Characters of the Reformation: Historical Portraits of the 23 Men and Women and Their Place in the Great Religious Revolution of the 16th Century

Rating:
Summary: Excellent, Readable, and Concise
Review: Belloc does an outstanding job tracing a thread of continuity among the characters selected for this study. He is not wholly partisan, managing to achieve some slight pathos for Anne Boleyn & Elizabeth. To get this across to a partially educated Catholic reader is no mean feat, particularly when the last reformation history they read was Cobbett's polemic.

I did note that Belloc relies on Cobbett's History of the Protestant Reformation in England & Ireland as a source. And while this work is rousing, fairly convincing, and entertaining, it is too strong a piece of counter-propoganda to be relied upon.

Still, this has minor impact on Belloc's portrait. His assertion that the Reformation hinged in England is well supported. If anything, there is a subtle disdain for the Austrian/Spanish emporers (which I attribute to Belloc's Anglo-franco environment), particularly compared with the much more rigorous treatment by Warren Carroll.

This is an engaging read, and certainly provides an angle on the Reformation that is unlikely to be developed elsewhere. The book cannot be read without prior knowledge of Reformation & European history, or without a handy reference, as Belloc does not fully develop the historical context around his characters. Rather, the focus is on the characters themselves, and in this, Belloc is admirably successful in his efforts to rewrite the legacies of these individuals.

Finally, I found most impressive Belloc's assertions that Pascal and Descartes (as products of the Reformation) were the unwitting forebears of secularism, rationalism, and materialism. While Belloc's very brief argument needs further scrutiny, his division of Western Thought into Greek/Thomastic and post-Descartes is intriguing.

Rating:
Summary: Excellent, Readable, and Concise
Review: Belloc does an outstanding job tracing a thread of continuity among the characters selected for this study. He is not wholly partisan, managing to achieve some slight pathos for Anne Boleyn & Elizabeth. To get this across to a partially educated Catholic reader is no mean feat, particularly when the last reformation history they read was Cobbett's polemic.

I did note that Belloc relies on Cobbett's History of the Protestant Reformation in England & Ireland as a source. And while this work is rousing, fairly convincing, and entertaining, it is too strong a piece of counter-propoganda to be relied upon.

Still, this has minor impact on Belloc's portrait. His assertion that the Reformation hinged in England is well supported. If anything, there is a subtle disdain for the Austrian/Spanish emporers (which I attribute to Belloc's Anglo-franco environment), particularly compared with the much more rigorous treatment by Warren Carroll.

This is an engaging read, and certainly provides an angle on the Reformation that is unlikely to be developed elsewhere. The book cannot be read without prior knowledge of Reformation & European history, or without a handy reference, as Belloc does not fully develop the historical context around his characters. Rather, the focus is on the characters themselves, and in this, Belloc is admirably successful in his efforts to rewrite the legacies of these individuals.

Finally, I found most impressive Belloc's assertions that Pascal and Descartes (as products of the Reformation) were the unwitting forebears of secularism, rationalism, and materialism. While Belloc's very brief argument needs further scrutiny, his division of Western Thought into Greek/Thomastic and post-Descartes is intriguing.

Rating:
Summary: Review from the Publisher
Review: Characters of the Reformation is a great insight into the motives of the folks who brought us the reformation. If you like Plutarch's Lives of famous Roman and Greeks, you'll like this book's style. Belloc examines each person's virtues and foibles, showing how they led to the split of Western Christendom. Luther, Calvin, various popes, and political figures are there. Belloc also includes overlooked characters, especially women like Catherine of Aragon, Anne Boleyn, Mary Tudor and Elizabeth I. Belloc, who was a close friend of G.K. Chesterton, puts a Roman Catholic spin on the Reformation which is too often considered only from a Protestant perspective. Whatever your perspective, if you like knowing what makes people "tick," you'll get a kick out of this book.

Rating:
Summary: Excellent read for a beginner
Review: For someone who knew next to nothing about the Reformation, this was perhaps the best book I could have picked up. Belloc is a polemicist, and he approaches the Reformation from the position of a belligerent Catholic. For a reader used to the smug "on the one hand, on the other hand" stance typical of contemporary historians, who are above actually taking a stand while secretly harboring their own prejudices, Belloc's proud ethnocentrism is welcome by contrast. The treatments of each figure are brief, and Belloc knows how to bring out the most interesting attribute of each and how it fits within the larger drama. He focuses most of his attention on the English "accident," as he prefers to consider it, and he treats minor English figures such as Thomas Cromwell and Stephen Gardiner. Belloc's basic argument is that the Reformation was a large accident, triggered by the impulsive Henry, and abetted by greedy urban nobles eager to consolidate their claim to church property. Although I am not familiar with the relevant literature, I imagine that Belloc's opinions are not widely held. For just that reason, as well as Belloc's engaging prose style, this book is an excellent read.

Rating:
Summary: A Dissenting Opinion
Review: I appear to be the only Protestant reviewer of this book, so my opinion is bound to be from another angle -- but in addition, I am a professional historian and book reviewer, and I found this book unforgivably biased. From an historical standpoint, Belloc's facts are frequently off kilter. For example, in his explication of Anne Boleyn he declares that it was Anne herself who broke her engagement to Henry Percy, heir to the Earl of Northumberland, when she "found she had a chance of higher game." This assertion alone is sheer nonsense, since Cardinal Wolsey's chronicler and servant tells us that Wolsey himself commanded Percy, then a member of his household, to break off the engagement, in spite of Percy's protests, and that Anne was so infuriated over this that she vowed to work the Cardinal an injury if it ever came within her power. Like many historians -- particularly those of an anti-Protestant bias -- he is unwilling to see Anne as anything but a scheming, social-climbing wench, when there is a great deal of evidence to the contrary. Perhaps this point may seem trivial, but in the historical scheme of things, it tells us a great deal about Anne's character -- much of which Belloc is determined to malign without factual basis.

The entire book is so intensely anti-Protestant in its bias that Belloc allows practically no room for the possibility that some characters of the English Reformation might have been sincere in their beliefs, rather than just opportunists and power-mongers. Belloc reveals his prejudice in his very first chapter, The Nature of Reformation, when he laments the fact that much of Europe turned Protestant in the 16th and 17th centuries, particularly England, and opines that had Roman Catholicism remained in power the continent would not be in the mess it's in today. This is not a history, it's a piece of blatant propaganda, and no one, Catholic, Protestant, atheist or otherwise should depend on it as an historical authority. Read a variety of sources, sift and ponder, and then come to your own conclusions -- don't take Belloc's word for it, unless you're looking for an undergirding for an entirely biased look at history. Belloc almost sounds as if he could become wistful and nostalgic over people like Archbishop Bonner or the Spanish Inquisition.

Rating:
Summary: A good intro to the Reformation from a Catholic viewpoint
Review: Ordinary Catholics like myself know little to nothing about why there exist such a multitude of Protestant churches standing outside their Church. Thanks to my deficient education in modern Jesuit schools, I picked this book knowing only the 'traditional' interpretations of the Protestant Reformation and its principle characters such as Henry VIII, Elizabeth I, Cardinal Richelieu, Oliver Cromwell, etc. Offering brief biographies of 23 men and women central to the Protestant Reformation, Belloc attempts to demonstrate that the Reformation, at least in Britain, was driven more by political and economic forces than by a genuine pious desire to reform the Catholic Church. The central theme established throughout the brief bios is that the Reformation would never have succeeded in dividing Christendom permanently without the victory it achieved in England. And, that this victory in England would never have been achieved if not for the avarice of those Britons whose fortunes were derived directly from the looting of Church property.

I found Belloc's thesis to be well-buttressed and compelling. I would recommend this book to those who, like myself, have only ever heard the traditional (ie. Protestant) interpretation of the Reformation. It would also be useful to someone with little knowledge of the subject looking for a readable and interesting starting point.

Rating:
Summary: a must-read -- finally, the truth about the Reformation
Review: This is the first book I've read by Belloc and I'm forever indebted to Belloc for the truth contained in his writings and his writing styles. I enjoyed the book so much that I immediately went online and ordered seven more books of his!

First, regarding his writing style: Belloc doesn't use boring footnotes or cite historical sources. This is actually appreciated, rather than criticized, for, the footnotes and sources are often ignored by the reader anyway and get in the way of the writing's flow. Also, Belloc writes remarkably like a modern-day writer in, say, a magazine article. He is speaking to the layperson in an easy to read style that is almost like a conversation. You will breeze through page after page.

Second, regarding the substance of Belloc's writing: this is an INDISPENSABLE work. Belloc starts out by stating that the English Reformation cannot be overemphasized because if England had not become Protestant, all of Europe would be Catholic today. This is most certainly true and Belloc easily lays out why. A chapter is dedicated to each person who played a major role in the Reformation, or attempted to combat it: characters like Henry VIII, Thomas More, Mary Tudor, Elizabeth, Mary Stuart, Thomas Cranmer, Thomas Cromwell, Steven Gardiner, etc. (23 individuals total). The chapters are small (a few pages each) and thus easily retain the reader's interest while still providing enough information for the reader to have an accurate picture of each individual.

Lastly, Belloc is writing from a Catholic viewpoint and, as such, the portrayals of the characters are devoid of the usual "the Protestant Reformation was a great and noble undertaking" bias and baloney. Some may say that, conversely, Belloc writes with a Catholic bias but, even if that is the case, such a work is necessary to counter the Protestant bias in nearly all works on the Reformation, written by Protestants.

If you're ready for the truth (that the Reformation was successful due to greedy, powerful Englishmen who had a perverse incentive to see it succeed -- to hold on to the enormous wealth they had acquired through confiscation of church property when the break with Rome occurred), get this book!! Get all of Belloc's books!!

Rating:
Summary: The true story
Review: Through the lives of 23 people of the era Hilaire Belloc explains very well how each one played a role in causing the Reformation. This book isn't about the Reformers themselves but the politics behind it, and is mostly about the English Reformation, for he believed, had English not left the Church, Protestantism would have died.

The largest flaw is a lack of cited sources.

Rating:
Summary: The true story
Review: Through the lives of 23 people of the era Hilaire Belloc explains very well how each one played a role in causing the Reformation. This book isn't about the Reformers themselves but the politics behind it, and is mostly about the English Reformation, for he believed, had English not left the Church, Protestantism would have died.

The largest flaw is a lack of cited sources.

Rating:
Summary: A good companion to How The Reformation Happened
Review: While others might fault Belloc for repeating essentially the same thesis about the Reformation that he put forth in How The Reformation Happened, he still does a marvelous job of sticking with a good formula and adding new twists to it. In this work he does brief sketches of the lives of the most influential political, military and philosophical figures of the time and shows how they related to the religious revolution known as the "reformation." As he weaves these 23 lives together he shows the reader how their private and public choices lead to the shipwreck of Christendom and how the European civilization after the Reformation was rebuilt. All in all a facinating read that I highly recommend.