A kingdom in two parishes

The market town of Bolton in the County and royal Duchy of Lancaster has been noted by specialist scholars and general writers alike for its extraordinary contribution to the history of the Reformation, Civil War, and Nonconformity, and to its stream of vigorous religious writers. In this book for the first time these authors are located in their native landscape and discussed in their rich individuality and as a group.

Aiming at supremacy in church and state, Henry VIII had destroyed regional pilgrimage shrines that drew both earthly and religious loyalty. Seeking a fairer image of God in Trinity, religious writers felt compelled to modify political concepts of authority, sovereignty, and assent already associated with Father, son, and Spirit. In the process, both God and the king were transformed.