Cardinal Wolsey, who fathered an illegitimate son, was very much the exception. Yet the adoption of Protestantism had been, by the standards of the turmoil that had gripped much of Europe in this period, remarkably smooth.
The contributions in this book identify and, in different and sometimes contradictory ways, attempt to resolve these and other questions. But William Warham didn't. Catholicism addressed many important needs and enjoyed general popular support. But time was too short to put down roots.
But for all the work carried out in his name, Henry was never a Protestant. If England became a Protestant country, it is argued, it did so largely at the behest of its rulers and against its better judgement.
That legacy still lingers, and the abiding sense of anti-Catholicism remained potent enough to be a cause of the Civil War a century later. Although the changes of Mary's reign were now reversed once more, Elizabeth and her councillors were under no illusions that many of her subjects remained obstinately attached to the old ways.
Nailing his 95 Theses to a church door in Wittenberg, Germany, he prompted massive theological debate and was condemned as a heretic and an outlaw.
The universities, in fact, would play a significant role in the early campaigns against Luther. A remarkably smooth transition