In Parish Clergy Wives in Elizabethan England, Anne Thompson shifts the emphasis from the institution of clerical marriage to the people and personalities involved. Women who have hitherto been defined by their supposed obscurity and unsuitability are shown to have anticipated and exhibited the character, virtues, and duties associated with the archetypal clergy wife of later centuries. Through adept use of an extensive and eclectic range of archival material, this book offers insights into the perception and lived experience of ministers’ wives. In challenging accepted views on the social status of clergy wives and their role and reception within the community, new light is thrown on a neglected but crucial aspect of religious, social, and women’s history.

Richard Baxter (1615–1691) was arguably the greatest English Puritan of the seventeenth century. He is well known for his ministerial manual "The Reformed Pastor", in which he expressed the unusual conviction that parish ministers were better off unmarried. And yet, Baxter seemed to contradict himself by marrying one of his parishioners, Margaret Charlton. Though Baxter claimed to be happily married, he continued to champion celibacy for the rest of his life. This book explores Baxter's argument for clerical celibacy by placing it in the context of his life and the turbulent events of seventeenth-century England. His viewpoint was shaped by several factors, including the Puritan literature he read, the context of his parish ministry, his burdensome model of soul care, and the formative life experiences shaping his theology and perspective. These factors not only explain why Baxter became the only Puritan to champion clerical celibacy but also why he continued to do so even after marrying.

The Social Life of the Early Modern Protestant Clergy provides unexpected new insights on the lives of the early modern English and Swedish clergy through case studies and broader surveys. Rosamund Oates demonstrates how the first generations of clergy wives in England used hospitality to support their husbands in the process of reform. Jacqueline Eales examines the shift from the sixteenth-century debate about the legality of clerical marriage to a positive portrayal of women from English clerical families in the years 1620–1720. William Gibson challenges the view that the eighteenth-century English episcopate were rapacious, arguing that they were often careful custodians of episcopal estates. Jonas Lindström analyses the account books of late eighteenth-century pastor Gustaf Berg to illustrate his economic ties with his parishioners, which ran alongside their religious and social relationships. Drawing on Swedish evidence, Beverly Tjerngren charts the decline of hospitality evident in the home of widowed pastor Adolph Adde in the late eighteenth century. Finally, Jon Stobart examines the aspirations to gentility of the late eighteenth- and nineteenth-century Northamptonshire clergy through their domestic material culture.

Now in its third edition, Reformation England 1480-1642 provides a clear and accessible narrative account of the English Reformation, explaining how historical interpretations of its major themes have changed and developed over the past few decades, where they currently stand, and where they seem likely to go. This new edition brings the text fully up-to-date with description and analysis of recent scholarship on the pre-Reformation Church, the religious policies of Henry VIII, Edward VI and Mary I, the impact of Elizabethan and Jacobean Puritanism, the character of English Catholicism, the pitfalls of studying popular religion, and the relationship between the Reformation and the outbreak of civil war in the seventeenth century. With a significant amount of fresh material, including maps, illustrations and a substantial new Afterword on the Reformation's legacies in English (and British) history, Reformation England 1480-1642 will continue to be an indispensable guide for students approaching the complexities and controversies of the English Reformation for the first time, as well as for anyone wishing to deepen their understanding of this fascinating and formative chapter in the history of England.

A compelling, authoritative history of how women shaped the Reformations and transformed religious life across the globe The Reformations, both Protestant and Catholic, have long been told as stories of men. But women were central to the transformations that took place in Europe and beyond. What was life like for them in this turbulent period? How did their actions and ideas shape Christianity and influence societies around the world? In this rich and definitive study, renowned scholar Merry Wiesner-Hanks explores the history of women and the Reformations in full for the first time. Wiesner-Hanks travels the globe, examining well-known figures like Teresa of Avila, Elizabeth I, and Anne Hutchinson, as well as women whose stories are only now emerging. Along the way, we meet converts in Japan, Spanish nuns in the Philippines, and saints in Ethiopia and America. Wiesner-Hanks explores women's experiences as monarchs, mothers, migrants, martyrs, mystics, and missionaries, revealing that the story of the Reformations is no longer simply European--and that women played a vital role.

Generations injects fresh energy into tired debates about England's plural and protracted Reformations by adopting the fertile concept of generation as its analytical framework. It demonstrates that the tumultuous religious developments that stretched across the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries not merely transformed the generations that experienced them, but were also forged and created by them. The book investigates how age and ancestry were implicated in the theological and cultural upheavals of the era and how these, in turn, reconfigured the relationship between memory, history, and time. It explores the manifold ways in which the Reformations shaped the horizontal relationships that early modern people formed with their siblings, kin, and peers, as well as the vertical ones that tied them to their dead ancestors and their future heirs. Generations highlights the vital part that families bound by blood and by faith played in shaping these events, as well as in mediating our knowledge of the religious past and in the making of its archive. Drawing on a rich array of evidence, it provides poignant glimpses into how people navigated the profound challenges that the English Reformations posed in everyday life.

After Henry -- Visitation -- Services for the Living and Dead -- The Time of Schism -- Common Prayer -- 11 SLAYING ANTICHRIST -- 'Item, We will have . . .' -- 'The Perseverance of God's Word' -- Rochets and Strangers -- Mary's Mass -- The Kingdom of Christ -- Carnal Gospelling -- 12 THE TWO QUEENS -- Devices for the Succession -- God and the World Knoweth -- The Clucking Hen -- Rebellion -- Verbum Dei -- Zeal for God's Service -- Exiles and Nicodemites -- 13 TIME OF TRIAL -- Reconciliation -- Welcome the Cross of Christ -- Profitable and Necessary Doctrine -- The Hand in the Fire -- Legacies -- PART IV Unattainable Prizes -- 14 ALTERATION -- A Glass with a Small Neck -- Elevation and Coronation -- Parliamentary Problems -- Supremacy and Uniformity -- Alterations and Additions -- Old Bishops, New Bishops -- Visitation and Resistance -- 15 UNSETTLED ENGLAND -- Country Divinity -- Enormities in the Queen's Closet -- Queen Checks Bishops -- Plague and Retribution -- Mislikers of True Religion -- Rags of Rome -- The Religion Really Observed -- 16 ADMONITIONS -- The Queen of Scots -- Counter-Reformation in the North -- Aftermath -- Regnans and Ridolfi -- The Scrupulosity of Princes -- An Axe or an Act? -- Ambitious Spirits -- Grindal -- Prophesyings -- 17 WARS OF RELIGION -- A Shot Across the Bows -- Jesuits -- The Execution of Justice -- Country Divinity -- Without Tarrying for Any -- Bonds and Associations -- War -- Armada and Marprelate -- Strange Contrariety of Humours -- POSTSCRIPT -- ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS -- NOTES -- INDEX

Early Elizabethan England 1558-88 eBook is part of Oxford's brand new Edexcel GCSE History series. This digital textbook series provides the most up-to-date Edexcel exam practice and a tried-and-trusted accessible approach to help students get the best grades they are capable of, and enjoy their history lessons. This digital textbook is written as part of our commitment to the inclusive presentation of diverse histories, and developed by a team of practising teachers with Edexcel examining experience and led by Aaron Wilkes, head of history, PGCE History lead and trusted author. This depth study explores the social, economic, political and religious factors in Britain during Queen Elizabeth I's early reign. Exam-style Questions, Nail it! features and carefully Sources and Interpretations help students prepare for their Edexcel exam. Meanwhile, Later On and Earlier On features help students make connections across time periods. How to...Exam Practice pages provide step-by-step, accessible ways to practise essential history skills. Perfect for use alongside Kerboodle, which is packed full of auto-marked quizzes, exam practice, film clips of interviews with historians, and continuing exam support. We are working towards endorsement of this digital textbook from Edexcel.

Women, Religion and Education in Early Modern England is a study of the nature and extent of the education of women in the context of both Protestant and Catholic ideological debates. Examining the role of women both as recipients and agents of religious instruction, the author assesses the nature of power endowed in women through religious education, and the restraints and freedoms this brought.