William Turner's Polemical Use of Ecclesiastical History and His Controversy with Stephen Gardiner

Abstract

The polemical use of secular and ecclesiastical history was introduced into Protestant English Reformation controversy by William Tyndale, popularized by Simon Fish, polished by Robert Barnes and George Joye, and perfected by John Bale. These Reformers developed a Protestant theory of English and European history which maintained that for centuries the affairs of the European states had been conducted for the benefit of the Pope and that secular rulers were merely the puppets of papal policy, retained in power only so long as they obeyed the dictates of Rome, to be removed, as was Kingjohn of England, the moment they proved recalcitrant.