London and the Reformation

Susan Brigden

• Publisher: Faber & Faber
• Year: 2014
• Topic: History
• eBook ISBN:
  9780571322619
• Subtopic: British History
• Index: History

London and the Reformation (1989) was the first book by Susan Brigden (later to win the prestigious Wolfson Prize for her Thomas Wyatt: The Heart's Forest). It tells of London's sixteenth-century transformation by a new faith that was both fervently evangelised and fiercely resisted, as a succession of governments and monarchs - Henry VIII, Edward VI, and Mary - vied for control. London's disproportionate size and wealth, its mix of social forces and high politics, and the strength of its religious sectors made the capital a key factor in the reception of the English Reformation. Brigden draws upon rich archival sources to examine how these religious dilemmas were confronted.

'A tour de force of historical narrative... which can be read with both pleasure and profit by scholars and non-scholars alike.' Times Literary Supplement

'Magisterial... richly detailed... teeming with the vivid street language of the sixteenth century.' London Review of Books

Table of contents

• Cover
• Landing Page
• Title Page
• Dedication
• Acknowledgements
• Contents
• List of Illustrations
• List of Tables
• Abbreviations
• Prologue
• I The Catholic Community
• II The Heretical Community
• III City and Church
• IV Clergy and Communalty, 1529–1533
• V The Political Reformation, 1534–1536
• VI The Reformation in Religion, 1534–1539
• VII The Act of Six Articles and its Victims
• VIII Politics and Persecution, 1540–1546
• IX The Old Faith and the New
• X The Religion of Edwardian London
• XI The Creation of the Commonwealth
• XII London and High Politics in the Reign of Edward VI
• XIII ‘Troy Untrue’ and the Rebellions of Queen Jane and Queen Mary
• XIV ‘Partly for Love, Partly for Fear, to Conformity’
• Epilogue
• Manuscript Sources
• Index
• Copyright