John Bale - Critical Essay by May Mattsson

Critical Essay by May Mattsson

SOURCE: Five Plays about King John, University of Uppsala, 1977, pp. 4-7, 21-27, 60-71, 95-99, 122-130.

In the following excerpts, Mattsson explores Bale's use of the medieval King John to further the cause of the burgeoning Protestant Reformation by dissecting King Johan into such subject areas as royal power, the church, the barons and private morality. Mattsson emphasizes Bale's manipulation of history and his use of the ancient king's story as an analogy to comment on Henry VIII's struggle with the Catholic Church.

Introduction

The three plays from the sixteenth century—Bale's King Johan, The Troublesome Reign of King John and Shakespeare's King John—were written during or after the reign of Henry VIII, so all the authors had experienced a reformation of the English Church.¹ There were no revolutionary changes in church government or in doctrine—the Reformation “had not yet become a theological struggle”—but there was probably a pervasive alteration in religious...
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