James Gairdner (1828 1912) was one of the foremost authorities of his day on the Tudor period. This magisterial four-volume survey (originally published 1908 1913) argues that the impetus for the English Reformation came from the Lollard movement of the late fourteenth century. A prolific researcher and editor, Gairdner devoted his career to English history, and his study is both meticulous and factually sound. His critics, however, were quick to observe that the Lollard hypothesis was tenuous, and this mature work is most valuable today to those interested in the history of Reformation...