Oaths and the English Reformation [Paperback]

An examination of the significance and function of oaths in the English Reformation.Oaths were the medium through which the Henrician regime implemented its ideology and secured loyalty among the people and the tool by which the English people embraced, resisted and manipulated royal policy. By considering the central importance of oaths, Jonathan Michael Gray offers new insights into the English Reformation.Oaths were the medium through which the Henrician regime implemented its ideology and secured loyalty among the people and the tool by which the English people embraced, resisted and manipulated royal policy. By considering the central importance of oaths, Jonathan Michael Gray offers new insights into the English Reformation.The practice of swearing oaths was at the centre of the English Reformation. On the one hand, oaths were the medium through which the Henrician regime implemented its ideology and secured loyalty among the people. On the other, they were the tool by which the English people embraced, resisted and manipulated royal policy. Jonathan Michael Gray argues that since the Reformation was negotiated through oaths, their precise significance and function are central to understanding it fully. Oaths and the English Reformation sheds new light on the motivation of Henry VIII, the enforcement of and resistance to reform and the extent of popular participation and negotiation in the political process. Placing oaths at the heart of the narrative, this book argues that the English Reformation was determined as much by its method of implementation and response as it was by the theology or political theory it transmitted.Acknowledgements; Notes on the text; List of abbreviations; Introduction; 1. The theoretical basis of swearing oaths; 2. Oaths, subscriptions, and the implementation of the Parliamentary reforms of 1534; 3. The origin and motivation of the Henrician professions; 4. Responses to the oaths of succession and supremacy; 5. Oaths and the pilgrimlƒ1