Books by James Simpson

The Rhyme of the Reddleman’s Daughter originated from a story the poet’s four-year-old daughter told him in her bath… “I’ll tell a story from my mouth …” her term for an oral story rather than one read from a book.Book-ended with the idea of the Reddleman or Raddleman (a liminal figure who would travel the chalk hills marking sheep with a red dye at pairing time), the ballad is rooted in the landscape, flora and fauna of the South Downs.The ballad form became the most fitting way of uniting form and content, and like Songs of Innocence and Experience it is written for both adults and children.

How did the English Reformation, with its illiberal, intolerant beginnings, lay the groundwork for the Enlightenment-free will, liberty of conscience, religious toleration, constitutionalism, and all the rest? In his provocative rewriting of the history of liberalism, James Simpson uncovers its unexpected debt to Protestant evangelicalism.

Reassesses better-known works and themes in the field of Lydgate studies, including Lydgate's unofficial laureateship, his relationship to his patrons, and his relationship to Chaucer. This book makes an important contribution to medieval scholarship and it will be welcomed by scholars and students alike.

This book details the sources-and profound consequences-of 16th-century Christian fundamentalism. Simpson focuses on the cultural transformation in England that allowed common people to read the Bible for the first time. The last wave of reading provoked 150 years of violent upheaval; as we approach a second wave, this book alerts us to our peril.