Pretty good account, though he assumes a lot of previous knowledge and his role is really just to throw out various situations and go off on his idea of the thing. Luther not too important. Calvin is. England is critical and decisive on account of the middle nobles wanting to scarf up the church's property. Then these same "new millionaires" propping up and controlling Elizabeth.
Still.. a good conversational account. ( )

X

Lido - excelente - 2021 ( )

How the Reformation Happened is Hilaire Belloc's version of the events and motivations that resulted in the Reformation. And it is hardly an unbiased account. Much like his friend Chesterton, Belloc tends towards the Catholic polemic, so if you are looking for a Protestant-positive history, you should look elsewhere. To Belloc all Protestants were either crazed fanatics or avaricious nobles. Interestingly, some of his thoughts on the Reformation dovetail nicely with the revisionist historiography (Eamon Duffy et al.) that has come to the fore since the 1990s.

Overall, Belloc is preaching to the choir, since few non-Catholics are going to be reading this, but I thought his perspective on Elizabeth I was novel and interesting. It doesn't mean I'm going to think positively about her any time soon, but I do suppose I pity her a bit now. And I think Belloc would be just fine with that. ( )

1928. Two historical problems are of prime importance to our race. To understand them sufficiently is to understand ourselves. To misapprehend them is to misapprehend our own nature: what made our culture and what threatens to destroy it. The first of these problems is the conversion of the Roman Empire to Catholicism. How came the pagan world to be baptized? What made Christendom? The second is the disaster of the 16th century. How came Christendom to suffer shipwreck? What made the Reformation? It is the second question which Belloc approaches in this book. ~Amazon