In his critique of my article Paul O'Leary brings his expertise on nineteenth-century Wales to bear on issues I raise. In doing so, he consolidates and complements certain areas of my original thesis. My aim was, after all, to highlight anti-Catholicism in twentieth-century Wales, rather than dismiss hostility a century earlier. In other areas, however, he misinterprets or misrepresents my article, largely because he fails to recognise the subtleties in the character and nature of Welsh anti-Catholicism over the two centuries. During the nineteenth century, there was undoubtedly a deep-seated hatred and fear of Roman Catholicism in Wales. Protestant dissent was, by its very nature and disposition, hostile to Rome. Anti-Catholicism was, therefore, endemic to Wales during this time and my work has never suggested otherwise. However, it is essential that the nuances in the different types of hostility, already touched upon in my initial article, be identified. The clear diversity between the form that anti-Catholicism took in the nineteenth century and the character it took a century later can then be compared and assessed.

I processi inquisitoriali di Pietro Carnesecchi (1557–1567). Edizione critica, I: Il processo sotto Paolo IV e Pio IV (1557–1561); II: Il processo sotto Pio V (1566–1567), I: Guigno 1566–ottobre 1566; II: Novembre 1566–gennaio 1567; III: Gennaio 1567–agosto 1567. Edited by Massimo Firpo and Dario Marcatto. (Collectanea Archivi Vaticani, 43.). Pp. cxix+577; Pp. clxxix+370; 371–956; 957–1453. Vatican City: Archivio Segreto Vaticano, 1998, 2000. 88 85042 30 9; 88 85042 34 1

The correspondence of Reginald Pole, II: A calendar, 1547–1554. A power in Rome. By Thomas F. Mayer. (St Andrews Studies in Reformation History.) Pp. xvi+410. Aldershot: Ashgate, 2003. £50. 0 7546 0327 X

The judicial investigation of Pietro Carnesecchi by the Roman inquisition in the years 1546–67 constitutes a major chapter in the history of the Italian peninsula and of the Church of Rome. Thanks to the indefatigable energy of Dario Marcatto, the publication of the documents from the archives of the Roman inquisition now places all the available sources at the disposal of the scholarly world. Massimo Firpo's critical introductions to these two volumes builds securely on his previously published essays, which included an account of Carnesecchi based on the edition of 1870. What he now writes confirms and extends his earlier findings.

Religious life and English culture in the Reformation. By Marjo Kaartinen. Pp. vii+210. Basingstoke: Palgrave, 2002. £45. ISBN 0 333 96924 3

Preaching during the English Reformation. By Susan Wabuda. Pp. xx+203 incl. 15 figs. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2002. £40. ISBN 0 521 45395 X

Authority and consent in Tudor England. Essays presented to C. S. L. Davies. Edited by G. W. Bernard and S. J. Gunn. Pp. x+301. Aldershot: Ashgate Publishing Ltd, 2002. £47.50. ISBN 0 7546 0665 1

Keywords and concepts provide important organising principles when historians attempt to make sense of the past. Some keywords are virtual constants of historical discourse, such as ‘continuity’ and ‘change’, although the relative emphasis that historians place on them can fluctuate with circumstances and fashion. Other terms come and go. The study of the English Reformation is no exception to the ebb and flow of historical keywords. For much of the 1960s, 1970s and the early 1980s, ‘popular reformation’ was a central concept of interpretation and research. But no more. Thanks to the historical fashion which has been styled ‘revisionism’, ‘popular reformation’ in early sixteenth-century England at least is widely considered to be an oxymoron. Consequent on the work of A. G. Dickens, ‘official’ or ‘state-sponsored reformation’ went into an eclipse but with the advent of revisionism it has been both revived as well as revised.