The ecclesiastical historian John Strype (1643-1737) published the second volume of his monumental Elizabethan religious history Annals of the Reformation in 1725. For over two and a half centuries it remained one of the most important Protestant histories of the period and has been reprinted in numerous editions. Volume 2 Part 2 covers the years 1575 to 1580 focusing on European diplomacy; friendship with the Netherlands; difficulties with Mary Queen of Scots; the Queen's suitors; relations with the English episcopate; events at the University of Cambridge; and the printing of vernacular books. An appendix contains a rich selection of primary sources - state papers, official proclamations, royal records, and letters - for the period. Strype's thorough use of sources and the enormous scope and detail of his history has ensured its place as an outstanding work of eighteenth-century scholarship. It should be read by every student of Elizabethan religious history.
