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The Stripping of the Altars

Traditional Religion in England, 1400-1580
4.26 goodreads logo

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( 1,276 ratings, 104 reviews)
Book Hero Magic crafted this summary to help describe this book. While it's new and still learning, it may not be perfect - your feedback is welcome! Summary
The Stripping of the Altars by Eamon Duffy offers a detailed exploration of English religious life and practices during the late medieval period leading into the Reformation. It delves into the spiritual aspects, customs, and the vibrant communal practices that defined the era, illustrating how traditional societal beliefs were transformed by religious upheaval. The book offers insight into the significant cultural shifts that marked this pivotal point in history.
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Format: Paperback / softback
$4299
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Book Hero Magic created this recommendation. While it's new and still learning, it may not be perfect - your feedback is welcome! IS THIS YOUR NEXT READ?

You might enjoy this book if you're fascinated by the religious and cultural transformations during the late medieval and early modern periods in England. It offers a detailed exploration of how traditional practices and beliefs were challenged and altered, providing rich insights into the lives and devotions of ordinary people during this critical historical era.

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"This prize-winning account of the pre-Reformation church recreates lay people's experience of religion, showing that late-medieval Catholicism was neither decadent nor decayed, but a strong and vigorous tradition. For this edition, Duffy has written a new introduction reflecting on recent developments in our understanding of the period"--

Book Hero Magic formatted this description to make it easier to read. While it's new and still learning, it may not be perfect - your feedback is welcome! Description

This prize-winning account of the pre-Reformation church recreates lay people's experience of religion, showing that late-medieval Catholicism was neither decadent nor decayed, but a strong and vigorous tradition. For this edition, Duffy has written a new introduction reflecting on recent developments in our understanding of the period.

"A mighty and momentous book: a book to be read and re-read, pondered and revered; a subtle, profound book written with passion and eloquence, and with masterly control."—J. J. Scarisbrick, The Tablet

"Revisionist history at its most imaginative and exciting. . . . [An] astonishing and magnificent piece of work."—Edward T. Oakes, Commonweal

"A magnificent scholarly achievement, a compelling read, and not a page too long to defend a thesis which will provoke passionate debate."—Patricia Morison, Financial Times

"Deeply imaginative, movingly written, and splendidly illustrated."—Maurice Keen, New York Review of Books

Winner of the Longman-History Today Book of the Year Award

Book Hero Magic summarised reviews for this book. While it's new and still learning, it may not be perfect - your feedback is welcome! HOW HAS THIS BEEN REVIEWED?

Eamon Duffy's work provides a richly detailed, vivid depiction of late medieval Catholicism, emphasising its vitality and emotional appeal right before the Reformation. Reviewers praise its imaginative writing, comprehensive analysis, and the passionate defence of its thesis, calling it a monumental contribution to the debate about the era. The book is noted for its scholarly achievement, engaging detail, and the inspiration it offers to both specialists and general readers interested in church history and religious practices.

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Book Details

INFORMATION

ISBN: 9780300254419

Publisher: Yale University Press

Format: Paperback / softback

Date Published: 10 May 2022

Country: United States

Imprint: Yale University Press

Edition: New edition

Illustration: 143 b-w illus.

Audience: Professional and scholarly

DIMENSIONS

Width: 140.0mm

Height: 216.0mm

Weight: 726g

Pages: 720

About the Author

Eamon Duffy is a Fellow of Magdalene College, Cambridge, and the author of The Voices of Morebath,Fires of Faith,Marking the Hours,Saints and Sinners, and Ten Popes Who Shook the World.

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  • Saints and Sinners
    This engrossing book encompasses the extraordinary history of the papacy, from its beginnings to the present day. This new edition covers the unprecedented resignation of Benedict XVI and the election of the first Argentinian pope. Praise for the earlier editions: “Duffy enlivens the long march through church history with anecdotes that bring the different pontiffs to life. Saints and Sinners...
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  • Marking the Hours
    Personal prayer books and the jottings in their margins tell us about their owners and about life in late medieval and Reformation England. In this richly illustrated book, religious historian Eamon Duffy discusses the Book of Hours, unquestionably the most intimate and most widely used book of the later Middle Ages. He examines surviving copies of the personal prayer books...
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  • The Voices of Morebath
    In this text, a Reformation historian takes us inside the mind and heart of Morebath, a remote and tiny sheep-farming village where 33 families worked the difficult land on the southern edge of Exmoor. The bulk of Morebath’s conventional archives have long since vanished. But from 1520 to 1574, through nearly all the drama of the English Reformation, Morebath’s only...
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  • A History of the Popes
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    This engrossing book encompasses the extraordinary history of the papacy, from its beginnings to the present day. This new edition covers the unprecedented resignation of Benedict XVI and the election of the first Argentinian pope. A History of the Popes has received praise for its earlier editions: “Duffy enlivens the long march through church history with anecdotes that bring the...
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  • Fires of Faith
    The renowned author of The Stripping of the Altars takes a new and controversial look at the reign of England’s "Bloody Mary". The reign of Mary Tudor has been remembered as an era of sterile repression, when a reactionary monarch launched a doomed attempt to reimpose Catholicism on an unwilling nation. Above all, the burning alive of more than 280...
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  • Ten Popes Who Shook the World
    Of all the men who have served the Catholic Church as pope, who were the ten most influential? The Bishops of Rome have been Christianity's most powerful leaders for nearly two millennia, and their influence has extended far beyond the purely spiritual. The popes have played a central role in the history of Europe and the wider world, not only...
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