Author Description

This lucid study of the sixty-six bishops of James I. Fincham surveys the broad range of their activities and functions, including their part in central politics, their role in local society, their work as diocesan governors enforcing moral and spiritual discipline, and their supervision of the parish clergy. The accession of James I, Fincham argues, marked the restoration of episcopal fortunes at court and in the localities. This detailed analysis offers a revealing look at the doctrinal divisions of the early seventeenth-century episcopate which will be invaluable to scholars and students of early modern British history.