The History of the Reformation of the Church of England: in Two Parts.

Gilbert Burnet’s voluminous History of the Reformation of the Church of England constitutes the first attempt to write an account of the English Reformation from authentic sources. Burnet began his research in 1677 in answer to a new French translation of Nicholas Sanders’s De origine et progressu schismatia Anglicani libri tres (1585), which saw the English Reformation as illegitimate, being a political act executed by a corrupt king. Burnet conceded Henry VIII’s faults, but argued that flawed princes could still be instruments of divine providence. Lack both of time and of attention to detail led to numerous mistakes. But Burnet’s defence of the Reformation met with tremendous acclaim (all the more so because the Popish Plot came to light while Burnet was writing), with thanks from both Houses of Parliament, the conferral of the degree of Doctor of Divinity from Oxford, and several editions of the text and abridgements. Burnet’s dedication to Charles II outlines the Reformation as an ongoing process: begun under Henry VIII, advanced under Edward VI, sealed with the blood of Marian martyrs; brought to a full settlement under Elizabeth I; defended by James I; overthrown under Charles I; and restored by Charles II’s restoration to the throne.