The Reformation was one of the defining events of British History. It began in the 1530s when the king supplanted the Pope as head of the national church. Soon the monasteries, which included some of the nation's great landowners were disbanded, and the color and mystery of the Latin mass was swept aside to make way for a church that conducted its services in plain English. Parish churches that were once a riot of decoration were stripped of superfluous trappings, but they remained in use and stand as a remarkable testament to Christian continuity from medieval to modern worlds. The book explains what happened in the Reformation, why it happended and the effects it had on ordinary people.