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THE POLITICAL HISTORY OF ENGLAND.
Seventy-five years have passed since Lingard completed his HISTORY OFENGLAND, which ends with the Revolution of 1688. During that periodhistorical study has made a great advance. Year after year the mass ofmaterials for a new History of England has increased; new lights havebeen thrown on events and characters, and old errors have beencorrected. Many notable works have been written on various periods ofour history; some of them at such length as to appeal almost exclusivelyto professed historical students. It is believed that the time has comewhen the advance which has been made in the knowledge of English historyas a whole should be laid before the public in a single work of fairlyadequate size. Such a book should be founded on independent thought andresearch, but should at the same time be written with a full knowledgeof the works of the best modern historians and with a desire to takeadvantage of their teaching wherever it appears sound.
The vast number of authorities, printed and in manuscript, on which aHistory of England should be based, if it is to represent the existingstate of knowledge, renders co-operation almost necessary and certainlyadvisable. The History, of which this volume is an instalment, is anattempt to set forth in a readable form the results at present attainedby research. It will consist of twelve volumes by twelve differentwriters, each of them chosen as being specially capable of dealing withthe period which he undertakes, and the editors, while leaving to eachauthor as free a hand as possible, hope to insure a general similarityin method of treatment, so that the twelve volumes may in theircontents, as well as in their outward appearance, form one History.
As its title imports, this History will primarily deal with politics,with the History of England and, after the date of the union withScotland, Great Britain, as a state or body politic; but as the life ofa nation is complex, and its condition at any given time cannot beunderstood without taking into account the various forces acting uponit, notices of religious matters and of intellectual, social, andeconomic progress will also find place in these volumes. The 'footnotes'will, so far as is possible, be confined to references to authorities,and references will not be appended to statements which appear to bematters of common knowledge and do not call for support. Each volumewill have an Appendix giving some account of the chief authorities,original and secondary, which the author has used. This account will becompiled with a view of helping students rather than of making longlists of books without any notes as to their contents or value. That theHistory will have faults both of its own and such as will always in somemeasure attend co-operative work, must be expected, but no pains havebeen spared to make it, so far as may be, not wholly unworthy of thegreatness of its subject.
Each volume, while forming part of a complete History, will also initself be a separate and complete book, will be sold separately, andwill have its own index, and two or more maps.
Vol. I. to 1066. By Thomas Hodgkin, D.C.L., Litt.D., Fellow of
University College, London; Fellow of the British Academy.
Vol. II. 1066 to 1216. By George Burton Adams, M.A., Professor of
History in Yale University, New Haven Connecticut.
Vol. III. 1216 to 1377. By T. F. Tout, M.A., Professor of Medieval andModern History in the Victoria University of Manchester; formerly Fellowof Pem