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The Liturgical Commemoration of the Reformation, 1534-1625

Ryrie, Alec

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Authors



Contributors

Alexandra Walsham
Editor

Bronwyn Wallace
Editor

Ceri Law
Editor

Brian Cummings
Editor

Abstract

This chapter considers how the English Reformation was, or, mostly, was not recalled in official liturgical documents. The first section surveys the evolution of calendars of saints from the 1530s to the version that became fixed in the Book of Common Prayer from 1562 onwards, which included a great many ancient and medieval commemorations but none from later than the thirteenth century, and cites alternative commemorative models which Tudor regimes could have embraced but chose not to. It then discusses why the Book of Common Prayer so pointedly ignored the upheavals of the Reformation, unlike the Scottish Book of Common Order, arguing that this reflects the need to unite a bitterly divided nation through ‘common prayer’ which was also an act of oblivion. The final section traces how a new myth of the English Reformation was created by occasional services of national prayer during Elizabeth I’s reign, a myth in which the Reformation’s central event was Elizabeth’s own accession, providentially delivering her people from Mary Tudor’s tyranny. This myth faded from the liturgy with the queen’s death, to be replaced by a new liturgical emphasis on popish cruelty based around a new commemoration.

Citation

Ryrie, A. (2020). The Liturgical Commemoration of the Reformation, 1534-1625. In A. Walsham, B. Wallace, C. Law, & B. Cummings (Eds.), Memory and the English Reformation. Cambridge University Press. https://doi.org/10.1017/9781108900157

Online Publication Date Oct 30, 2020
Publication Date 2020-10
Deposit Date Feb 22, 2019
Publicly Available Date Oct 27, 2021
Publisher Cambridge University Press
Book Title Memory and the English Reformation
Chapter Number 23
DOI https://doi.org/10.1017/9781108900157
Publisher URL https://www.cambridge.org/core/books/memory-and-the-english-reformation/liturgical-commemoration-of-the-english-reformation-15341625/285DA726FB4EE243B1421B7DDE66AB90

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Copyright Statement
This material has been published in Memory and the English Reformation edited by Alexandra Walsham,
Bronwyn Wallace, Ceri Law and
Brian Cummings. This version is free to view and download for personal use only. Not for re-distribution, re-sale or use in derivative works. © Cambridge University Press




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