Gilbert Burnet - History of The Reformation

History of The Reformation

In the mid-1670s a French translation of Nicholas Sanders' De origine et progressu schismatio Anglicani libri tres (1585) appeared. Sanders attacked the English Reformation because it was a political act carried on by a corrupt king. Several of Burnet's friends wished him to publish a rebuttal of the work so in 1679 his first volume of The History of the Reformation of the Church of England was published. This covered the reign of Henry VIII; the second volume (1681) covered the reign of Elizabeth and the Elizabethan Religious Settlement (the third volume (1714) consisted of corrections and additional material). The Parliament of England voted thanks for Burnet after the publication of the first volume and in 1680 the University of Oxford awarded Burnet the degree of doctor of divinity on the advice of William Sancroft, Archbishop of Canterbury.

His literary reputation was greatly enhanced by this publication, which was completed by other two volumes, in 1682 and 1714. For over a century this was the standard reference work in the field, although Catholics disputed some of its content.