England's Tudor Reformation

The English Reformation – unlike many of the other Reformations convulsing sixteenth-century Europe – was at heart more about politics and law than about religion. It created the English state as we now know it, and established relationships between the nations of Britain and Ireland which still endure.

This lecture asks how a religious dispute came to rewrite the English constitution and traces that upheaval’s legacies – some plain, some hidden – for England and its neighbours down to the present.

A lecture by Alec Ryrie

The transcript and downloadable versions of the lecture are available from the Gresham College website:

[calfraiseking]

It's so hard to not be encapsulated by Alec's style - even in things I'm not mega interested in, he's just so brilliant at conveying information. Need more academics like him!!

[omarnassery]

Succinct, erudite, eloquent, insightful. Excellent!

[GeoffreyCairney]

What an awesome, and awesomely told story.

[Murcans-worship-felons]

It seems peculiar, at least, that while not even a legitimate creationist, I find these lectures so creative, insightful and brilliant. We are a product of our times, the level of understanding and knowledge in any given period, is not always represented by our actions. Outstanding!

[johnhugh]

After watching a few videos this has put a few things into prospective for me, Many Thanks

[presterjohn]

Excellent lecture! I'm going to watch all of the others. Thanks- just what I was looking for.

[alastairchestnutt]

Lots to learn from this lecture. Thanks.

[davidjazay]

Excellent lectures. It would have been great if you had numbered them though.

[emmcee]

Wonderful - interesting content and so easy to listen to

[davidcummings]

King John error of Judgment reveals just how perilous and highly pressurised being a king job can be . I do see the English Catholics strong ties with Rome as a catalyst for unrest & conflicts

[fififinance]

Very interested to see what this next few weeks will bring.

[michaelhaywood]

This series of lectures proves that the Anglican Church is definitely protestant, and has been since Elizabeth i, in spite of the claims of so called 'Anglo-Catholics'. The 'Anglo Catholic' movement started in mid-Victorian times in Oxford. The Oxford Movement [OM] tried to reinterpret parts of the Anglican doctrines, and reintroduce some Catholic doctrines and practices. It was soon after Catholic Emancipation, and when the Catholic Church was reinstating the Hierarchy in England and Wales. and was an attempt to keep people in Anglicanism who would have otherwise converted to Catholicism. However the OM was the gateway to the Catholic Church for some, one high profile case was John Henry Newman. The OM also claimed that Anglican Bishops had retained Apostolic Succession and were so on a par with Catholic and Orthodox Bishops. Leo XIII needed to issue a statement in the 1890s to show this was not the case and the succession was broken in the time of Elizabeth 1 [late C16]. The Anglo Catholic movement has influenced doctrine and liturgy of the the Anglican communion as a whole and not just in 'Anglo Catholic' parishes.

[susanmaddison]

You remind us what "privilege" actually means -- privi lege, private law for the nobility and clergy, with huge exemptions for these "higher orders of society" from the common law for the commoners -- and how England overcame the rule of privilege and built a modern rule of law state, with equal rights under the law. Bravo Henry, for all your sins!
We need this clarity today more than ever, as the effort is being made to restore a regime of special privileges and exemptions, in place of modern rights and equality before the law. Your lecture is the more helpful, as this effort to restore an order of privilege is being conducted in the name of a struggle against "privilege", the latter to be sure using a political redefinition of the word to mean its near-opposite.
Your support for the Catholic side and its very real privileges at every step when they are taken away, and your attention to the very real downside in Ireland of this great progress, makes this testimonial all the more compelling.

[SandyRiverBlue]

I'm not sure that turning over the country to the Pope was a humiliation. John was in the middle of an expensive war with France, one which he was slowly losing. While on its face it appeared that the Pope was in charge of the country, in practice John still ruled. Also once the arrangement was set, Pope Pius then began a concerted effort to pressure the French king to sue for peace. Add to this that all of John's machinations and attempts at wealth-building then became the Pope's, and all of the Pope's machinations then became Johns, it was a relationship worth having, although the optics weren't the best. That said this arrangement where English kings swore oaths to the Popes as their "feudal lords" was the worst part of this arrangement. That an entire country could be controlled by an Italian nobleman thousands of miles away is a slap in the face. The papal bull in 1295 telling the clergy that they should not pay taxes without express permission from the Pope was more a kick in the face than anything else. I am truly surprised that the English Reformation didn't happen sooner.

[tangosmurfen]

An extremism beyond even Sweden. Why does he not make a lekture on the reformation in Sweden.

[katiehav]

Excellent presentation!

🤔 A King ascending to taking the throne as a self appointed authority over the Church, as an adulterer, and with a daughter who appointedherself the same authority.

🤦‍♀️ What could possibly go wrong?
Nothing to see here ..
... That doesn't sound biblical does it?
🥴 Sarcasm

[kingcrazymani]

How could a Roman elected Pope claim superiority over a de facto divine King? Some kings were not divine. Elected Pope was probably better than lying King…. Also, as to Magna Carta, some of us have literally no idea what the fuss was all about. King John signs a piece of paper that says, “these are your rights, which you know you have.” Some of us, myself included, wonder. King John was humiliated for stating somethings that were self-evident? Hmmmm…..

[owlnyc]

Henry VIII. "Be fruitful and multiply".

[johncassels]

Excellent lecture in which we see the forerunners to both the Trump family and BREXIT!

[rishabbasu]

A very succinct lecture on the subject!