Anglo -Saxons in the print and polemic of Tudor England

This dissertation attempts to fill a large gap in the historiography of the Anglo-Saxon period, that is its reception in Tudor England. It is a commonplace that the English Reformers used Anglo-Saxon history to support their Reformation. Yet that recognition usually extends only as far as discussing the collection and publication of Anglo-Saxon texts by Archbishop Parker and the ecclesiastical history of John Foxe, both of whom were writing in the reign of Elizabeth. This dissertation discusses the many other writers who used Anglo-Saxon history to support and encourage the Reformation from its inception. A major premise of this work is that the polemic was intended for general distribution amongst the public and so this polemical Anglo-Saxon history defined the Anglo-Saxon history that ordinary Englishmen knew.;In the early years of the Reformation the uses of Anglo-Saxon history fell into three particular areas: support of the Royal Supremacy over the Church and the usurpation of that authority by the papacy; the antiquity of Britain's history; and the superiority of Protestantism over Catholicism. The first two particularly supported Henry's royal claims to imperial authority and reflected much of the officially inspired propaganda. The polemic from the reigns of Henry VIII, Edward VI and Mary was written by a variety of authors, and covered a variety of genre from short rhyming histories to book-length anti-Catholic vitriol.;Under Elizabeth Anglo-Saxon history was used extensively by Parker, Jewel and many others to define the tradition of the Church of England. This use of Anglo-Saxon history was in decline by the mid-1580s as Puritan and post-Tridentine Catholic attacks on the Church of England were founded less in Church tradition and more on Scripture. At the same time secular writers turned to Anglo-Saxon history to find precedents for political and governmental institutions. These developments also mark the removal of Anglo-Saxon history from the public arena of polemical print to the more exclusive scholarly study.;The changing reputations of numerous Anglo-Saxon and British churchmen, kings and queens are also discussed.