Church and State in Early Modern England, 1509-1640

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Oxford University Press, Apr 19, 1990 - History - 288 pages
The relationship between church and state, indeed between religion and politics, has been one of the most significant themes in early modern English history. While scores of specialized studies have greatly advanced scholars' understanding of particular aspects of this period, there is no general overview that takes into account current scholarship. This volume discharges that task. Solt seeks to provide the main contours of church-state connections in England from 1509 to 1640 through a selective narration of events interspersed with interpretive summaries. Since World War II, social and economic explanations have dominated the interpretation of events in Tudor and early Stuart England. While these explanations continue to be influential, religious and political explanations have once again come to the fore. Drawing extensively from both primary and secondary sources, Solt provides a scholarly synthesis that combines the findings of earlier research with the more recent emphasis on the impact of religion on political events and vice versa.

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Contents

1 The Henrician Schism
3
2 The Anglican Reformation
44
3 The Elizabethan Challenges
81
4 The Jacobean Consolidation
123
5 The Laudian CounterReformation
164
Conclusion
206
Notes
213
Bibliography
239
Index
263
Copyright

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Page 53 - THE body of our Lord Jesus Christ, which was given for thee, preserve thy body and soul unto everlasting life ! Take and eat this in remembrance that Christ died for thee ; and feed on him in thy heart by faith with thanksgiving.
Page 60 - Be of good comfort, master Ridley, and play the man. We shall this day light such a candle, by God's grace, in England, as I trust shall never be put out.
Page 78 - Sacraments, the which thing the Injunctions also lately set forth by Elizabeth our Queen do most plainly testify; but that only prerogative, which we see to have been given always to all godly Princes in holy Scriptures by God himself...
Page 108 - But contrariwise her Majesty, not liking to make windows into men's hearts and secret thoughts except the abundance of them did overflow into overt and express acts or affirmations, tempered her law so as it restraineth only manifest disobedience, in impugning and impeaching advisedly and maliciously her Majesty's supreme power, and maintaining and extolling a foreign jurisdiction.
Page 15 - Well, well, Master Kingston," quoth he, " I see the matter against me how it is framed ; but if I had served God as diligently as I have done the king, he would not have given me over in my grey hairs.
Page 118 - We hold, that seeing there is not any man of the Church of England but the same man is also a member of the Commonwealth, nor any member of the Commonwealth which is not also of the Church of England...
Page 146 - That the magistrate is not by virtue of his office to meddle with religion, or matters of conscience, to force and compel men to this or that form of religion or doctrine ; but to leave Christian religion free, to every man's conscience, and to handle only civil transgressions (Rom.
Page 92 - It must be remembered," he says, in another place, " that civil magistrates must govern the church according to the rules of God prescribed in his word, and that as they are nurses, so they be servants unto the church ; and as they rule in the church, so they must remember to submit...
Page 72 - There's a great deal of difference between head of the church, and supreme governor, as our canons call the king. Conceive it thus: there is in the kingdom of England a College of Physicians ; the king is supreme governor of those, but not head of them, nor president of the college, nor the best physician.
Page 87 - ... which only concern the confession of the true Christian faith and the doctrine of the sacraments...

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