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Chapter 2 - ‘Worthy of Lasting Memory’

The Dissolution in the Early Modern Historical Imagination

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  08 October 2021

Harriet Lyon
Affiliation:
University of Cambridge
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Summary

Chapter 2 probes the temporal dimensions of the memory of the dissolution, which it traces across the period c. 1540–c. 1640 and in the context of the transition from personal to inherited memory. It explores the place of the suppression in both Protestant and Catholic historiography, and its role in what recent scholarship has identified as the reformation of English history. It uses evidence gleaned principally from chronologically organised sources such as histories and chronicles, including those by John Foxe, John Stow, Peter Heylyn, Nicholas Sander, and Gilbert Burnet, as well as lesser known authors. It examines how – far from the insignificant episode described in many modern studies – the dissolution was seen by many commentators as a critical, if not the critical, episode in the Protestant Reformation. It also interrogates the emerging tendency exhibited by Catholic and Protestant authors alike to judge Henry VIII’s reputation by the dissolution. In the context of English Protestantism, it is particularly striking that this tendency developed as perspectives on Henry’s reign became increasingly anxious and critical. At the heart of this chapter are questions of how and when the suppression came to be considered a rupture with the medieval past and a critical Reformation event.

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Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Print publication year: 2021

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  • ‘Worthy of Lasting Memory’
  • Harriet Lyon, University of Cambridge
  • Book: Memory and the Dissolution of the Monasteries in Early Modern England
  • Online publication: 08 October 2021
  • Chapter DOI: https://doi.org/10.1017/9781009029100.003
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  • ‘Worthy of Lasting Memory’
  • Harriet Lyon, University of Cambridge
  • Book: Memory and the Dissolution of the Monasteries in Early Modern England
  • Online publication: 08 October 2021
  • Chapter DOI: https://doi.org/10.1017/9781009029100.003
Available formats
×

Save book to Google Drive

To save content items to your account, please confirm that you agree to abide by our usage policies. If this is the first time you use this feature, you will be asked to authorise Cambridge Core to connect with your account. Find out more about saving content to Google Drive.

  • ‘Worthy of Lasting Memory’
  • Harriet Lyon, University of Cambridge
  • Book: Memory and the Dissolution of the Monasteries in Early Modern England
  • Online publication: 08 October 2021
  • Chapter DOI: https://doi.org/10.1017/9781009029100.003
Available formats
×