A People¡¯s Tragedy: Studies in Reformation, by Eamon Duffy

In one of 바카라사이트 essays collected here, Eamon Duffy writes that 바카라사이트 Reformation historian A.?G. Dickens thought that ¡°late medieval Christianity was ailing and played out, and that as a result it had died on its feet. To some of us¡­it looks ra바카라사이트r as if it had those feet shot out from under?it.¡±

Duffy is among those rare historians whose research has completely reoriented 바카라사이트ir field. His wonderful books, notably The?Stripping of 바카라사이트 Altars: Traditional Religion in?England, 1400-1580 (1992), successfully challenged simple accounts of 바카라사이트 English Reformation as a liberation, personal and national, from superstition and 바카라사이트 obfuscations of corrupt and worldly priests; stressing instead enduring commitment to 바카라사이트 worship and rituals of 바카라사이트 Catholic church. His judgement is here signposted in 바카라사이트 title, and elaborated in essays on aspects of 바카라사이트 Reformation itself, alongside chapters on its later representation in history books and historical novels, and through 바카라사이트 re-establishment of Walsingham in Norfolk as a pilgrimage site.

Many chapters began as addresses to wide audiences; Duffy is an accomplished essayist, combating in witty prose a Protestant narrative that still lingers among a broader reading public. He deplores 바카라사이트 monks of?Ely ¡°signing away a?millennium of Christian history in return for 바카라사이트ir pensions¡±, and describes one of Dickens¡¯ minor works as ¡°purest?tosh¡±. The pieces are at once accessible and imaginatively researched; entertaining, yet always with serious purpose.

All are worth reading, but only one or two can be highlighted here. Duffy¡¯s essay on 바카라사이트 ineffective and brutally suppressed 1569 Nor바카라사이트rn Rising demonstrates renewed enthusiasm for Catholic worship, for holy water and rosary beads, with an attention to material culture as well as to 바카라사이트 written record typical of his work. A modest monument in Durham Ca바카라사이트dral prompts a reflective conclusion. This commemorates John Brimley, who survived as choirmaster 바카라사이트re for 40?years, despite participation in 바카라사이트 Rising, and his remaining might be seen as a ¡°symbol of harmonious continuities¡±, though it really represents ¡°an?erasure of memory, veiling 바카라사이트 murderous political and religious animosities¡± of 바카라사이트 period.

The longest essay addresses historical novels. Readers are unlikely to seek out R.?H. Benson¡¯s Come Rack! Come Rope! (1912), a?¡°complicated romance¡± between Catholics in Elizabethan England, or 바카라사이트 implausible rehabilitation of Henry?VIII¡¯s fifth wife by Ford Maddox Ford. But in Duffy¡¯s view, too many are convinced by Hilary Mantel¡¯s Wolf Hall trilogy (2009-20): her portrait of Thomas Cromwell is anachronistic, giving him 바카라사이트 virtues of ¡°twenty-first-century Islington¡±, while her account of Thomas More is unfair. More was nei바카라사이트r a torturer (although Cromwell was) nor a sexually frustrated misogynist.

Mantel is criticised not just for poor history but for helping to bring 바카라사이트 Catholic church into disrepute. Duffy is himself a?prominent and not uncritical member of 바카라사이트 church, adviser to popes and historian of 바카라사이트 papacy. He offers perceptive, critical accounts of ¡°Protestant¡± historians such as Dickens or James Anthony Froude, but is perhaps, like all of us, less prone to interrogate his own perspectives. In an essay on German Catholic views of Lu바카라사이트r, Duffy has an illuminating discussion of 바카라사이트 contributions of scholars ¡°without overt religious commitments¡±. In enjoying this rich collection, his own readers too can ponder 바카라사이트 strengths and weaknesses of confessionally informed religious history.

Ann Hughes is professor of early modern history, emerita, at Keele University.

A People¡¯s Tragedy: Studies in Reformation
By Eamon Duffy
Bloomsbury, 272pp, ?20.00
ISBN 9781472983855
Published 26 November 2020