England Reformation

An engrossing volume on the European Reformation by Pulitzer Prize-winning historian Will Durant. The sixth volume of Durant's acclaimed Story of Civilization, The Reformationchronicles the history of European civilization from 1300 to 1564.

Published to mark the 500th anniversary of the events of 1517, Reformation Divided explores the impact in England of the cataclysmic transformations of European Christianity in the 16th and 17th centuries.

Following the execution of the king in 1649, the new Commonwealth and then Oliver Cromwell set out to drive forward a puritan reformation of manners. They wanted to reform the church and its services, enforce the Sabbath, suppress Christmas, and spread the gospel. They sought to impose a stern moral discipline to regulate and reform sexual behaviour, drinking practices, language, dress, and leisure activities ranging from music and plays to football.

Centuries on, what the Reformation was and what it accomplished remain deeply contentious. Peter Marshall's sweeping new history argues that 16th-century England was a society neither desperate for nor allergic to change, but one open to ideas of "reform" in various competing guises. This engaging history reveals what was really at stake in the overthrow of Catholic culture and the reshaping of the English Church.

Neueste wissenschaftliche Erkenntnisse zeigen, wie veränderbar die Erinnerung ist: Nicht nur die individuelle Erinnerung, sondern auch die kollektive. Ein Musterbeispiel dafür ist der katholische Attentäter Guy Fawkes, der England zurück in den alten Glauben bomben wollte. Seitdem seine Pläne am 5. November 1605 gescheitert sind, feiern das die Engländer jedes Jahr mit Umzügen, bei denen Guy-Fawkes-Puppen in Flammen aufgehen.