Cuthbert Tunstall was among the first generation of England's humanist scholars, statesmen, and ecclesiastics. As such, his life and work illustrate the cosmopolitan erudition and the social and religious commitment of the time--and also its tensions, as the spirit of reform spread through Europe, often leaving behind some of its early participants, such as Tunstall, as it gained momentum and took directions unforeseen by them. As is true of others of his generation (notably Thomas More and John Fisher), his life, like his written work, was an expression of the ideals and intellectual fervor of the revival of learning as it made its way north and west to England on the eve of religious reform. Educated on the Continent and esteemed as a scholar, Tunstall dedicated himself to increasingly conflicting matters of God and country; his life reflects the Renaissance emphasis on public service. His literary achievement, including...