<DIV>This prize-winning account of the pre-Reformation church recreates lay people's experience of religion in fifteenth-century England. Eamon Duffy shows that late medieval Catholicism was neither decadent nor decayed, but was a strong and vigorous tradition, and that the Reformation represented a violent rupture from a popular and theologically respectable religious system. For this edition, Duffy has written a new Preface reflecting on recent developments in our understanding of the period.<BR>From reviews of the first edition:<BR>?A magnificent scholarly achievement [and] a compelling read.”?Patricia Morrison, <I>Financial Times<BR></I>?Deeply imaginative, movingly written, and splendidly illustrated. . . . Duffy's analysis . . . carries conviction.”?Maurice Keen, <I>New York Review of Books<BR></I>?This book will afford enjoyment and enlightenment to layman and specialist alike.”?Peter Heath, <I>Times Literary Supplement<BR></I>?[An] astonishing and magnificent piece of work.”?Edward T. Oakes, <I>Commonweal</I></DIV>