Possession, Puritanism and Print

This new monograph tells a compelling story of injustice and passionate resistance to religious persecution in the last years of Queen Elizabeth's reign. Through an analysis of a sensational series of demonic possessions and exorcisms, it highlights the existence of controversies in print in the late Elizabethan period of the kind that would one day lead to civil war. This book is the first full-length, analytical study of the pamphlet controversy surrounding John Darrell, a rebellious 'puritan', and his group of exorcists.

Elizabeth I and Religion 1558 - 1603

Susan Doran describes and analyses the process of the Elizabethan Reformation, placing it in the English and the European context. She examines the religious views and policies of the Queen, the making of the 1559 settlement and the resulting reforms. The changing beliefs of the English people are discussed and the fortunes of both Puritanism and Catholicism. Finally she looks at the strength and weaknesses of Elizabeth I as Royal Governor, and of the Church of England as a whole.