London and the Reformation

This is a study and an evocation of the religious and social world of a community transformed by the Reformation. In London the new faith was most fervently evangelized and most fiercely resisted. Londoners had once been bound by a common faith, but now they were, for the first time, divided in religion as successive monarchs - Henry VIII, Edward VI and Mary - demanded contrary religious allegiances. The disproportionate size and wealth of the capital, the strength of its religious example, both reformed and conservative, the network of connections within London and between London and the provinces and overseas, and its particular integration of social forces and high politics meant that London played a moving part in the reception of the English Reformation. This book draws upon the rich archival sources of 16th-century London to explore how the dilemma of faith was confronted during the Reformation, and to examine the consequences.