Important new historic and documentary evidence supports revised assessments of the English Reformation. They show the true richness of late-medieval Catholicism and indicate that shifts in religion, especially under Queen Elizabeth I, were the result of political, social, as well as economic changes rather than belief. On the other hand, especially in an age of considerable social upheaval, proof of an individual's religious conviction is unlikely. Nonetheless, this book establishes that William Shakespeare wrote with a ...
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Important new historic and documentary evidence supports revised assessments of the English Reformation. They show the true richness of late-medieval Catholicism and indicate that shifts in religion, especially under Queen Elizabeth I, were the result of political, social, as well as economic changes rather than belief. On the other hand, especially in an age of considerable social upheaval, proof of an individual's religious conviction is unlikely. Nonetheless, this book establishes that William Shakespeare wrote with a Catholic "habit of mind" that found in medieval romance its most effective secular expression.
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