History
The Parker Society, 'For the Publication of the Works of the Fathers and
Early Writers of the Reformed English Church', was formed in 1840 and
disbanded in 1855 when its work was completed. Its name is taken from
that of Matthew Parker, the first Elizabethan Archbishop of Canterbury,
who was known as a great collector and preserver of books. The stimulus
for the foundation of the society was provided by the nineteenth-Century
Tractarians. Some members of this movement, e.g., R.H. Froude in his
Remains of 1838-9, spoke most disparagingly of the English Reformation:
'Really I hate the Reformation and the Reformers more and more'. Keble
could add in 1838, 'Anything which separates the present Church from the
Reformers I should hail as a great good'. Protestants within the Church
of England therefore felt the urgent need to make available in an
attractive and accessible form the works of the leaders of the English
Reformation. To many it seemed that the Protestant foundations of the
English Church were being challenged like never before.
Thus the society represented a co-operation between traditional High
Churchmen and evangelical churchmen, both of whom were committed to the
Reformation teaching on justification by faith. Subscribers were also
involved in the erection of the Martyrs' Memorial in Oxford, although
this was as much anti-Roman Catholic as anti-Tractarian.
The society had about seven thousand subscribers who paid one pound each
year from 1841 to 1855; thus for fifteen pounds the subscribers received
fifty- three volumes - the General Index and the Latin originals of the
1847 'Original Letters relative to the English Reformation' being
special subscriptions. Twenty-four editors were used and the task of
arriving at the best text was far from easy. The choice of publications
was controversial and some authors and works were unfortunate not to be
included in PS volumes. While some of the volumes have been superseded
by more recent critical editions, today this collection remains one of
the most valuable sources for the study of the English Reformation.
