Laudian and Royalist Polemic in Seventeenth-Century England: The Career and Writings of Peter Heylyn

This is the first full-length study of one of the most prolific and controversial polemical authors of the 17th century--Peter Heylyn. It provides for the first time a detailed analysis of the ways in which Laudian and royalist polemical literature was created. The author presents new perspectives on the origins and development of Laudianism and "Anglicanism," and on the tensions within royalist thought. Milton's book constructs an integrated account of Heylyn's career and writings to provide the key to understanding a profoundly polemical author. Throughout the book, Heylyn's shifting views and fortunes prompt an important reassessment of the relative coherence and stability of royalism and Laudianism. Historians of early modern English politics and religion and literary scholars will find this book essential reading.