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A Confusion of Tongues: Britain's Wars of Reformation, 1625-1642
| Content Provider | Semantic Scholar |
|---|---|
| Author | Moots, Glenn A. |
| Copyright Year | 2013 |
| Abstract | A Confusion of Tongues: Britain's Wars of Reformation, 1625-1642. By Charles W. A. Prior. (New York: Oxford University Press, 2012, Pp. viii, 257. $125.00); Baal's Priests: The Loyalist Clergy and the Engfish Revolution. By Fiona McCall. (Farnham, Surrey, England: Ashgate Publishing Limited, 2013, Pp. xvi, 336. $134.95); England's Wars of Religion, Revisited. Edited by Charles W. A. Prior and Glenn Burgess. (Famham, Surrey, England: Ashgate Publishing Limited, 2011, Pp. xiv, 335. $124.95.)In a 1983 presentation to the Royal Historical Society, John Morrill asserted that the English Civil War was not the first European revolution but rather "the last of the Wars of Religion." Thirty years later, the Marxist and Whig historiography that Morrill challenged has faded, but his remark continues to motivate attention to the role of religion not only in the English Civil War but also the larger context of the "Wars of the Three Kingdoms." These three recent studies provide essential resources for understanding the period between 1625 and 1651 and demonstrate the importance of religion not only as point of contention in itself but also as catalyst and conduit for a diversity of arguments from both law and history. Readers of this journal should take special interest in Alan Comartie's study of Archbishop William Laud's sacramental theology within the Prior and Burgess edited collection and McCall's social history, particularly the lives of ejected English clergy.Just how revolutionary was the English Revolution? While Fiona demonstrates the radical effects of the revolution on the life of the English Church and its clergy, Prior and Burgess and Prior demonstrate how polemicists on both sides of the constitutional questions employed conservative rhetoric. Liberty was asserted alongside traditional notions of sovereignty, the rule of law, and the maintenance of sound doctrine. Contesting parties, both conformists and dissenters, disagreed on exactly who had power to make changes within the church. Opponents of the Caroline divines in England charged that the bishops had asserted authority they did not possess and usurped power that was the king's alone, or at least king-in-parliament. Royal rights were cast as synonymous with the liberties of the people-hardly the stuff of modernity or monarchomachs. Though constitutional balance arguably was restored, the English Church began a decline from which it would not recover.From Prior and Burgess and Prior, it becomes clear that polemicists on both sides denied overthrowing the religious legacy of Edward and Elizabeth and argued that they alone were preserving legal traditions, whether from recent history or from time out of memory. Innovation was a frequent charge, equivalent to calling one a rebel or lawbreaker, and was used by both sides. The common defense against such a charge was to assert faithfulness to custom and tradition or (in the case of those defending the bishops) freedom in matters considered adiaphora. Both conformists and dissenters claimed that the motives of the other essentially constituted "popery," meaning sacred authority had been separated from secular authority and even elevated above it. This violated the English rule of law and thereby tempted arbitrary government and the loss of liberty. By the time of Cromwell, such rhetoric had progressed to the point where common polemics firmly joined both religious and civil liberties as one and the same. … |
| Starting Page | 479 |
| Ending Page | 479 |
| Page Count | 1 |
| File Format | PDF HTM / HTML |
| DOI | 10.5860/choice.50-1088 |
| Volume Number | 82 |
| Alternate Webpage(s) | https://reviews.history.ac.uk/printpdf/review/1329 |
| Alternate Webpage(s) | https://doi.org/10.5860/choice.50-1088 |
| Language | English |
| Access Restriction | Open |
| Content Type | Text |
| Resource Type | Article |
