Reformation and Renaissance History and Literature Anthology II

This anthology traces the dramatic transformation of Europe from the late Tudor age through the high Reformation and into the dawn of modern thought. It brings together proclamations, martyrdoms, and councils that shaped the political and spiritual face of Christendom, revealing how faith, power, and conscience collided from Henry VIII to Galileo. Alongside these historical voices stand the literary masters of England’s golden age—poets and playwrights who turned theology into art and inward devotion into beauty. Together, they chart the journey from external reform to the interior life of faith and imagination.

Readings and Authors

• John Colet — Convocation Sermons — 1467–1519

• King Henry VIII — Defence of the Seven Sacraments (1521); Marriage Controversy; Act of Supremacy (1534); Act of Six Articles (1539) — 1491–1547

• Death of Cardinal Wolsey — from Acts and Monuments (John Foxe) — 1516–1587

• Bishop Hugh Latimer — Sermons and Martyrdom Accounts — ca. 1487–1555

• Bishop Nicholas Ridley — Letters and Martyrdom Accounts — ca. 1500–1555

• Thomas Cromwell — Reform Correspondence and Acts — ca. 1485–1540

• “Bloody” Mary I of England — Acts and Monuments (accounts of her reign) — 1516–1558

• John Knox — Selected Works — 1514–1572

• Council of Trent — 1545–1563

• Saint Bartholomew’s Day Massacre — contemporary French accounts, 1572

• Edict of Nantes — issued by King Henry IV of France, 1598 — 1553–1610

• Canons of Dort — 1618–1619 (Synod of Dort, Dutch Reformed Church)

• Act of Uniformity — 1662 (Restoration Parliament, England)

• Thirty Years’ War Primary Texts — 1618–1648 (Imperial edicts and peace treaties)

• Galileo Galilei — Sidereus Nuncius (The Starry Messenger) — 1564–1642

Literature Section (LIT)

• William Shakespeare — Much Ado About Nothing — 1564–1616

• Sir Philip Sidney — Defence of Poesy; Astrophil and Stella — 1554–1586

• John Bunyan — The Pilgrim’s Progress — 1628–1688

• John Donne — Collected Poems — 1572–1631

• George Herbert — The Temple — 1593–1633