This prize-winning account of the pre-Reformation church recreates lay people�s experience of religion in fifteenth-century England. Eamon Duffy shows that late medieval Catholicism was neither decadent nor decayed, but was a strong and vigorous tradition, and that the Reformation represented a violent rupture from a popular and theologically respectable religious system. For this edition, Duffy has written a new Preface reflecting on recent developments in our understanding of the period. From reviews of the first edition: �A magnificent scholarly achievement [and] a compelling read.��Patricia Morrison, Financial Times �Deeply imaginative, movingly written, and splendidly illustrated. . . . Duffy�s analysis . . . carries conviction.��Maurice Keen, New York Review of Books �This book will afford enjoyment and enlightenment to layman and specialist alike.��Peter Heath, Times Literary Supplement �[An] astonishing and magnificent piece of work.��Edward T. Oakes, Commonweal… (more)