Hello and welcome to the Renaissance English History Podcast, a part of the

Agora Podcast Network. I'm your host Heather Tesco, and I'm a storyteller who makes history accessible

because I believe it's a pathway to understanding who we are, our place

in the universe, and being more deeply in touch with our own humanity. This is episode 87. It's the first

in a four-part series on the English Reformation that I'm doing this year. It's the 500th anniversary

coming up of the 95 Theses. So this first episode is English Catholicism

before Cranmer and Cromwell, and I'll be looking at the English Church before the English

Reformation. First off, I need to thank my patrons. I have amazing patrons. Thank you to Kathy,

Yergan, Ashley, Kendra, Ann Boulin, also known as Jessica, Elizabeth, Cynthia, Judy, Ian,

Laura, Barbara, Shar, Kiva, Amy, Allison, Joanne, Kathy, Christine, Annetta, Candice, Rebecca,

from Tudorsdynasty.com, Al N. Shandor, and my newest patron, Mary. I love you guys. You're

awesome. To find out how you can join this exclusive list,

head on over to englandcast.com and click on the donate and support button at the top menu.

Last, the Agora podcast of the month. Each October, we do agoraphobia. Agoraphobia. It's so spooky.

Each agora member does a short podcast on something scary, and it's for Halloween.

Mine is on a particular Yorkshire witch. They're released every week, so check on the Facebook

page, Facebook.com slash Agora Podcast Network, and you'll see when the new episodes come out.

So it's hard to imagine when we look at

England in 1580 how upside down religion had become in only 50 years. England in 1530

was still a place where the Universal Catholic Church dictated every aspect of a person's life

from the time they were born until they died. England in 1580 was a much different

place. It's my goal in the next several episodes to trace the narrative of how a country went from

...