The Stripping of the Altars: Traditional Religion in England, c. 1400-c. 1580 by Eamon Duffy (review)

BOOK REVIEWS93 in chronological order rather than to respect the sequence in which the documents were enregistered in their various registers. It is hard to see what particular advantage there is to a chronological arrangement. Hardly any reader is likely to approach die Calendar with the desire to read aU the entries in chronological sequence. More typicaUy, one uses uiis type ofwork to trace some person in whose career one is interested or in pursuit of some specific subject; such investigations are not particularly assisted by arranging the material chronologicaUy. Whatever advantage may accrue from such a choice of arrangement, the cost ought not to have been the impossibUity for die reader of easily re-establishing the structure of the registers themselves and the relationship in which these documents stand to each other widiin die actual registers. Scholars with an interest in such matters wUl not be greatly aided by WUliman's work. Despite diese (slight) criticisms, WUliman's generous work should prove a precious addition to the wealth of calendars ofpapal registers that do so much to facUitate die study of the Avignon Papacy and, indeed, of die fourteenui century as a whole. GlULIO SlLANO St. Michael's College, Toronto TheStripping oftheAltars: TraditionalReligion inEngland, c 1400—c 1580. By Eamon Duffy. (New Haven: Yale University Press. 1993. Pp. xii, 654. Ï45.00 cloth; «18.00 paperback.) Historians have always questioned traditional beliefs and interpretations about the past. Some offer new insights or emphasize neglected aspects of the human story, and others, iconoclastic in approach, radicaUy reshape one's understanding of events. Very seldom, however, do the findings of revisionist historians touch a nerve outside die academic profession. Eamon Duffy's recent book on the English Reformation, however, proves to be an exception. It has created a stir within English ecclesiastical circles and has forced some to re-examine the causes, motives, and events associated with die separation from Rome during the sixteendi century. The Tablet, a Roman Cadiolic publication , recently noted that the preface to the 1995 edition of die Church of England Yearbook drew attention to revisionist historians, especially Eamon Duffy, who have questioned some Anglican views about the Reformation. In his recent book, Duffy argues that UTe pre-Reformation CathoUc Church was not as corrupt as some historians have believed, and he also casts doubt on die belief that the Reformers performed valuable services by reviving a moribund church. If this interpretation is correct and if Anglican history needs re-examination, then, die preface pointed out, Eamon Duffy's book has important ramifications in die area of ecumenism. The Stripping of the Altars, despite its length, wiU appeal to both the 94BOOK REVIEWS professional historian and to anyone interested in English ecclesiasticalhistory. After an informative introduction, Duffy, a fellow of Magdalene CoUege, Cambridge , divides this important contribution to sixteenth-century England into two parts. In the first, he skillfully sketches the structures oftraditional religion, especially the beliefs and practices of the laity in the parishes of East Anglia, up to 1 536. "It is the contention of the first part of die book that late medieval Cadiolicism exerted an enormously strong, diverse, and vigorous hold over die imagination and die loyalty of die people up to the very moment of the Reformation" (p. 4). The second part detaUs the reforming and disruptive policies of Henry VIII, Edward VI, and Elizabeth I. The break widi Rome represented a violent rupture, and occasioned some opposition to the policy of the Reformers. Moreover, Mary's brief reign and the restoration of Cadiolicism met with success. This view of die EngUsh Reformation, consequentiy , contradicts those historians who portray the Roman Church as corrupt and believe diat the dismantling of the traditional reUgion was supported by die laity. The liturgy of pre-Reformation England played an important part in the lives of the laity; it provided a meaning and purpose for dieir existence. Duffy describes die importance of the liturgical calendar, emphasizing certain feast days and Holy Week devotions, and he concludes that the liturgical cycle paraUeled die rhythms oflife. Moreover, literacy and die impact ofthe printing press, die importance of the Mass, die idea of "corporate Christianity," die cult of die...