Reform and Reformation. England 1509-1558

The new History of England 2.

Englishmen greeted the accession to the throne of Henry VIII with more than the usual chorus of praise and anticipation, yet few offered any solution to the problems of the commonwealth or expected more than the maintenance of a precarious stability. Half a century later, however, his daughter Elizabeth inherited a realm which had experienced a revolution. Reform, not a dream but a rational prospect, had become the spirit of the age; it also provides the them for this remarkable history of the reigns of Henry, Edward and Mary.