Of Prelates and Princes
A Study of the Economic and Social Position of the Tudor Episcopate

The Tudor bishops were men of power and influence within the English realm.

Felicity Heal (Author)

9780521087612, Cambridge University Press

Paperback / softback, published 11 December 2008

380 pages
21 x 15 x 2.1 cm, 0.48 kg

The Tudor bishops were men of power and influence within the English realm, both because they possessed spiritual authority and because they exercised lordship over great estates. This book examines their activities as temporal lords: it seeks to discover how wealthy they were and to what uses their revenues were put. Dr Heal draws upon much research undertaken by other scholars in particular dioceses and for particular prelates. The bishops possessed considerable wealth, but they had little security, for the crown effectively controlled their economic destiny, especially after the break with Rome in 1534. No study of the episcopate can therefore ignore the effects of royal policy, and this book combines an investigation into the attitudes and behaviour of the Tudor monarchs with its close examination of the fortunes of the bishops.

1. The bishops and the prelude to Reformation
2. Land and social authority before the Reformation
3. The revenues of the bishops and the Valor Ecclesiasticus
4. Expenditure and conspicuous consumption
5. Henry VIII and the beginnings of appropriation
6. Change and restitution
7. The consequences of the break with Rome: the bishops and society
8. The consequences of the break with Rome: financial problems
9. The Elizabethan Settlement and its aftermath
10. The social responsibilities of the Elizabethan bishops
11. The resources of the Elizabethan bishops
12. Conclusion.

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