Stripping of the Altars: Traditional Religion in England, 1400-1580 Book

Hugely, hugely detailed book that does a very nice job of critiquing what had been the prevailing viewpoint of the English Reformation: that medieval Catholicism had petered out, with disinterested clerics and semi-pagan peasants only revitalized by the influence of Protestant reform. It's an inaccurate way of looking at things (or at best oversimplified), and Duffy does a really nice job lining up piece after piece of evidence that suggests that medieval Catholicism wasn't worn out or despised by most Englishmen, but rather it was an integral part of their lives, both as individuals and as a community.

That said, Duffy swings a bit too far the other way. He pretty clearly prefers Catholicism to Protestantism, and possible counterpoints to his argument are either ignored (the Lollards) or quickly brushed aside without the massive pile of evidence and support that characterizes the rest of his argument. He claims that this was because those things were outside his topic - he's only dealing with traditional religion. And that's fair enough, but I think on the whole it damages the topic that he is dealing with, by giving a generally incomplete picture of medieval religion. He'll occasionally make it seem like medieval Catholicism was some sort of harmonious and flourishing paradise that only got ruined when all those Protestants showed up and took away all the nice things from their communities (it's telling that the first half of the book is structured around themes, while the second is structured around narrative development). Still though, worth a read!