This has to be the best work I've ever read on the period from Henry VIII through Edward and Mary and the first decade or so of Elizabeth. The book was completed in the lifetime of the reign of terror of Elizabeth and the authors were first-hand witnesses, one of them sentenced to death with Edmund Campion but was expelled from the country instead. Rare and candid insights into the debauchery of Henry and his many wives as well as his saintly first wife, Catherine. I wish I could give it more than 5 stars. ( )

Mistakes were made,

From the blurb:

WRITTEN c. 1573, [The Rise and Growth of the Anglican Schism]by the Rev. Dr. Nichols Sander, has heretofore been a rare book, one found in few libraries and hardly ever on the used market. Yet this book is a truly great sourcebook of information on the Protestant "Reformation" in England, an essential book used by writers about the history of the "Reformation." For herein is told in incredible detail the story of [Henry VIII] (1509-1547), the English king who separated his country from Rome and assumed the headship of the Church in England as a result of his mad effort to have a male heir. The author describes his wicked life and despotic rule: how he married [Anne Boleyn], who was his own illegitimate daughter (from whom was born Elizabeth), and who in her effort to provide Henry with a "son" had relations with 5 other men (including her brother); how this led to her execution and Henry's marrying Jane Seymour, who bore him Edward VI (1547-1553), the child king who after Henry's relatively "early" death at 57 assumed the crown under regency and died at only age 16—ironically, on the anniversary of Henry's beheading St. Thomas More.

First published in 1585, this book soon became famous far beyond England and was translated into many languages. The English editor states that it is "the earliest and most trust¬worthy account which we possess of the great changes in Church and State that were wrought in the reign of Henry VIII." The prestigious Diction-ary of National Biography (Oxford, 1917) states that the book became widely circulated on the continent and that "it formed the basis of every Roman Catholic history of the [Protestant Reformation]." In England it met with a torrent of denunciation, especially because of Sander's statements on Anne's parentage; this story, however, was no invention of Fr. Sander. Regarding the book overall, "Recent historians have, however, shown that... his [Sander's] narrative of the facts is remarkably truthful. In almost every disputed point he has been proved right. . ." (D.N.B.)

Many other salient and interesting points of "Reformation" history are brought forward by Fr. Sander and Fr. Edward Rishton, showing what dastardly characters they were who effected the Anglican Schism. And though Sander's work ends with the restoration of the Catholic Faith under the reign of Queen Mary (1553-1558), Fr. Rishton continues the story into the reign of Queen Elizabeth (1558-1603). He shows how Elizabeth and her lackeys, in an effort to protect her illegitimate position as queen, reintroduced the Anglican Schism and persecuted English Catholics unmercifully, and furthermore, that they stirred up Protestant revolts in other countries. Under Elizabeth, it was a treasonous crime to say Mass, to hear Mass, to hear Confessions, to go to Confession, to be an active Catholic priest, to harbor a Catholic priest—in short, to be a practicing Catholic. Further, he describes the work of the heroic priests, such as St. Edmund Campion, who returned from the seminary colleges of Douai and Rheims on the Continent to bring English Catholics the Sacraments, how they were hunted down like dogs, and how they died the heroic deaths of martyrs—as did many lay Catholics who stood firm despite confiscation of their homes, imprisonment, torture and death. He also describes Elizabeth's treacherous imprisonment and execution of the Catholic, Mary Queen of Scots, her cousin and the rightful heir to the English throne.

In all, The Rise and Growth of the Anglican Schism provides an intimate look into the lives and times of the unsavory characters who produced the disastrous Protestant "Reformation" in England. It is a unique book that cannot be ignored by anyone interested in the complete and true story of that sad, sad event." ( )

The real story of the Anglican Schism. It ain't pretty.