Piety and Politics in Britain, 14th–15th Centuries

The Essays of John A.F. Thomson

John A.F. Thomson, edited by Graeme Small

• Publisher: Routledge
• Year: 2023
• ISBN:
  9781000949155
• Edition: 1
• Topic: History
• Subtopic: European Medieval History
• Index: History

This volume explores a range of topics during a turbulent period in British history, with particular emphasis on political change and popular piety. On the eve of the Reformation, religious beliefs were shaped by a church which was falling under the growing control of the state, and by responses to England's one and only heretical movement, Lollardy. In political life, gradual disengagement from a cross-Channel political world was followed by civil war and the eventual rise of a strong Tudor monarchy. As this volume demonstrates in a number of ways, the impact of many of these macro changes was felt across the British Isles, not just in England. But the studies presented here frequently explore major change through the experience of the middling sort: the gentry active in local government, the English merchants and Scottish immigrants making important life choices in major cities, or the industrious clerics charged with the routine administration of the church. By looking at the case studies of these men in more detail, we begin to appreciate that even in this age of great change, there were profound continuities which carried through into the sixteenth century. Along the way, too, new light is thrown on the authorship, date and redaction of texts which continue to shape our understanding of late medieval British history.

Table of contents

• Cover
• Series Page
• Half Title
• Title Page
• Copyright Page
• Table of Contents
• Publisher’s Note
• A note of thanks
• Preface
• Acknowledgements
• 1. Popular Piety and Heresy in the British Isles
• 2. The Church and the British Isles in the Late Middle Ages
• 3. Lords and Laymen in Fifteenth Century England
• 4. Sources and Problems in Late Medieval English History
• Index