The English bishops played a crucial role in the process of Reformation in the sixteenth century, from the first arrival of continental Reformed thought to the virtual extinction of the office in 1559. This work has at its core the bishops' own understanding of the episcopate, drawn from their surviving writings and other contemporary discussions; such a study is key to understanding what became of the English Church of the middle ages and what it was to become under Elizabeth. Carleton examines the interplay between bishop and king, the episcopate in the context of other orders, and the social context of the office; he studies episcopal activity in key areas such as preaching, ordaining, and opposing heresy; and he notes the influence of the models which the bishops themselves set up as ideals, most notably Christ himself as the ideal bishop. The backgrounds of the bishops are set out in the appendix.
Reviews
Wide-ranging study...containing much of interest in its own right [and] likely to stimulate fresh thinking. on the Church during the early Reformation in England. HISTORY [Claire Cross] * Sets out to look at the episcopate as a whole over
one period of what many of us now see as a number of Reformations... [It] relates ideas well to what bishops did. It is a good synthesis with original perspectives, opening new territory. ENGLISH HISTORICAL REVIEW
