Confessional conflicts of the Reformation era as a factor of formation of the English people

Статья посвящена анализу дискуссий в британской историографии по проблемам Реформации и её воздействию на английское общество. Данная проблематика рассматривается в контексте различных методологических подходов, актуальных в разное время и в разных направлениях исторической науки. Это позволяет исследовать английскую Реформацию с самых разных ракурсов, от политического до культурно-антропологического, что помогает создать её комплексную картину. The article analyses the debates of the British historians of the second half of XX century on the problems of Reformation and its effects on the English society. These problems are viewed in the context of various research methods, from the political ones till cultural anthropology. It gives a complex picture of English Reformation.

Why the English Reformation succeeded demonising witches but failed with fairies

The article aims to explain the significance of Shakespeare’s transformations of the fairy image (A Midsummer Night’s Dream), which represent a shiſt in English mentality in early modern times and establish astill relevant tradition. The author follows the evolution of the perception of thesupernatural in popular consciousness, contemporary documents (bestiaries, treatises, and court proceedings), as well as literature (Spenser, Chaucer, and Milton). N. Zelezinskaya proceeds to identify the factors influencing the image of fairies in a religious, cultural, and philosophical context: opinions of d’Abano, Buridan, and Pomponazzi; the division into divine and false miracles, the Protestant crusade against the belief in spirits, the association of fairies with Papism, Elizabethan masquerades, and fears of James I and others. The article mentions the two traditions in thedepiction of fairies and explores the unique quality of Shakespearean images: agglutination of the two traditions in the same play, transformed appearance of fairies, distancing from the witchcraſt discourse, enhancement of positive connotations, and downgrading of the fairy queen’s image.

Historical Perception of Europe as “the Other” as the Basis of British Euroscepticism

This paper proves that British Euroscepticism is not just a consequence of the peculiarities of the current political situation but the result of the centuries-old specific attitude of Great Britain to Europe as the other sociocultural space different in many senses from the United Kingdom. The roots of this attitude can be found in the English Reformation of the 16th century which rigidly opposed “British” Protestantism to “European” Catholicism. Several examples of historical events that have aggravated this religious and cultural rift are given. As a result, the British vision of Europeans shared by political elites as people with a different way of life, habits and traditions resulted in a sceptical attitude towards European integration and Britain's participation in it. The statements of famous British politicians regarding European integration and participation of Great Britain in it are cited to confirm the vision of Europe as “the Other” by the political elites of the United Kingdom. It is argued that British Euroscepticism is largely determined and inspired by cultural exceptionalism. Therefore, special attention is paid to the analysis of the British version of cultural Euroscepticism.

Memory and the Dissolution of the Monasteries in Early Modern England

The dissolution of the monasteries was recalled by individuals and communities alike as a seismic rupture in the religious, cultural, and socio-economic fabric of early modern England. It was also profoundly important in shaping contemporary historical consciousness, the topographical imagination, and local tradition. Memory and the Dissolution is a book about the dissolution of the monasteries after the dissolution. Harriet Lyon argues that our understanding of this historical moment is enriched by taking a long chronological view of the suppression, by exploring how it was remembered to those who witnessed it and how this memory evolved in subsequent generations. Exposing and repudiating the assumptions of a conventional historiography that has long been coloured by Henrician narratives and sources, this book reveals that the fall of the religious houses was remembered as one of the most profound and controversial transformations of the entire English Reformation.

The Institutionalization of the Congregational Singing of Metrical Psalms in the Elizabethan Reformation

Previous scholarship has often employed the categories of ‘voluntary’ and ‘established’ religion when studying lay involvement in parish religion; yet these categories do not provide adequate space for the vitality of lay religious initiatives during the English Reformation. Through a study of the singing of metrical psalms, this article argues that the categories of ‘inspiration’ and ‘institution’ provide a more nuanced understanding of lay religious initiatives during the English Reformation. It outlines the ways in which the singing of metrical psalms, taken from the Sternhold and Hopkins Whole Booke of Psalmes, moved from its origins in domestic devotions, through inspirational initiative, to become an institutionalized part of the worship of English congregations. This process developed over many years, coming to the fore during the reign of Elizabeth I, yet even once institutionalization had occurred, inspiration could still arise, providing fresh direction and development.