England's Wars of Religion, Revisited

• Published in: Bunyan studies no. 19; p. 130
• Main Author: Stewart, Laura A M
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Newcastle Upon Tyne Northumbria University, Department of Humanities, Faculty of Arts, Design and Social Sciences 01.01.2015
• Subjects: 17th century; British & Irish literature; Bunyan, John (1628-1688); English Civil War; English literature; Essays; Historians; Intellectual development; Perceptions; Religion; Scott, David; United Kingdom > UK; England
• ISSN: 0954-0970

Some readers may wonder why an approach that was not central to Morrill's intellectual development has been privileged over his pioneering arguments in favour of an integrative 'British' account of the wars; Morrill himself notes this point. Since the publication of the book, new studies have emerged - in edited collections such as that by Robert Armstrong and Tadgh Ó hAnnracháin, in monograph studies by, amongst others, Hunter Powell, and in work on the Westminster Assembly - that demonstrate how religious interests were cross-border and complicated 'national' politics. McGee's argument sits in tension with that posited by Alan Cromartie for understanding the place of William Laud in civil war historiography. Current writing on Catholic communities often seems to deal with two discrete periods either side of the wars; this essay is a useful reminder that more work remains to be done on Catholic engagement with, and perceptions of, the crisis of the mid seventeenth century.