9781526112880 (eBook)

9780719034657 (hardback)

9780719034640 (hardback)

0719034647

9780719090776 (paperback)

In English; translated from the Latin.

Description based on print record and e-Publication PDF, viewed on February 23, 2017.

Aims to assess the spiritual state of England under Catholicism, before the onslaught of the Reformation. It covers the Latin and the Wycliffite bibles, the way Catholicism was disseminated, the mass, parish celebrations, pilgrimage, indulgences, security for the dead and more.

The Reformation, which began under Henry VIII, transformed English religion. For many the spirituality of the preceding period remains largely unknown, or overburdened with Protestant mythology of decadence. This book seeks to explore the nature of religious belief and practice in pre-Reformation England, using original source material to make the debates accessible.The book begins with an analytical chapter discussing the varieties of spirituality in later medieval England and the ways in which they received expression, through participation in church services, actions like pilgrimages, charitable foundations, devotional reading and instruction. Opposition to prevailing spirituality, expressed through 'Lollardy', is also considered. The sources demonstrate with immediacy and potency these diverse expressions of faith and observance. Many of the documents are translated for the first time from unpublished manuscript material. This study demonstrates the vitality of the pre-Reformation religious practices, but also addresses the key methodological questions which arise from the sources about the nature of the material, its reliability as historical evidence, and the validity of external actions as testimony to intellectual and emotional experience.The book will be welcomed by students and teachers of late medieval history as well as Reformation Studies. It will also interest general readers concerned with the background to the English Reformation.

Also available in print form.

Print version: Swanson, R. N. Catholic England: faith, religion and observance before the Reformation, Manchester, UK. : Manchester University Press, 1993,

Manchester medieval sources series

Foreword

Preface

Addenda and corrigenda

Introduction: in search of pre-Reformation English spirituality

Part one: Theory

I: The Bible

II: Disseminating the faith

III: The mass

IV: Designs for living and dying

Part two: Practice

V. Parish celebrations

VI: Private religion

VII. Saints, shrines, miracles and pilgrimage

VIII: Security for the living

IX: Security for the dead

X: Distributions at death: wills

XI: Complaint and opposition

Bibliography

Index.

Catholic Church > England > History.

England > Church history > 1066-1485.

Manchester University Press, Publisher.