A Student's History of England, v. 2: 1509-1689 / From the Earliest Times to the Death of King Edward VII

A chronological account traces political, religious, and social transformations across the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries, emphasizing the rupture with external ecclesiastical authority and the reordering of church and state. It describes the suppression and reform of religious institutions, successive programs of liturgical and legal change, and the oscillation between reforming and reactionary regimes. The narrative follows rising tensions with continental powers and maritime enterprises, then domestic rupture into armed conflict, a republican interlude, and eventual restoration accompanied by evolving party divisions, plots, and constitutional adjustments. Social and cultural chapters survey urban life, commerce, the arts, architecture, and scientific inquiry.