The Stripping of the Altars: Traditional Religion in England, 1400-1580

by Eamon Duffy

Overview

This prize-winning account of the pre-Reformation church recreates lay people’s experience of religion, showing that late-medieval Catholicism was neither decadent nor decayed, but a strong and vigorous tradition. For this edition, Duffy has written a new introduction reflecting on recent developments in our understanding of the period.

“A mighty and momentous book: a book to be read and re-read, pondered and revered; a subtle, profound book written with passion and eloquence, and with masterly control.”—J. J. Scarisbrick, The Tablet

“Revisionist history at its most imaginative and exciting. . . . [An] astonishing and magnificent piece of work.”—Edward T. Oakes, Commonweal

“A magnificent scholarly achievement, a compelling read, and not a page too long to defend a thesis which will provoke passionate debate.”—Patricia Morison, Financial Times

“Deeply imaginative, movingly written, and splendidly illustrated.”—Maurice Keen, New York Review of Books

Winner of the Longman-History Today Book of the Year Award

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780300254419
Publisher:	Yale University Press
Publication date:	07/12/2022
Edition description:	New Edition
Pages:	720
Product dimensions:	5.30(w) x 8.40(h) x 2.10(d)

About the Author

Eamon Duffy is a Fellow of Magdalene College, Cambridge, and the author of The Voices of Morebath,Fires of Faith,Marking the Hours,Saints and Sinners, and Ten Popes Who Shook the World.

Table of Contents

Acknowledgements xi

Preface to the New Edition xiii

Preface to the Second Edition xxxv

Introduction 1

Part I The Structures of Traditional Religion 9

A Liturgy, Learning and the Laity 9

1 Seasons and Signs: the Liturgical Year 11

The Ceremonies of Holy Week 22

Sacred Place, Sacred Time 37

"Sacred" and "Secular" Time? 46

2 How the Plowman learned his Paternoster 53

Priests, People and Catechesis 53

The Impact of Catechesis: Imagery and Dramatic Evidence 63

The Impact of Literacy: Lay Didactic and Devotional Collections 68

The Coming of Print 77

B Encountering the Holy 89

3 The Mass 91

Seeing the Host 95

Seeing and Believing 102

"Dredd" into "Sweetness" 107

Spectators or Participants? Lay Religion and the Mass 109

Praying the Mass: the Individual's Experience 117

Praying the Mass: Privatization? 121

Praying the Mass: the Parochial Experience 123

Making the Peace 126

4 Corporate Christians 131

Gild and Parish 141

5 The Saints 155

The Saints in their Images 155

"The debt of interchanging neighbourhood" 160

Old and New Allegiances 164

Holiness and Help 169

Coins, Candles and Contracts 183

Gift, Grace and Fellow-feeling 186

Pilgrimage 190

St Walstan of Bawburgh 200

C Prayers and Spells 207

6 "Lewed and Learned": the Laity and the Primers 209

The Primer and Lay Prayer 210

7 The Devotions of the Primers 233

Devotions to the Passion 234

The Mass of St Gregory and the Wounds of Jesus 238

The Seven Words on the Cross 248

Devotions to the Virgin 256

8 Charms, Pardons and Promises: Lay Piety and "Superstition" in the Primers 266

Pardons and Promises 287

D Now, and at the Hour of Our Death 299

9 Last Things 301

The Image of Death 303

The Hour of Death 310

Ars Moriendi 313

Death and Memory 327

10 The Pains of Purgatory 338

Purgatory: Ante-room of Heaven or Outpost of Hell? 343

Christendome and Kindred 348

Ways of Deliverance: Shortening the Paints of Purgatory 354

The Works of Mercy 357

The Rejection of Penny Doles 362

Bridges and Highways 367

Prayers and Supplications 368

Part II The Stripping of the Altars, 1530-1580 377

11 The Attack on Traditional Religion I: From the Break with Rome to the Act of Six Articles 379

12 The Attack on Traditional Religion II: To the death of Henry VIII 424

13 The Attack on Traditional Religion III: The Reign of Edward VI 448

14 The Impact of Reform: Parishes 478

15 The Impact of Reform: Wills 504

16 Mary 524

Religious Priorities in Marian England 527

The Marian Primers 537

The Programme in the Parishes 543

The Visitation of Kent, 1557 555

17 Elizabeth 565

Abbreviations 594

Bibliography 595

List of Illustrations and Credits 626

Index 633

Editorial Reviews

"A magnificent scholarly achievement, a compelling read, and not a page too long to defend a thesis which will provoke passionate debate."—Patricia Morison, Financial Times

"Deeply imaginative, movingly written, and splendidly illustrated."—Maurice Keen, New York Review of Books

"Duffy wants to show the vitality and appeal of late medieval Catholicism; and to prove that it exerted a diverse and vigorous hold over the imagination and loyalty of the people up to the very moment of Reformation. He suceeds triumphantly."—Susan Brigden, London Review of Books

"[This book] at last gives the culture of the late Middle Ages in England its due, and helps us to see the period as it was and not as Protestant reformers and their intellectual descendants imagined it to be. . . . A monumental and deeply felt work."—Gabriel Josipovici, Times Literary Supplement

"Sensitively written and beautifully produced, this book represents a major contribution to the Reformation debate."—Norman Tanner, The Times, London

"A mighty and momentous book: a book to be read and re-read, pondered and revered; a subtle, profound book written with passion and eloquence, and with masterly control."—J. J. Scarisbrick, The Tablet

"This book will afford enjoyment and enlightenment to layman and specialist alike. Duffy sweeps the reader along through its six hundred pages by a style which eschews both jargon and pedantry, by his lively and absorbing detail, his piercing insights, patient analysis, and his vigor in debate."—Peter Heath, Times Literary Supplement

"With the publication of this book, a kind of map or illustrated atlas of late medieval English Christianity, English Reformation studies will never be the same again."—Patrick Collinson, Times Higher Education Supplement

"Revisionist history at its most imaginative and exciting. . . . [An] astonishing and magnificent piece of work."—Edward T. Oakes, Commonweal

"A valuable source of information supported with excellent illustrations and bibliography."—Choice

"Duffy's book is in every sense a substantial achievement. It is lengthy, carefully argued and researched, and illustrated with photographs of direct relevance to the argument. The tone is vigorous and alert, with occasional lyrical passages, and the author writes with clear sympathy and imaginative understanding about the disappearing world of medieval Catholicism. The book will mark a turning point in how several aspects of the English Reformation are considered by historians and the educated public. It will . . . contribute to an eventual shift in popular opinion and attitudes concerning the Reformation."—Robert Ombres, Moreana

"This is a remarkable and significant work of historical 'revision', which cannot be dismissed as a product of nostalgic longing for a Catholic past."—Anne Murphy SHCJ, John Pridmore, The Way

"A provocative new account of traditional religion in England between 1400 and 1580."—East Anglian Daily Times

"The importance of this book is that it affords opportunity to look broadly and comprehensively at the religious life of women and men before and after the separation from the Roman obedience and so take the measure of that life that in the continuum of English church history it can be noted and honored."—David Siegenthaler, Anglican Theological Review

"A landmark book in the history of the Reformation."—Ann Eljenholm Nichols, Sixteenth Century Journal

"Anyone who has an interest in the history of Catholicism in England in the 15th and 16th centuries will find this a rewarding and absorbing study. . . . The reader is treated to a detailed highly readable work which puts forward a thesis to challenge the often quoted view that the Catholic Church was in such a state of decay and unpopularity that the Reformation was almost inevitable. . . . The book is extremely well written and argued."—Bernard Bickers, The Universe

"A moving elegy for the pre-Reformation Church, full of evocative detail."—Thomas Cocke, Churchscape

"This is a quite remarkable, indeed brilliant, study, which puts flesh on the bones of the so-called 'revisionist' interpretation of the English Reformation. . . . This is essential reading for all those who wish to understand late medieval religion and the means by which it was undermined against the wishes of the vast majority of its practitioners."—Christopher Harper-Bill, Theology

"This is a monumental work. . . Duffy writes elegantly, handling complex and controversial subject matter in a way at once sober and factual. . . . A powerful book, superbly constructed and written, timely and often moving. It should be read by every historian of the medieval and early modern periods, by every Catholic, indeed by every Christian with a serious interest in the history of Christendom."—Evelyn Birge Vitz, Theological Studies

"This magnificently produced volume must rank as one of the most important landmarks in the study of late medieval English religion to have hitherto appeared, and it is unlikely to be superseded for quite some time. . . . The sheer scale of Duffy's achievement, the enormous value of the information he provides and the vigour and elegance with which he presents it, make his book, in every sense, a must."—Robert Peters, History Review

"This book is patently both a monument of scholarship and a labour of love. . . . A marvellously human book which has, in turn, the ability to restore life to the human beings whom it considers. One decisive historiographical shift of the past decade has been to take religion seriously again, in its own right, as a motivating force. Nobody has entered into that work with more empathy, and more affection, than Eamon Duffy."—Ronald Hutton, Journal of Theological Studies

"Scholars wishing to examine the causes of and the reasons for the success of the English Reformation will have to grapple with Duffy's comprehensive, sympathetic, and convincing portrayal of 'traditional religion'."—Joel Berlatsky, Albion

"Duffy [marshals] an impressive array of the latest local research . . . [and] demands of this body of information an interpretation which is sensible and balanced. . . . Duffy has produced a masterpiece of historical investigation and evaluation and this book must be read by any serious student of the English Reformation."—John Vidmar, o.p., The Thomist

"A work of massive learning. . . . bound to provoke debate."—A.K. McHardy, History

"A godsend for teachers: a goldmine of examples and illumination."—Diarmaid MacCulloch, Teaching History

From the Publisher

Duffy's 1992 chronicle of religions in 15th- and 16th-century England snagged the Longman-History of Today Book of the Year Award and kudos from reviewers. This heavily illustrated edition includes a lengthy new intro by Duffy, who also updates the text. Copyright 2005 Reed Business Information.

Library Journal

It has had huge influence in departments of literature and religious studies, as well as those of history. At the same time, it has reached a broad general public interested in the Roman Catholic inheritance in Britain. Its successes came not only from Duffy’s scholarship and style, but also from Yale’s nurturing, marketing and production values, and from the responses in such places as the TLS.”—Jonathan Bate, Times Literary Supplement

TLS - Jonathan Bate