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Book SynopsisAn account of how, in certain parts of sixteenth-century England, challenges to conventional piety anticipated the Reformation. Here is a richly detailed account of the relationship between Lollard heresy and orthodox religion before the English Reformation. Robert Lutton examines the pious practices and dispositions of families and individuals in relationto the orthodox institutions of parish, chapel and guild, and the beliefs and activities of Wycliffite heretics. He takes issue with portrayals of orthodox religion as buoyant and harmonious, and demonstrates that late medieval piety was increasingly diverse and the parish community far from stable or unified. By investigating the generation of family wealth and changing attitudes to its disposal through inheritance and pious giving in the important Lollard centre of Tenterden in Kent, he suggests that rapid economic development and social change created the conditions for a significant cultural shift. This study contends that in certain parts of England by the early sixteenth century piety was subject to dramatic changes which, in a number of important ways, anticipated the Reformation. Dr ROBERT LUTTON teaches in the Department of History at the University of Nottingham.Trade Review[An] impressive book.backed with a wealth of meticulously analyzed evidence, that it brings to bear as it engages key debates in the field. * SPECULUM *A thoughtful and convincing account that provides a more realistic picture than the happy and uniform Catholicism of recent revisionist writing. * HISTORY *A lucid, bold and rich prosographical study. * SOUTHERN HISTORY *[An] intelligent book.well written and thoughtful. * THE RICARDIAN, XVIII, 2008 *

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Book SynopsisThis book challenges the recently established consensus that the trial was a carefully prepared and executed judicial process in which the judges were amenable to reasonable arguments. Thomas More's treason trial in 1535 is one of history's most famous court cases, yet never before have all the major documents been collected, translated, and analyzed by a team of legal and Tudor scholars. This edition serves asan important sourcebook and concludes with a 'docudrama' reconstructing the course of the trial based on these documents. Legal experts H. A. Kelly and R. H. Helmholz take different approaches to the legalities of this trial, and four experienced judges [including Justice of the Queen's Bench Sir Michael Tugendhat] discuss the trial with some disagreements - notably on the meaning and requirement of 'malice' called for in the Parliamentary Act of Supremacy. More's own accounts of his interrogations in prison are analyzed, and the trial's procedures are compared to and contrasted with 16th-century concepts of natural law and also modern judicial practices and principles. The book is a 'must read' not only for students of law and Tudor history but also for all concerned with justice and due process. As a whole, the book challenges Duncan Derrett's conclusions that the trial was conducted in accord with contemporary legal norms and that More was convicted only on the single charge of denying Parliament the power to declare Henry VIII Supreme Head of the English Church [testified to by Richard Rich] - a position that has been uniformly accepted by historians since 1964. Henry Ansgar Kelly, Distinguished Research Professor, is past Director of the Center for Medieval and Renaissance Studies, UCLA. LOUIS W. KARLIN is an attorney with the California Department of Justice and Fellow of the Center for Thomas More Studies, University of Dallas. GERARD B. WEGEMER is Director of the Center for Thomas More Studies and Professor of Literature at the University ofDallas.Trade ReviewA valuable reference tool-all the more so as it includes twenty major documents, many otherwise not easily available and all translated into English, and a comprehensive bibliography.. [E]ssential reading for anyone interested in Thomas More's trial about which much remains controversial. * CERCLES *[A] clever and innovative volume. ... The essays are meticulously researched and legal jargon never gets in the way of historical understanding. Anyone interested in the particulars of one of the most renowned trials in history will find this book indispensable. * ANNUAL BULLETIN OF HISTORICAL LITERATURE *

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Book SynopsisThe Open Churches Trust, founded by Andrew Lloyd Webber, has endorsed the reissue of this unique children's guide to church buildings. It aims to be a fun introduction to its subject, with cartoons, diagrams and fact boxes throughout.

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