Many years after purchasing this volume, I finally read it. It's an interesting read, but not easy to empathise with Laud.

To him the Church was a great social institution, designed to praise God with its voice, but with its hand to regulate the anti-social appetites of individuals by the imposition of external justice.

Trevor-Roper provides a sober analysis of William Laud (1573–1645), such a divisive figure in the England before the Civil War, when the sectarian baggage of the(Counter) reformation blazed on the continent in the 30 Year War. The portrait provided of the ill-fated (and hated) Archbishop of Canterbury is a of a humorless man who wanted to achieve the greatest good, one free of heresy. These ambitions and practices have consequences, grave mortal consequences. The author doesn't flinch from revealing this but ultimately hopes for a balanced all-too-human visage to emerge from the mists of history. Trevor-Roper aims for this elucidation without distraction. Well, almost. The one exception is a chapter on the plight of the theatre during Charles I. Odd, that.

This book was absorbed exclusively in airports and on planes. The locale did contribute to its placid perusal and contemplation. I remain grateful for that opportunity. Somewhere along the way I thought of Arendt's verdict on the dearth of thinking in Adolph Eichmann. There are important distinctions with that case but a numb fatigue restrains. ( )

http://stromata.tripod.com/id52.htm ( )

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