Renaissance and Reformation England, 1509-1714, Part 2

by Charles Montgomery Gray

New Softcover CRM

Genres: History

244 pages, Paperback

First published June 1, 1973

Reviews

[Todd · Rating 4 out of 5]

A reasonably good, concise history of a very complicated phase of England's history. The author is clearly quite familiar with the subject matter and his writing is fluid and (generally) easy to follow. The book covers the Tudor period from Henry VIII through the end of the Stuarts, focusing especially on the evolution of English Parliament and various strains of Protestantism. Missing from the work, however, is almost any mention of English Catholics after the time of Elizabeth. While Gray does cover James II's own Catholicism and desire to rehabilitate Catholicism in England, he makes absolutely no mention of the fate of everyday Catholics after the execution of Thomas More and contemporaries. Also missing from the work is much mention of the English colonies, both in and of themselves and in terms of their impact on England (as an escape valve for dissenters, as either an economic boon or cost, as an added source of international competition and conflict, etc.). Gray does a nice job not only covering the various Protestant movements, but also mentioning notable facts about their leaders and, of course, their impact on politics and society. He similarly does a fair job about English scientists and philosophers, though his coverage on this topic is less robust. While his writing is usually good, from time to time Gray gets carried away with run-on sentences loaded with academic language, requiring the reader to pause and reread to fully understand. He does include occasional pictures and maps that are value-added.

Gray's definition of modern political conservatism is interesting: "reverence for traditional forms, skepticism toward windy abstractions and perfectionist fantasies, a certain want of scruple when common sense and survival suggest that tired objects of reverence be jettisoned, a certain gift of hypocrisy for reversing oneself while pretending that nothing has changed." (p 183) Gray does not provide an equally pithy definition of liberals, perhaps reflecting his assumption that the reader already knows it, or perhaps reflecting Gray's own liberal viewpoint.

Overall, the work will provide a quick-and-dirty overview of England during this period and it does a lot to untangle some of England's more complicated political and religious history. However, it is far from comprehensive, even as an overview, and will leave the reader seeking more if he/she is interested in English history generally or this period specifically.