Editing Book burning (section)

=== Book burnings in Tudor and Stuart England (16th century CE)===

The founding of the [[Church of England]] after [[Henry VIII|King Henry VIII]] broke away from the Catholic Church led to the targeting of [[Catholic Church in England and Wales|English Catholics]] by [[Protestantism|Protestants]]. The dissolution of the monasteries led to the destruction of many libraries and Edward VI, Henry's son, encouraged his subjects to destroy all books that were associated with "old learning".{{sfn|Polastron|2007|pp=132–135}} Throughout the [[Tudor period|Tudor]] and [[Stuart period]]s, Protestant citizens loyal to [[the Crown]] attacked Catholic religious sites across England, frequently burning any religious texts they found. These acts were encouraged by the Crown, who pressured the general public to take part in such "spectacles". According to American historian David Cressy, over "the course of the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries book burning developed from a rare to an occasional occurrence, relocated from an outdoor to an indoor procedure, and changed from a bureaucratic to a quasi-theatrical performance".<ref>{{cite journal|doi=10.2307/20477359|jstor=20477359|title=Book Burning in Tudor and Stuart England|year=2005|last1=Cressy|first1=David|journal=The Sixteenth Century Journal|volume=36|issue=2|pages=359–374|s2cid=190209868 }}</ref>

With the [[Bishops' Ban of 1599]] the [[Archbishop of Canterbury]] and the [[Bishop of London]] ordered an end to the production of verse satire and the confiscation and the burning of specific extant works, including works by [[John Marston (playwright)|John Marston]] and [[Thomas Middleton]]. Nine books were specifically singled out for destruction. Scholars disagree about what properties these nine books have in common to cause official offence.