The author writes this book with a concentration and an almost ascetic discipline which result in a clarity and purposefulness rare in any work and especially in a history. The book primarily tells what happened to English ecclesiastical life with 1509 and 1547, and how it happened. Reformation and schism are separated, and the 'supreme head of the Church of England' is separately explained. The division into chapters and the organization of the whole material is planned to clarify individually these three contrasting motives, which, during the reign of Henry VIII, maintained individuality. The chapters on the divorce, royal supremacy and the champions of Catholic unity, and the discussions of international policy build up with great interest and authority the role of the king. The chapters on the advanced party, on the Henricians and on dogma, with liberal but most purposeful use of biography, distinguish the heretical and schismatical strands. -- Back cover.