Cover; Title; Copyright; Contents; EDITORIAL FOREWORD; NOTE ON REFERENCING SYSTEM; ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS; PREFACE; Part One: The Background; 1 THE WESTERN CHURCH IN THE LATER MIDDLE AGES; Part Two: Analysis; 2 THE ENGLISH CHURCH, THE CROWN AND THE PAPACY; Royal power; Papal authority and influence; 3 THE ENGLISH BISHOPS; 4 THE RELIGIOUS ORDERS; 5 THE PARISH CLERGY; 6 THE CHURCH COURTS AND THE ENGLISH PEOPLE; The business of the courts; The effectiveness of the courts; 7 RELIGIOUS BELIEF AND PRACTICE; The Mass and the Christian community; Piety and charity
Lay initiative and the problem of anticlericalismThe Lollard challenge; The implications of literacy; A plurality of religious forms; Part Three: Assessment; 8 THE POPULARITY AND DIVERSITY OF LATE MEDIEVAL RELIGION; Part Four: Documents; GLOSSARY; BIBLIOGRAPHY; BIBLIOGRAPHICAL UPDATE FOR REVISED EDITION; INDEX
Summary
Offers a concise synthesis of the valuable research accomplished in recent years which has transformed our view of religious belief and practice in pre-Reformation England. The author argues that the church was neither in a state of crisis, nor were its members clamouring for change, let alone ̀reformation' during the early years of Henry VIII's reign
