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Edited by Edward Surtz, S.J. and Virginia Murphy Foreword by John Guy. Angers : Moreana, 1988. ISBN 2-904309-02-0. Pp. (8)-xliv-490. US $ 60. Fr. fr. 300.
An Essay in Praise and Probing : Part I
LET it be said at once that anyone seriously concerned with early Tudor history has no choice but to ponder or at the very least consult this source. So much special scholarly effort, and so many hours from so many people have seldom graced any project as this edition of and commentary on the divorce documents entitled Censurae Academiarum and Determinations of the Universities '. Both teams involved, the « research and development » Henricians writing in 1527-32 and those attempting to explicate their motives and actions in 1984-88, went about their task in very serious, academic and for the most part perceptive manner. We should appreciate the efforts of two very professional groups writing across the chasm of 450 years.
When a reviewer attempts to appreciate a volume of this magnitude, a quest for its 'place' in the literature of Tudor history is at once undertaken. In June 1531, Sir Roger Page of Derbyshire stated that « one master Cromwell penned certain maters in the Parliament house which no man gainsaid. » 2 Just what was Sir Roger referring to ? Dr. Murphy here makes a strong claim for Henrician literature in circulation during those months as the fruit of at least four years of research and writing under careful royal supervision. 3. Such a claim, that we should look back to 1527 and the king himself for the inception of Henrician literature, challenges three decades of accepted orthodoxy amongst Tudor historians on a number of significant issues. In particular, Professors Elton and Scarisbrick have convinced most readers that 1529-1532 passed as « years without a policy » and that - until Thomas Cromwell entered upon the scene - so sophisticated an enterprise as organized polemical literature on Henry's behalf simply did not exist 4. We are indeed on new ground when John Guy affirms about these Divorce Tracts :
the King himself was the author of each tract in a very real sense. The edition will therefore prove the starting point for all future historical work on the...