Book contents
- Memory and the Dissolution of the Monasteries in Early Modern England
- Cambridge Studies in Early Modern British History
- Memory and the Dissolution of the Monasteries in Early Modern England
- Copyright page
- Dedication
- Contents
- Figures
- Acknowledgements
- Note on the Text
- Abbreviations
- Introduction
- Chapter 1 ‘No News but the Abbeys Shall Be Down’
- Chapter 2 ‘Worthy of Lasting Memory’
- Chapter 3 ‘Raised Out of the Ruins’
- Chapter 4 ‘Many Pretty Odd Tales’
- Conclusion
- Bibliography
- Index
Chapter 2 - ‘Worthy of Lasting Memory’
The Dissolution in the Early Modern Historical Imagination
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 08 October 2021
- Memory and the Dissolution of the Monasteries in Early Modern England
- Cambridge Studies in Early Modern British History
- Memory and the Dissolution of the Monasteries in Early Modern England
- Copyright page
- Dedication
- Contents
- Figures
- Acknowledgements
- Note on the Text
- Abbreviations
- Introduction
- Chapter 1 ‘No News but the Abbeys Shall Be Down’
- Chapter 2 ‘Worthy of Lasting Memory’
- Chapter 3 ‘Raised Out of the Ruins’
- Chapter 4 ‘Many Pretty Odd Tales’
- Conclusion
- Bibliography
- Index
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.
Keywords
- Type
- Chapter
- Information
- Publisher: Cambridge University PressPrint publication year: 2021