Some approaches to topical meaning -- The worldly church and court politics -- Chaplain Medwall and the new Tudor ruling class -- Skelton and the old aristocracy -- Heywood's comic pleading for reconciliation -- Speculations in democratic idealism -- Royal divorce and suppression of the monasteries -- Henry VIII and his son as Protestant saints -- England returns to Catholicism: how far? -- The Elizabethan settlement -- Unwelcome advice on the succession -- The question of obedience to a tyrant -- The triumph of devotion -- War fever -- Vox populi -- Orthodox reply -- Satire and the state -- Last years