November 30, 2010
FIRST EDITION: A fundamental work of the English Reformation
A foundation for the legalization of divorce in England.
The Book:
[Thomas Cranmer; Walter Haddon; John Cheke, Sir; England and Wales. Commissioners on Revision of the Ecclesiastical Laws, 1550-1552.] Reformatio Legum Ecclesiasticarum : Ex Authoritate primum Regis Henrici. 8. inchoata: Deinde per Regem Edovardum 6. provecta, adauctaque in hunc modum, atque nunc ad pleniorem ipsarum reformationem in lucem aedita. Ex officina Johannis Daij: Londini, 1571. [10], 149, [3] leaves. small 4to., 19 x 14 cm., Original vellum boards.,spine renewed, endpapers renewed, some dampstaining (most visible on the lower part of the first 10 nunmbered leaves) and diminishing thereafter , some occasional old faint stains throughout. Generally, Very Good and COMPLETE. VERY RARE. [SOLD]
This very rare book is a fundamental work of the English Reformation. It was drawn up in 1552 by Commissioners headed by Thomas Cranmer, and published for the first time in 1571 with the later additions and amendments of Matthew Parker, by John Fox, the martyrologist. It was in part a codification that justified Henry’s earlier divorce from Catherine of Aragon, which resulted in the separation of the English Church from union with the Holy See. It notably provided a foundation for the the legalization of divorce whereby it established that marriage was not a sacrament, and that an innocent person might again marry in the case of adultery, absolute desertion, protracted absence, mortal enmities, or, cruelty. Due to the death of Edward VI, it was never officially enacted, but it did enjoy unofficial authority in ecclesiastical courts.
” Thomas Cranmer (2 July 1489 – 21 March 1556) was a leader of the English Reformation and Archbishop of Canterbury during the reigns of Henry VIII and Edward VI. ” [Wikipedia]
