Excerpt from Englands Fight With the Papacy: A Political HistoryIN the opinion of many, whose judgment I value, there is need for such a book as this. At first sight it seems strange that no other book exists which deals with the subject on anything like an adequate scale. And yet it will not be denied that it is a subject of national importance. Books almost without number have been written on the doctrinal con¿ict with Rome, but not one, so far as I am aware, which confines itself to the political con¿ict with the Papacy in this country during any lengthened period of time, and with sufficient fullness. Commencing with the Reign of William the Conqueror, I have recorded England's stern resistance to Papal extortions, and arrogant claims to temporal power, down to the birth of the Reformation. But few persons realise how widespread and stem that resistance was, as revealed in the documents I cite. That resistance was almost entirely political until the time of Wycliffe, but from that time onward there was added a stern opposition to many of the doctrines of the Church of Rome. With doctrinal questions, however, I have nothing to do in this book. The number of Acts of Parlia ment passed before the Reformation, limiting the political power of the Popes, will surprise some of my readers.With the Reformation began a new phase of England's Fight with the Papacy. The most desperate and pro longed efforts were made by Rome to recover lost ground. Her chief reliance was not on controversial arguments, but on political weapons, as has been the case ever since. Her many plots and conspiracies, down to the ¿ight of James II. In 1688, are here recorded. All the Penal Laws passed during that period are discussed in these pages.About the PublisherForgotten Books publishes hundreds of thousands of rare and classic books. Find more at www.forgottenbooks.comThis book is a reproduction of an important historical work. Forgotten Books uses state-of-the-art technology to digitally reconstruct the work, preserving the original format whilst repairing imperfections present in the aged copy. In rare cases, an imperfection in the original, such as a blemish or missing page, may be replicated in our edition. We do, however, repair the vast majority of imperfections successfully, any imperfections that remain are intentionally left to preserve the state of such historical works.