History of the Protestant Reformation in England and Ireland / William Cobbett

Written in the 1820s by an English Protestant, A History of the Protestant Reformation in England and Ireland has been reprinted many times by Catholic publishers because it gives the untold story of the disastrous socio-political upheaval wrought in the life of England by this religious reform. William Cobbett provides an accurate and compelling chronicle of the events which followed Henry VIIIs break with Rome; the destruction of the monasteries and displacement of countless thousands of tenant farmers from monastic lands which rapidly produced a vast number of homeless poor. He argues that the loss of this monastic culture caused a permanent rift between the laborer and the nobleman which had not existed in Catholic England. His narrative takes the reader from the reign of King Henry VIII (1509-1547) up to the reign of King George III (1760-1820). A History of the Protestant Reformation in England and Ireland is a revelation for any person accustomed to the Progressive history found in most text-books today. It is a tragic take of the death of a truly Catholic realmso Catholic it was called Our Ladys Dowry, but Cobbetts clear understanding of the source and impact of this tragedy makes it eminently worth reading! G. K. Chesterton says that the accurate of William Cobbetts History of the Reformation has never been challenged: only his challenge has been challenged! He turned popular history on its head, simply by looking at the facts, and called the players by the proper names, such as Bloody Bess and Good Queen Mary. Dale Ahlquist, President, American Chesterton Society

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About the Author

William Cobbett was born in 1763 at Surrey, England. An author, farmer and journalist, he yearned for something more than his simple country life could afford, and became intimately familiar with the English language while enlisted with Nova Scotia. Noted for his efforts which served as a preamble to the Reform Bill of 1832, as well as for his aversion to authority and novelty, Mr. Cobbett is most famous for his ""Rural Rides"", which was printed in 1830. He also composed ""A History of the Protestant Reformation in England and Ireland"", which amounts to a thrilling and accurate portrayal of the untold disasters of the times during the Reform. He died on the eighteenth of June, 1835, at the age of seventy-two.