A People's Tragedy

In his book The Stripping of the Altars, Professor Eamon Duffy revolutionized English medieval studies. His thesis centred on the idea that the English Reformation was indeed 'A People's Tragedy' for common worshippers and religious communities across the United Kingdom, arguing that popular religious practice on the eve of the Reformation was alive, indeed vibrant. This contradicted the long-held theories of Reformation scholars that the Catholic Church was inherently corrupt and ripe for the change enacted by King Henry's sweeping reforms.

In A People's Tragedy Duffy, England's preeminent and most engaging Reformation historian, returns to these themes, drawing on new research, some of it archaeological, to demonstrate his point, including stunning wall paintings, parish records, wood carvings and triptychs which show the true nature of medieval devotion from Walsingham to York Minster and Ely Abbey. In the second part of the book he considers the reception of the Reformation by academics and writers including Diarmaid MacCulloch and Hilary Mantel.

Any reader with an interest in the Reformation will be drawn to these highly readable and engaging explorations which, as Duffy shows, still ignite fierce debate among historians today.