Popular Politics and the English Reformation [Paperback]

A study of popular responses to the English Reformation after Henry VIII's break from Rome.This is a study of popular responses to the English Reformation, analysing how ordinary people received, interpreted, debated, and responded to religious change. It differs from other studies by arguing that the subject cannot be understood simply by asking theological questions about people's beliefs, but also must be understood by asking political questions about how they negotiated with state power. Therefore it is as much political as religious history, making a fundamental argument that even at the popular level, political and theological processes were inseparable in the sixteenth century.This is a study of popular responses to the English Reformation, analysing how ordinary people received, interpreted, debated, and responded to religious change. It differs from other studies by arguing that the subject cannot be understood simply by asking theological questions about people's beliefs, but also must be understood by asking political questions about how they negotiated with state power. Therefore it is as much political as religious history, making a fundamental argument that even at the popular level, political and theological processes were inseparable in the sixteenth century.This study of popular responses to the English Reformation analyzes how ordinary people received, interpreted, debated, and responded to religious change. It differs from other studies by arguing that the subject cannot be understood simply by asking theological questions about people's beliefs, but must be understood by asking political questions about how they negotiated with state power. Therefore, it concerns political as well as religious history, since it asserts that, even at the popular level, political and theological processes were inseparable in the sixteenth century.Acknowledgements; List of abbreviations; Note on the text; Introduction; Part I. The Break with Rome and the Crisis of Clã¾