John Longland, confessor to Henry VIII and bishop of Lincoln - a diocese which spanned nine counties and has a correspondingly important place in English history - occupied his see throughout the period of the Henrician Reformation. In her analysis of the diocese during his episcopate, based on exhaustive research in archives, Margaret Bowker reveals the impact of both royal policy and religious contention on the clergy and laity of a large part of England, and on the ecclesiastical structure of the diocese. The state of the Church and the reforms which are in progress within it during the decade before the Reformation are first discussed. Mrs Bowker then looks in detail at the effects of the break with Rome, and the royal policies associated with it, on the monasteries, the clergy, and the religious life of the diocese. Her account includes statistical analyses of both clergy and laity which will become essential reference material for future work on the English Reformation.
