A period in European history marked by efforts to reform the Christian Church
Durant on the sons of Francis I, Catherine de' Medici's hard youth, the long ascendancy of Diane de Poitiers over Henri II, the Chambre Ardente and the rise of the Huguenots, the wars with Charles V and Philip II, and the king's death in the lists in 1559.
Durant on the young Henry VIII as athlete, musician and patron of humanists, John Colet and St. Paul's School, the rise of Thomas Wolsey from Ipswich to cardinal and chancellor, his diplomacy from the Treaty of London to the Field of Cloth of Gold, and the wealth, pomp and rule of the man called a second king.
Durant on the condition of the English Church before the Reformation, John Colet's sermon on reform, Lollards and Cambridge reformers, Henry VIII's defense of the sacraments against Luther, William Tyndale's English New Testament, Wolsey's mild handling of heresy and his plan to close small monasteries, and the failure of his foreign policy.
Durant on Henry VIII's marriage to his brother's widow, the lack of a male heir, his passion for Anne Boleyn, the failed appeals to Pope Clement VII, the legatine trial at Blackfriars, Queen Catherine's plea, and the fall and death of Cardinal Wolsey.
Durant on the Reformation Parliament and Convocation, Simon Fish's Supplication of the Beggars, the submission of the clergy, Henry's marriage to Anne Boleyn, the Acts of Appeals, Succession and Supremacy, Thomas Cromwell's rise, and the executions of Carthusian monks and Bishop Fisher.
Durant on Thomas More's youth, his friendship with Erasmus, his piety and public career, his History of Richard III, and the Utopia of 1516, its communal island, laws, religion and its criticism of enclosure and the rich.
Durant on Thomas More's service under Henry VIII, his chancellorship, his campaign against Protestantism, his refusal of the Act of Succession oath, his trial and execution in 1535, and the reaction in Europe.
Durant on the fates of Catherine of Aragon, Anne Boleyn and Jane Seymour after Thomas More's death, the fall of Anne in 1536, the birth of Edward VI, English opinion of Henry VIII, and Reginald Pole's attack on the king.
Durant on Thomas Cromwell's rise to power, Henry VIII's financial need, the visitation and closure of England's monasteries, the northern risings of 1536–37, the confiscated wealth, and the lasting economic, social and educational consequences.
Durant on England's rule of Ireland from 1300 to the 1540s, Henry VIII's absolute power, the English Bible, the Six Articles, and the economic and social changes of his reign: enclosure, poverty, rising prices and the growth of cloth manufacture.
Durant's portrait of Henry VIII: his character, his marriages to Anne of Cleves, Catherine Howard and Catherine Parr, the burnings for heresy, the last wars, his death in 1547, and a balanced judgment of the English Reformation.
Durant on the boy king Edward VI, the Duke of Somerset's regency, the first steps of English Protestantism and Cranmer's Book of Common Prayer, the war with Scotland, the fall of Thomas Seymour, Kett's rebellion, and Somerset's overthrow.
