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A review by siria
The Stripping of the Altars: Traditional Religion in England, 1400-1580 by Eamon Duffy
4.0
One of those classics of late medieval/early modern history that it's assumed anyone in the field has read, and that I've thus long felt guilty for never having done so. In my defense it is a brick of a book, crammed full of evidence for the vitality of religious life on a personal and parochial life in an England on the verge of the Reformation.
Eamon Duffy marshalls a wide array of sources—wills, journals, liturgies, and more—to I think successfully make the case that, contra many centuries of historiography that was Protestant in its sympathies, Catholicism in late medieval England was far from moribund, at least at a grass-roots level. I would also agree with him that the shift of the general population's religious convictions, identities, and preferences took place over a span of generations and was not so abrupt as had often been assumed. As for Duffy's framing of the actions of the reformers overall actions and the chronological framework he employs, your feelings about it will probably be shaped by whether your allegiances lie with Rome (as Duffy's clearly do) or against.
Eamon Duffy marshalls a wide array of sources—wills, journals, liturgies, and more—to I think successfully make the case that, contra many centuries of historiography that was Protestant in its sympathies, Catholicism in late medieval England was far from moribund, at least at a grass-roots level. I would also agree with him that the shift of the general population's religious convictions, identities, and preferences took place over a span of generations and was not so abrupt as had often been assumed. As for Duffy's framing of the actions of the reformers overall actions and the chronological framework he employs, your feelings about it will probably be shaped by whether your allegiances lie with Rome (as Duffy's clearly do) or against.