"It is a tribute to the worth of Dr. Haigh's positive evidence, as well as to his skill in debate, that
on the whole the balance of probability seems usually to be on his side....It is significant that it is Dr. Haigh's
view which has become the best known and has now provided what is likely to become the standard textbook."
--Times Higher Education Supplement
"A significant work...An important study that professional historians will need to read."
--History: Reviews of New Books
"Readers of this book...will find the most convincing account yet available of how the majority of the English
people received the Reformations of the sixteenth century."
--Albion
"This book deserves high commendation as a grassroots religious history of England in the sixteenth century...Beyond
being an exemplary presentation of history, the book has implications well worth the attention of readers whose
interest in religion is not simply historical."
--Journal of Religion
"[V]ery readable, forceful, and compelling."
--The Thomist
Oxford University Press Web Site, May, 2000
Summary
English Reformations takes a refreshing new approach to the study of the Reformation in England. Christopher
Haigh's lively and readable study disproves any facile assumption that the triumph of Protestantism was inevitable,
and goes beyond the surface of official political policy to explore the religious views and practices of ordinary
English people. With the benefit of hindsight, other historians have traced the course of the Reformation as a
series of events inescapably culminating in the creation of the English Protestant establishment. Haigh sets out
to recreate the sixteenth century as a time of excitement and insecurity, with each new policy or ruler causing
the reversal of earlier religious changes. This is a scholarly and stimulating book, which challenges traditional
ideas about the Reformation and offers a powerful and convincing alternative analysis.
