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

ISBN: 0300108281

Author: Duffy, Eamon

Condition: New

This prize-winning account of the pre-Reformation church recreates lay peoples experience of religion in fifteenth-century England. Eamon Duffy shows that late medieval Catholicism was neither decadent nor decayed, but was a strong and vigorous tradition, and that the Reformation represented a violent rupture from a popular and theologically respectable religious system. For this edition, Duffy has written a new Preface reflecting on recent developments in our understanding of the period.From reviews of the first edition:A magnificent scholarly achievement [and] a compelling read.-Patricia Morrison, Financial TimesDeeply imaginative, movingly written, and splendidly illustrated. . . . Duffys analysis . . . carries conviction.-Maurice Keen, New York Review of BooksThis book will afford enjoyment and enlightenment to layman and specialist alike.-Peter Heath, Times Literary Supplement[An] astonishing and magnificent piece of work.-Edward T. Oakes, Commonweal