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A review by shaunnow38
The Stripping of the Altars: Traditional Religion in England, 1400-1580 by Eamon Duffy
3.0
I will admit that I had to heavily skim this one to get through it in a timely manner, but I feel that Duffy puts his argument out enough times in prominent places that I have understood much of what the book is trying to say.
Duffy's book is a elegiac piece of historical writing that attempts to recapture the spirit and historical fact of "traditional religion" in England. The traditional religion here is to me a bit misleading, as it asserts a primacy of Christian religion in the isles, even as paganistic religions existed as a more "traditional" form. Mainly, the traditional religion to which Duffy refers is Catholicism before and during the Reformation, with some digressions as to the strict definitions of Catholic belief. He is attempting to reconstruct a world of mystery and tradition that many writers of religious history miss in late medieval/Reformation England. Often, as Duffy asserts, historians see the time before the Reformation as a weakening of the Catholic hold on English lay people. In addition, it was widely believed that religion was not practiced in the same way by lay aristocratic people as it was by lay peasants and merchant class people. Duffy dismantles these commonly held gems of academic knowledge and demonstrates effectively that late medieval Catholic religion was in fact practiced by all in the community and served an important performative, social, and personal role in the lives of people.
Duffy takes a deep dive into the individual practices of Catholic England, and demonstrates effectively, if often tediously, the pervasiveness of religion in the lives of everyday people. Duffy tackles religious primers, offerings, death rites and wills, and all sorts of other religious images to illustrate how all-encompassing the religious experience of the late medieval world was. Often I feel Duffy is simply pushing a counter-narrative rather than fully interrogating the other historians he is disputing. Often Duffy will toss aside an assertion by saying "It should not be overestimated". The views he presents are somewhat totalizing, and often leads to a strong sense of historical bias. The book is certainly important and Duffy presents his case compellingly, but the writing is less balanced than I would like.
The book does eventually turn to the "stripping of the altars" of the Reformation. The book then shows how much (sometimes it was not much as all) resistance to these changes by Henry VIII and his court actually occurred. Often, Duffy points out, people were unwilling to give up the religion they had cherished for their whole lives, and were eager to restore their traditional practices once Mary came to to power. The march towards a Protestant England is restored in the end by Queen Elizabeth, and Duffy takes this as a moment to write poignantly about what has been lost. This shows his hand a bit, and reveals he might be writing from a less than historically neutral place, but overall I felt his interpretation of much of the evidence was largely objective. Some of the analysis slanted towards a highly pro-Catholic rhetoric, but otherwise the book presents a comprehensive understanding of Pre-Reformation England.
The book is comprehensive and oftentimes very difficult to read through because of this. Duffy has a plurality of examples for each phenomena he describes, and writes thoroughly through each piece of evidence. He necessarily uses a wide range of textual and artistic sources to prove his point, and because of this gives a varied and textured account of the history. However, as a nonspecialist, I found the thoroughness often very difficult to engage with. Overall, the book was informative, and presents a strongly differing opinion than my own about the religious practices of the period. It has informed a newish perspective because of this, but overall the book was just fine for me.
Duffy's book is a elegiac piece of historical writing that attempts to recapture the spirit and historical fact of "traditional religion" in England. The traditional religion here is to me a bit misleading, as it asserts a primacy of Christian religion in the isles, even as paganistic religions existed as a more "traditional" form. Mainly, the traditional religion to which Duffy refers is Catholicism before and during the Reformation, with some digressions as to the strict definitions of Catholic belief. He is attempting to reconstruct a world of mystery and tradition that many writers of religious history miss in late medieval/Reformation England. Often, as Duffy asserts, historians see the time before the Reformation as a weakening of the Catholic hold on English lay people. In addition, it was widely believed that religion was not practiced in the same way by lay aristocratic people as it was by lay peasants and merchant class people. Duffy dismantles these commonly held gems of academic knowledge and demonstrates effectively that late medieval Catholic religion was in fact practiced by all in the community and served an important performative, social, and personal role in the lives of people.
Duffy takes a deep dive into the individual practices of Catholic England, and demonstrates effectively, if often tediously, the pervasiveness of religion in the lives of everyday people. Duffy tackles religious primers, offerings, death rites and wills, and all sorts of other religious images to illustrate how all-encompassing the religious experience of the late medieval world was. Often I feel Duffy is simply pushing a counter-narrative rather than fully interrogating the other historians he is disputing. Often Duffy will toss aside an assertion by saying "It should not be overestimated". The views he presents are somewhat totalizing, and often leads to a strong sense of historical bias. The book is certainly important and Duffy presents his case compellingly, but the writing is less balanced than I would like.
The book does eventually turn to the "stripping of the altars" of the Reformation. The book then shows how much (sometimes it was not much as all) resistance to these changes by Henry VIII and his court actually occurred. Often, Duffy points out, people were unwilling to give up the religion they had cherished for their whole lives, and were eager to restore their traditional practices once Mary came to to power. The march towards a Protestant England is restored in the end by Queen Elizabeth, and Duffy takes this as a moment to write poignantly about what has been lost. This shows his hand a bit, and reveals he might be writing from a less than historically neutral place, but overall I felt his interpretation of much of the evidence was largely objective. Some of the analysis slanted towards a highly pro-Catholic rhetoric, but otherwise the book presents a comprehensive understanding of Pre-Reformation England.
The book is comprehensive and oftentimes very difficult to read through because of this. Duffy has a plurality of examples for each phenomena he describes, and writes thoroughly through each piece of evidence. He necessarily uses a wide range of textual and artistic sources to prove his point, and because of this gives a varied and textured account of the history. However, as a nonspecialist, I found the thoroughness often very difficult to engage with. Overall, the book was informative, and presents a strongly differing opinion than my own about the religious practices of the period. It has informed a newish perspective because of this, but overall the book was just fine for me.