The Stripping of the Altars: Traditional Religion in England, c. 1400-c. 1580. By Eamon Duffy. (New Haven: Yale University Press. 1993. Pp.xii, 654. $45.00 cloth; $18.00 paperback.) Historians have always questioned traditional beliefs and interpretations about the past. Some off new insights or emphasize neglected aspects of the human story, and others, iconoclastic in approach, radically reshape one's understanding of events. Very seldom, however, do the findings of revisionist historians touch a nerve outside the academic profession. Eamon Duffy's recent book on the English Reformation, however, proves to be an exception. has created a stir within English ecclesiastical circles and has forced some to re-examine the causes, motives, and events associated with the separation from Rome during the sixteenth century. The Tablet, a Roman Catholic publication, recently noted that the preface to the 1995 edition of the 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 the pre-Reformation Catholic Church was not as corrupt as some historians have believed, and he also casts doubt on the 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, the preface pointed out, Eamon Duffy's book has important ramifications in the area of ecumenism. The Stripping of the Altars, despite its length, will appeal to both the professional historian and to anyone interested in English ecclesiastical history. After an informative introduction, Duffy, a fellow of Magdalene College, Cambridge, divides this important contribution to sixteenth-century England into two parts. In the first he skillfully sketches the structures of traditional religion, especially the beliefs and practices of the laity in the parishes of East Anglia, up to 1536. It is the contention of the first part of the book that late medieval Catholicism exerted an enormously strong, diverse, and vigorous hold over the imagination and the loyalty of the people up to the very moment of the Reformation (p. 4) The second part details the reforming and disruptive policies of Henry VIII, Edward VI, and Elizabeth I. The break with Rome represented a violent rupture, and occasioned some opposition to the policy of the Reformers. Moreover, Mary's brief reign and the restoration of Catholicism met with success. This view of the English Reformation, consequently, contradicts those historians who portray the Roman Church as corrupt and believe that the dismantling of the traditional religion was supported by the laity. The liturgy of pre-Reformation England played an important part in the lives of the laity; it provided a meaning and purpose for their existence. Duffy describes the importance of the liturgical calendar, emphasizing certain feast days and Holy Week devotions, and he concludes that the liturgical cycle paralleled the rhythms of life. Moreover, literacy and the impact of the printing press, the importance of the Mass, the idea of corporate Christianity, the cult of the saints, prayers, the relation of religion and magic, and popular beliefs concerning death and purgatory all contributed to the connection between religion and the concerns of the laity. …
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Feb 1, 2010
Tom Muir 
Open Access