In the medieval system the Pope and Bishops ruled the Church, the Monarch and Lords ruled the State. However, in England from the fourteenth century with the rise of Lollardy, this division was increasingly challenged by the laity's insistence on their right to choose not only between different systems of Church governments but also between different forms of religious belief. "Church and People" traces the laity's struggle to achieve supremacy in the English Church and shows how the political and social developments between 1450 and 1660 were decisively influenced by this conflict, as Monarch, Church and Parliament sought to use lay disaffection to further their own political ends. This edition contains a new bibliographical essay.

About the Author
Claire Cross is currently Professor of History at the University of York, where she has taught since 1965. A Cambridge graduate, she was county archivist of Cambridgeshire from 1958 to 1961, and Research Fellow at Reading University between 1962 and 1965. Her other books include The Puritan Earl: The Life of the Third Earl of Huntingdon (1967) and The Royal Supremacy in the Elizabethan Church (1969) and she has edited The Letters of Sir Francis Hastings (1969), York Clergy Wills 1520-1600 (1984 and 1989), with N. Vickers, Monks, Friars and Nuns in Sixteenth Century Yorkshire (1995) and a collection of essays, Patronage and Recruitment in the Tudor and Early Stuart Church (1996).

Reviews
"Scholarly, lucid, illuminating, objective and extremely readable ... an outstanding contribution." (Church Times) "Good historical writing is a rare commodity, and it is a pleasure to meet it in Claire Cross's new book." (The Tablet)



Book Information
ISBN 9780631214625
Author Claire Cross
Format Hardback
Page Count 264
Imprint Blackwell Publishers
Publisher John Wiley and Sons Ltd
Weight(grams) 508g
Dimensions(mm) 234mm * 161mm * 25mm