History of the English Reformation & Puritan Era

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Subsection

Parker Society Publications

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Order of Contents

The Early Writers
Documents
Histories
English Presbyterianism
Theology of the Anglican Church
Etc.
On the Definition of a ‘Puritan’

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The Early Writers

“The early writers are still important, especially for their documents.” – Owen Chadwick

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Fuller, Thomas – The Church History of Britain from the Birth of Jesus Christ until 1648, vol. 1, 2, 3  1868

Fox, John – The Acts and Monuments, Complete Edition, vol. 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8  1837  with a preliminary dissertation by George Townsend

Dixon, Richard Watson – A History of the Church of England, vol. 1 (1529-1537), 2 (1538-1548), 3 (1549-1553), 4 (1553-1558), 5 (1558-1563), 6 (1564-1570)  1887-1902  The history runs from 1529-1570

Dixon was strongly Anglican.

Burnet, Gilbert – The History of the Reformation of the Church of England, vol. 1, 2, 3, 4  1839

Strype, John

Ecclesiastical Memorials Relating Chiefly to Religion, and the Reformation of it, and the Emergencies of the Church of England, under King Henry VIII, King Edward VI, and Queen Mary I: with large appendixes, containing original papers, records, etc., vol. 1.1, 1.2, 2.1, 2.2, 3.1, 3.2  1822

Historical Collections of the Life and Acts of John Aylmer, Bishop of London in the Reign of Queen Elizabeth, wherein are Explained many Transactions of the Church of England, and what methods were then taken to preserve it, with respect both to the Papist and Puritan  1821  280 pp.

Cardwell, Edward

Documentary Annals of the Reformed Church of England, being a Collection of Injunctions, Declarations, Orders, Articles of Inquiry, etc., from the year 1546 to 1716, with notes Historical and Explanatory, vol. 1, 2  1844

A History of Conferences and other Proceedings connected with the Revision of the Book of Common Prayer from 1558-1690  1850  480 pp.

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Documents

Makower, F. – The Constitutional History and Constitution of the Church of England  1895  560 pp.

“Impossible to read, but a mine of information.” – Owen Chadwick

Heppe, Heinrich – The Reformers of England and Germany in the Sixteenth Century:  Their Intercourse and Correspondence.  A Historical Sketch and Original Documents  Buy  1859  225 pp.  with an Appendix containing twelve primary source letters in Latin

Elton, G.R. – The Tudor Constitution: Documents and Commentary  Buy  1960  528 pp.

Tanner, J.R. – Tudor Constitutional Documents: AD 1485-1603, with a Historical Commentary  1922  665 pp.

Gee, Henry & William Hardy – Documents Illustrative of English Church History, compiled from Original Sources  1896  705 pp.

“Fullest upon the sixteenth century.” – Owen Chadwick

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Histories

Parker, T.M. – The English Reformation to 1558  175 pp.  1960

Powicke, F.M. – The Reformation in England  Buy  Oxford

ed. Ha, Polly & Patrick Collinson – The Reception of Continental Reformation in Britain  in Proceedings of the British Academy  Buy  (British Academy, 2011)  280 pp.

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English Presbyterianism

1800’s

M’Crie, Thomas – Annals of English Presbytery: From the Earliest Period to the Present Time  1872  345 pp.

Drysdale, A.H. – History of the Presbyterians in England: their Rise, Decline and Revival  1880  655 pp.

Dalton, Hermannn – John A Lasco: his Earlier Life & Labors: a Contribution to the History of the Reformation in Poland, Germany & England  1886  390 pp.

Selborne, Lord – Notes on Some Passages in the Liturgical History of the Reformed English Church  1878  215 pp.

Hannah, William – Wycliffe & the Huguenots, or Sketches of the Rise of the Reformation in England and of the Early History of Protestantism in France  1860  290 pp.

Perry, George – History of the Reformation in England  1895  265 pp.  in Epochs of Church History

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Negative

English Presbyterian Eloquence, or Dissenters’ Saying Ancient and Modern, collected from the Books and Sermons of the Presbyterians, etc. from the Reign of Queen Elizabeth to the Present Time, wherein it appears that the Presbyterians have constantly attempted to subvert the Fundamental Articles of the Christian Faith, to abolish the doctrine and discipline of the Church established by law, etc.  1720  155 pp.

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Multi-Volume

Stoughton, John – History of Religion in England, from the Opening of the Long Parliament to the mid-1800’s, vol. 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8  1882

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1900’s

ed. Stephens & Hunt

Frere, W.H. – The English Church in the Reigns of Elizabeth and James I, 1558-1625  1904  430 pp.

Gairdner, James – The English Church in the Sixteenth Century from the Accession of Henry VIII to the Death of Mary  1903  450 pp.

Hutton, William Holden – The English Church from the Accession of Charles I to the Death of Anne, 1625-1714  1903  380 pp.

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2000’s

Ha, Polly

English Presbyterianism, 1590-1640  Buy  (Stanford Univ. Press, 2010)

The Puritans on Independence: The First Examination, Defence & Second Examination  Buy  (Oxford Univ. Press, 2017)

Powell, Hunter

The Crisis of British Protestantism: Church Power in the Puritan Revolution, 1638–44  in Politics, Culture and Society in Early Modern Britain  Buy  (Manchester Univ. Press, 2015)

Church Polity & Politics in the British Atlantic World, c. 1635-66  in Politics, Culture & Society in Early Modern Britain  Buy  (Manchester Univ. Press, 2020)

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The Oxford Reformers

Seebohm, Frederic – The Oxford Reformers: John Colet, Erasmus and Thomas More, being a history of their fellow-work  1913  550 pp.

Shaw, W. Hudson – Introductory Lectures on the Oxford Reformers: Colet, Erasmus and More  1893  88 pp.

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Special Periods

Elton, G.R. – England under the Tudors  Buy  1955  520 pp.

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The Theology of the Anglican Church

Toplady

Kirby, W.J. Torrance – The Theology of Richard Hooker in the Context of the Magisterial Reformation  1993  78 pp.

big systematic in Historical theology

Link PRDL Anglicans, my systematic theology page

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Anglican Literature

John Parker Society, link

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From a Roman Catholic Viewpoint

Hughes, Philip

The Reformation in England, 3 vols.  Buy  1952 ff.

Hughes was a Roman Catholic priest and historian, to be distinguished from Philip Edgcumbe Hughes.

“Best exposition of the Roman Catholic point of view.” – Owen Chadwick

Rome and the Counter-Reformation in England  Buy  1942

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After The Glorious Revolution of 1689

The Presbyterian Reporter, being a Register of Parliamentary Proceedings and Public Documents Relating to the Dissenting Chapels’ and Endowments’ Bill for the Protection of the Presbyterians in England and Ireland not Subscribing to Articles of Christian Faith of Human Compilation  1844  445 pp.

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On the Definition of a ‘Puritan’

Quotes

George Gillespie

English Popish Ceremonies  (1637), pt. 2, ch. 5, pp. 23-4

“Neither is this all the injury which is occasioned by the ceremonies [sought to be imposed on the Church of Scotland]: they make godly and zealous Christians to be mocked and nicknamed ‘Puritans’, except they can swallow the camel of conformity.

Our consciences bear us witness, how without all reason we are branded with the name of those ancient heretics ([David Calderwood,] The Pastor & the Prelate, [pt. 3,] p. 36[-38]), from whose opinions and manners, O! how far are we?  And as for ourselves, notwithstanding all this, we shrink not to be reproched for the cause of Christ; we know the old Waldenses before us were also named by their adversaries, ‘Cathares’ or ‘Puritans’ (History of the Waldenses, bk. 1, ch. 3): and that without cause has this name been given both to them and us.

But we are most sorry, that such as are walking humbly with their God, seeking eagerly after the means of grace and salvation, and making good conscience of all their ways, should be made odious, and that piety, humility, repentance, zeal, conscience, etc. should be mocked, and all by occasion of the ceremonies.”

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A Pack of Old Puritans Maintaining the Unlawfulness & Inexpediency of Subscribing the New Engagement…  (London, 1650), p. 1  These authors were royalists, contra the more puritan parliament.

“Though we delight not to revive that odious and reproachful name of ‘Puritan’, with which in the height of Prelacy and Prerogative Royal [absolutist government], all conscientious men were stigmatized that scrupled conformity to superstitious innovations in the Church and opposed illegal taxations and impositions in the State…”

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Related Pages

History of the Church in England