| dc.description.abstract | This dissertation examines the ways in which religious and political debates at the heart of the Henrician Reformation played out in public ways during the crisis period of 1537–1540. It explores the complex and often confusing events of these years through an examination of public politics—shedding light on the ways in which the Royal Supremacy and attendant notions of religious reform were asserted, performed, and contested. In applying the framework of public politics to the Henrician Reformation for the first time, this dissertation seeks to make intelligible the contestation and negotiation at the center of these years of crisis.
In particular, this dissertation argues that there was a concerted effort by English evangelicals to establish a more reformed version of the newly established Church of England during the late 1530s. It explores how they exploited the theological ambiguity that was at the core of the Henrician Church to argue for a more aggressive campaign against perceived abuses and excesses of traditional religion. Reformers turned to a variety of public facing means to promote their vision of reform, and it is through an examination of these various media that we can discern their campaign taking shape.
This dissertation discusses and integrates different forms of public politicking used by the regime and its various agents to get across a variety of not always compatible messages. Chapters in Part I are organized around specific modes of political communication utilized by the evangelical establishment to advance their campaign for reform, including printed propaganda, sermons, iconoclastic spectacles, and show trials and public executions. Part II builds upon this and explores how these various modes of propaganda interacted and shaped events of this crisis period of the Henrician Reformation. It is much more chronological and takes as its focus several crises and events that were crucial to shaping the direction of policy and opinion. | |
