ISBN 978 1 85944 119 0. First published by the Historical Association 1992. 2000 by the Davenant Press. Re-printed 2015.
The author examines the historiography of the concept of a ‘mid-Tudor crisis’ first implied by Neale and Elton and crystallised by Whitney Jones in 1973. She suggests that the mid-Tudor period was one of continuity rather than change. The revolts of 1549 were not caused by starving peasants but economic circumstances or reflected the resistance to religious change. She suggests that the attempt to alter the succession in favour of Jane Grey was a blip, that Foxe’s assessment of Mary’s reign was not reliable and that Mary’s failed pregnancy frustrated Philip’s ambition. Thus the Tudor Monarchy moved with ease from Henry VIII through to Elizabeth.
Jennifer Loach died in 1995 shortly before her fiftieth birthday. She was Fellow of Somerville College, Oxford and University Lecturer She also wrote Protector Somerset for Headstart History/Davenant Press. Reprinting both received the support of Jennifer’s husband Alan Loach.