Conversion, Politics and Religion in England, 1580-1625 (Cambridge Studies in Early Modern British History)

The Reformation was, in many ways, an experiment in conversion. English Protestants urged conversion from popery to the Gospel, from idolatry to the true God, while Catholic polemicists persuaded people away from heresy to Catholic truth, from schism to unity. Michael Questier's meticulous study of conversion is the first to concentrate on this phenomenon from the perspective of individual converts, people who alternated between conformity to and rejection of the pattern of worship established by law. Since religion was a matter of great political importance, this book also investigates the power of the State to compel uniformity, and the success of the Protestant regime in directing dissidents to conform. By discovering how people were exhorted to change religion, how they experienced conversion, and how they faced demands for Protestant conformity, Michael Questier develops a fresh view of the English Reformation.