Reformation Reputations is an edited collection of essays that investigates not only how individuals self-fashioned contemporary identities, but how our interpretation of that self-fashioning has been itself fashioned, packaged, and disseminated over time. In an age where our own heroes are scrutinized for inclusion in modern history books, and indeed, “at a time when even texts and manuscripts are deemed to have after-lives” (4), this book seeks to understand the genesis and afterlife of a person's reputation. It asks why certain individuals are chosen to be remembered, how their reputation is approached, and why. In doing so, it seeks to recover individuals lost to history and to nuance those reputations that have been flattened into a character trait or polemical caricature. In the Reformation period, this is an interdisciplinary act relevant to, and in need of, work from many fields.

In a lengthy introduction, Crankshaw and Gross explore the idea of reputation in the sixteenth century. They acknowledge that while individuals of this period may have been self-fashioned, many reputations are created over time “externally to the subject” (4). A list, though incomplete, of pre-Reformation heroic figures is set forth as kings, knights, saints, and Robin Hood, and each is shown to be targeted by humanist revisionism (5). This denunciation of traditional heroes, they argue, created a “psychological shock” (46) leading to a “crisis of trust” (47) in authoritative figures. Deep-seated religious and political agendas, then, became embedded in discussions of each individual's legacy. To illustrate these agendas, Crankshaw and Gross examine three modes of reputation construction: postmortem epitaphs, biographies designed to recapture a beloved figure, and modern films. Chapter 2 provides a compelling discussion of modern treatments of John Fisher and Thomas More, arguing that it has contributed to a complete eclipse of More over Fisher.

In chapter 6, focused on reclaiming Matthew Parker's oft neglected ecclesiastical legacy, Crankshaw points out Parker has been victim of “character assassination” (315) and “egregious bias” (317) by a partisan biographer. Such biases are not unique to the Reformation but are particularly visible here due to the deep polarization of politics and religion. Indeed, he claims earlier, there is “no such thing in the sixteenth century as a disinterested biography” (45). The periods that follow, he argues, are also “politically and religiously charged” (119) and collective contributions to an individual's reputation must be examined. Doing so, he hopes, will provide “interpretations in part clean of former critique,” and “acknowledg[e] the propagandists that have come before.” (119)

Although the book illuminates significant biases layered onto individuals over centuries, it avoids the possibility of pre-Reformation female heroes and female reputations. These are perhaps not easily found in epitaphs, life writing, or other written materials that are later examined. To limit pre-Reformation heroes to kings, knights, saints, and Robin Hood forgets all women, princesses, queens, and persons of more local renown. This begs the question, which the book itself asks: famous to whom? Little girls in their imaginary play, or women gossiping in guilds, presumably did not solely concern themselves with these masculine heroes. Chapter 4, however, explores seldom-researched Reformation bishops’ wives and their ability to “shape their own roles and immediate reputations” (224). Chapter 5 discusses the reputation of Anne Askew, concluding that print has rendered her “less forceful than she was in life” (279). These important contributions nicely balance the earlier gaps.

This volume is ecumenical in its approach and will be of interest to anyone studying figures of the Reformation. It is not, however, international. Only English reputations are discussed, although the methodology is widely applicable. Though its essays are not always unbiased themselves, the call to examine biases embedded in academic and popular tradition is timely and valuable. What emerges is the idea of a thickly layered reputation, each anthology or biography creating a new coating or treatment over the lives of real men and women. It is to slice into these cross-sections that this book demands. However, as one can perhaps never fully be “clean . . . of critique” (119) even in this endeavor, it is always, perhaps, important to recognize oneself as handling “flesh and blood human beings” (4): a reminder that is useful to far more than students of the Reformation.