See bibliography, chap. i.,Calendar of Letters and Papers Henry VIII., 18 vols., 1862-1902. Brewer Gairdner,The Reign of Henry VIII., 2 vols., 1884. Gairdner,Lollardy and the Reformation, 4
The fifteenth century may be regarded as a period of transition from the ideals of the Middle Ages to those of modern times. The world was fast becoming more secular in its tendencies, and, as a necessary result, theories and principles that had met till then with almost universal acceptance in literature, in art, in education, and in government, were challenged by many as untenable.
For more than thirty years the new religious movement continued to spread with alarming rapidity. Nation after nation either fell away from the centre of unity or wavered as to the attitude that should be adopted towards the conflicting claims of Rome, Wittenberg, and Geneva, till at last it seemed not unlikely that Catholicism was to be confined within the territorial boundaries of Italy, Spain, and Portugal.
Henrion,Histoire generale des missions catholiques depuis le XIIIe siecle, 2 vols., 1841. Marshall,The Christian Missions, 2 vols., 2nd edition, 1863. Hahn,Geschichte der Katholischen