an understanding of what was lost, what was gained, and the origins of the current projection of the Anglican traditions. Packed full of primary source documentation – a must read for
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anyone interested in Church History and liturgics. Show Less
LibraryThing member ocianain
The myths of the English reformation take a body blow from which they will not recover.
LibraryThing member AnnaRichenda
This book is absolutely fabulous. A must.
LibraryThing member PollyMoore3
"On certain feasts objects to be blessed might be brought up at this point: candles at Candlemas, butter, cheese, and eggs at Easter, apples on St James's day". A serious piece of historical research that also makes me feel vividly present in late medieval England, joining in the feasts and
Deservedly popular, this book is always going out on request from the public library where I work.
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penances and rituals, and later on helping to hide the church treasures when they were banned. There's no doubt reform was needed, but I believe this traumatic break, a cultural revolution imposed from above, was a massive blow to the English psyche from which it has never really recovered.Deservedly popular, this book is always going out on request from the public library where I work.
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LibraryThing member davidveal
A strong Counter-Reformation polemic: it would be more convincing if this were all we knew. This is brilliant social history but it conveniently stops with 1580, before the Elizabethan Via Media was formed. The author's conclusions give the impression that he is unaware of the efforts of the
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Anglican Church to save fundamental catholic faith and practice from desecration at the hands of the Puritan Inter-regnum in the 17th century and the efforts of the so-called Oxford Movement to revive the essential catholicity of the Church of England. So, 16th century "Protestantism" becomes the scapegoat for England's loss of "true" piety. Of course, Eamon Duffy knows better than this. Show Less
LibraryThing member cstebbins
For Professor Duffy, it seems that any religious practice, no matter how superstitious or bizarre, is a Good Thing. An anti-Protestant polemic strangely unconcerned with the purity or truth of religion.
LibraryThing member ritaer
This is undoubtedly an excellent resource both on the religious life of Medieval and early Modern England, and on the history of the Reformations elimination of many popular forms of devotion. However it was more information than I really need or want on the subject. If this is your era, or your
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subject I recommend it highly. Show Less
LibraryThing member stillatim
Duffy expresses surprise that this became a best-seller, and no shit: this is some detailed, historiographically-conscious, "I'm going to assume you know all the main events" stuff. It's also gloriously interesting, and surprisingly readable.
Language
Original language
English
ISBN
9780300108286
Original publication date
1993