History of the Protestant Reformation in England and Ireland

Rating:
Summary: Interesting and Uncommon Perspective
Review: I assume that it is common in former British colonies like the United States to have a fairly tilted view of things. After all, the Brits and French have been trying to out-snob each other since at least 1066. Nevertheless, until recently, I was unaware of the extent of this tacit anglophilia.

Cobbett's book is a key step in reconstructing an alternate history of the rise of British dominance. It is certainly worth note that his predictions of doom & gloom for Britain did not bear out, and the seeds of the industrial revolution that he deplored as a result of Protestant reformation were to eventually lead to a depth of world prosperity that puts his recitations of the daily diet of the yoeman to shame.

While keeping in mind that this is a work of propaganda, it should be simultaneously borne in mind that this is really a work of counterpropaganda. I don't really buy the "Cobbett was a Protestant" argument, as his vitriol is a little thick for a sustaining member of that segment. Nevertheless, the viewpoint he brings is worthy of note in that it is seldom heard with respect to the truisms of English History.

I would like to see a historical refutation (note that I refuse to say "an historical refutation", because I pronounce my "h's"). Cobbett certainly argues for the veracity of his own data.

This book will anger you or amuse you, alternatively. It's a nice study in how grudges get carried on for centuries. It's also a nice example of how time can accomplish great things, transforming Elizabeth into a movie star and Philip II into a historical nonentity.

Well worth the read, if slightly high-spirited.

Rating:
Summary: Proof the English 'Reformation' is a bad joke
Review: In some arguments with authentic Protestants of the Luther and Calvin vein, I learned for the first time that an authentic protestant does not consider the protestant 'conversion' in England to be a real one. Due to the passage of time and insufficient coverage and study of the Reformation, it was by generalized usage, that the Protestant move of England was lumped in with Calvin and Luther and Protestant thinking on the continent and also in Scotland.

This book, after which I do believe Cobbett did jail time, is so much proof that the English Reformation was one bent on pillage, looting and thievery of the highest order. The systematic looting of the manastaries, and the installment of the best and most productive thiefs into the House of Lords, thereby enshrining the families who stole the most from monastaries and hospitals and convents into the government of England up until the present day, is absolute proof of that sham called English Protestantism. The same 'Lords' installed during this time period, where the same Lords and horrendous monarchy that the United States had to break away from. This is the history that this book lays forth, and by and English Protestant no less. Do not let other reviewers fool you, Cobbett was at no phase of his life, keen on kneeling before the Pope.

This book is not propaganda, while the book is written in the stlye of an argument, the events, the lootings, and the revolts against the 'Protestants' all over England are given play. Also the horror of industrialism etc., did occur as feared by Cobbett in the forms of all the child labor used in England, as well as the sale of white slaves (see my other reviews) from England Ireland and Scotland.

This book allows you to make first, the leap that Protestant thought as developed by Luther and Calvin was partially adopted in England FOR THE SOLE PURPOSE OF LOOTING THE CAHTOLIC CHURCH, and secondly, you will need no other proof that the English monarchy is so decrepid as to demand every free person mock them all in their graves. Diana and Charles were certainly worthy heirs to that system, as Cobbett, on every page, will tell you.

Rating:
Summary: ....
Review: Preface, by Francis Cardinal Gasquet. This famous and highly respected work will be an eye-opening education for the person accustomed to the bland, factless, churchless, accepted "history" found in so many books today. It is a tragic depiction of the loss of millions upon millions of souls to the Catholic Faith, but very worth reading for getting the entire story straight - and all by a Protestant writer. This was written between 1824 and 1827 and has been reprinted many times by Catholic publishers because it gives the true and usually untold story of the Protestant Revolt in England during the 16th century. Even though a Protestant, the author shows that England was better when it was Catholic. For example, during Catholic times there was greater prosperity, no penury, no poor laws, almost no crime, no income tax, and a greater national military strength. Whereas, with the "Reformation" came the destruction of the monasteries, the driving of countless thousands of tenant farmers from the lands they had formerly rented (virtually in perpetuity and at cheap rents) from the Catholic monasteries, the creation of a vast number of homeless poor, the subsequent poor laws, income tax, a diminished military capacity, despotism by the monarchs, the Puritan Revolt, dictatorship of Cromwell, an increase of taxation, the rise of the national debt, and finally the American Revolution. Wow! Great stuff!