Oaths and the English Reformation

An examination of the significance and function of oaths in the English Reformation.

Jonathan Michael Gray (Author)

9781316635575, Cambridge University Press

Paperback / softback, published 2 February 2017

286 pages
23 x 15.3 x 1.5 cm, 0.43 kg

'The central thesis of this carefully written and precisely annotated book is that the primary accomplishment of the English Reformation is to be found in the texts of the many and varied oaths that were forced upon English citizens by the Crown at that time as well as in the measure of the resistance with which they were met. To know what the Reformation in that country was about at that period we need not turn primarily to an assessment of the cult of images at various shrines or to popular treatises or to the composition of new prayers or devotional manuals.' J. Robert Wright, Anglican and Episcopal History

The practice of swearing oaths was at the centre of the English Reformation. On the one hand, oaths were the medium through which the Henrician regime implemented its ideology and secured loyalty among the people. On the other, they were the tool by which the English people embraced, resisted and manipulated royal policy. Jonathan Michael Gray argues that since the Reformation was negotiated through oaths, their precise significance and function are central to understanding it fully. Oaths and the English Reformation sheds new light on the motivation of Henry VIII, the enforcement of and resistance to reform and the extent of popular participation and negotiation in the political process. Placing oaths at the heart of the narrative, this book argues that the English Reformation was determined as much by its method of implementation and response as it was by the theology or political theory it transmitted.

Acknowledgements
Notes on the text
List of abbreviations
Introduction
1. The theoretical basis of swearing oaths
2. Oaths, subscriptions, and the implementation of the Parliamentary reforms of 1534
3. The origin and motivation of the Henrician professions
4. Responses to the oaths of succession and supremacy
5. Oaths and the pilgrimage of grace
6. Oaths, evangelicals, and heresy prosecution
Conclusion
Appendix A. The oaths of a bishop-elect to the Pope
Appendix B. The oaths of a bishop-elect to the King in restitution for their temporalities
Appendix C. The promise of the bishops to renounce the Pope and his bulls
Appendix D. The oaths of succession
Appendix E. Instructions for the visitation of the friars, their profession, and the profession of other clerical institutions in 1534
Appendix F. The professions of bishops and universities in 1535
Appendix G. Post-1535 Henrician oaths of supremacy
Bibliography
Index.

Subject Areas: Church history [HRCC2], Early modern history: c 1450/1500 to c 1700 [HBLH], British & Irish history [HBJD1], History [HB]