The Reconstruction of the Church of Ireland: Bishop Bramhall and the Laudian Reforms, 1633-1641 (Cambridge Studies in Early Modern British History)
Cambridge University Press, 7/26/2007
EAN 9780521643184, ISBN10: 052164318X
Hardcover, 288 pages, 23.5 x 16.2 x 2.5 cm
Language: English
Thomas Wentworth landed in Ireland in 1633 - almost 100 years after Henry VIII had begun his break with Rome. The majority of the people were still Catholic. William Laud had just been elevated to Canterbury. A Yorkshire cleric, John Bramhall, followed the new viceroy and became, in less than one year, Bishop of Derry. This 2007 study, which is centred on Bramhall, examines how these three men embarked on a policy for the established Church which represented not only a break with a century of reforming tradition but which also sought to make the tiny Irish Church a model for the other Stuart kingdoms. Dr McCafferty shows how accompanying canonical changes were explicitly implemented for notice and eventual adoption in England and Scotland. However within eight years the experiment was blown apart and reconstruction denounced as subversive. Wentworth, Laud and Bramhall faced consequent disgrace, trial, death or exile.
1. Introduction
2. The temporalities campaign, 1633–40
3. The convocation of 1634 and its aftermath
4. Mechanisms of reconstruction and the problem of dissent
5. Downfall of the settlement, 1640–1
6. Conclusion
Appendix
three letters
Bibliography
Index.
Review of the hardback: 'McCafferty's analysis of the Irish Reformation is compelling, and the research underpinning it is impressive especially given the deficient state of the Irish ecclesiastical archives.' Journal of Ecclesiastical History