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Book Reviews

Book Reviews l a n d s c a p e s (2011), 2, pp. 101–114 Alexandra Walsham, The Reformation of the Landscape. Religion, Identity and Memory in Early Modern Britain and Ireland (2011) Oxford University Press, Oxford, 637+ xviii pages, 52 plates, £35.00 hb. When I was a student, the world of early-modern history was agog with Keith Thomas’ Religion and the Decline of Magic (Weidenfeld and Nicholson 1971). Like the book now under review, Thomas’s book was huge and, like Walsham’s, it sought to advance understanding by summoning a long procession of contemporary anecdotes to construct a broader thesis. In Walsham’s case the thesis is essentially that certain monuments in the landscape continued in use through the Reformation period and well into the Modern Age, and that simplistic notions of rational Protestantism driving out pagan, Popish or superstitious uses of such monuments are misplaced. The attack on such monuments only began in earnest in the 1580s (after something of a quiet period during the fifty years immediately following Henry VIII’s break with Rome), and was immediately countered by a spirited defence, particularly in the 1630s. Walsham shows that these disputes cannot have been the result of scientific rationalism driving http://www.deepdyve.com/assets/images/DeepDyve-Logo-lg.png Landscapes Taylor & Francis

Book Reviews

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Landscapes , Volume 12 (2): 14 – Dec 1, 2011
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Publisher
Taylor & Francis
Copyright
© 2011 Maney Publishing
ISSN
2040-8153
eISSN
1466-2035
DOI
10.1179/lan.2011.12.2.101
Publisher site
See Article on Publisher Site

Abstract

l a n d s c a p e s (2011), 2, pp. 101–114 Alexandra Walsham, The Reformation of the Landscape. Religion, Identity and Memory in Early Modern Britain and Ireland (2011) Oxford University Press, Oxford, 637+ xviii pages, 52 plates, £35.00 hb. When I was a student, the world of early-modern history was agog with Keith Thomas’ Religion and the Decline of Magic (Weidenfeld and Nicholson 1971). Like the book now under review, Thomas’s book was huge and, like Walsham’s, it sought to advance understanding by summoning a long procession of contemporary anecdotes to construct a broader thesis. In Walsham’s case the thesis is essentially that certain monuments in the landscape continued in use through the Reformation period and well into the Modern Age, and that simplistic notions of rational Protestantism driving out pagan, Popish or superstitious uses of such monuments are misplaced. The attack on such monuments only began in earnest in the 1580s (after something of a quiet period during the fifty years immediately following Henry VIII’s break with Rome), and was immediately countered by a spirited defence, particularly in the 1630s. Walsham shows that these disputes cannot have been the result of scientific rationalism driving

Journal

Landscapes – Taylor & Francis

Published: Dec 1, 2011

References

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  • The Making of Ireland's Landscape Since the Ice Age
  • Reading the Irish Landscape
  • Excavations at Stansted Airport 1986-2I