INTRO DUCTORY. Editors. Of the collections of historical writers printed by FULMAN, GALE,2 and HALL,3 it may be said that they are characterised by much the same defects. The col- Other lection published by SPARKE' contains chiefly histories of monasteries; it includes, however, the Chronicon Angliae by John, abbat of Peterborough, and Robert of Boston, and also the Life of Thomas Beket by William Fitz-Stephen. In the year 1706, DR. WHITE KENNET, an eminent Kennet's antiquary, published a History of England in the form History of England. of a series of lives (by different authors) of the kings and queens from the Conquest to the death of William III. The collection is one of very unequal merit, but deserves the praise of having been made with impartiality and edited with care." 'This contains Ingulphus (with the continuation by Peter of Blois), Chronica de Mailros, Annales Monasterii Burtonensis, Historiae Croylandensis Continuatio. 2 Historiae Britannicae, Saxonicae, Anglo-Danicae, Scriptores XV. 2 vols. Oxon. 1691. (For list of authors, see Hardy, D. C. i. 884.) See ibid. i. 805. • Historiae Anglicanae Scriptores varii. Ed. Joseph Sparke. 1723. Kennet's Complete History of England, &c., 3 vols. fol. 1706. The first volume contains: (i) The History of Britain to William the Conqueror, by Mr. John Milton'; (ii) From the Conquest to the End of Edward III., by Samuel Daniel, Esq.'; (iii) The Reigns of King Richard II., King Henry IV., V., VI., all new writ in Mr. Daniel's method'; (iv) 'The Reign of King Edward IV., by John Habington, Esq.'; (v) The Lives of King Edward V. and Richard III., by Sir Thomas Moore, translated from the Latin original'; (vi) The Life of King Richard III., by George Buck, Esq.'; (vii) The Life of King Henry VII., by Francis, Lord Bacon.' The contents of the second volume are: (i) 'The History of King Henry VIII, written by the Right Hon. Lord Herbert of Cherbury'; (ii) 'The Life of King Edward VI., by Sir John Hayward'; (iii) The Life of Queen Mary, written in Latin by Francis Godwin, Lord Bishop of Hereford, newly translated into English by Mr. J. H.'; (iv) 'The History of Queen Elizabeth, written by William Cambden, Esq., newly done into English'; (v) ‘The Annals of King James I., by William Cambden '; (vi) 'The History of King James I., by Arthur Wilson, Esq.' The third volume contains: (i) 'The History INTRO DUCTORY. lorum. Other and later undertakings, of a more general character, have rendered considerable collateral aid. The great collections by BOLLANDUS and MABILLON 2 Acta Sanc of the Acta Sanctorum bring before us a long series of eminent characters, many of whom, apart from the legendary element in their history, may be discerned as exercising a foremost influence on their age,—an influence, it may be observed, which is generally representative of popular tendencies. Migne's The equally famous collection by the Abbé MIGNE Patrologia. of the Latin Fathers and other ecclesiastical authors, from the second to the twelfth century, known as the Patrologia Latina, includes excellent editions of the principal writers of the early English Church, such as Bede, Alcuin, Anselm, Lanfranc, &c. Archaeologia. The series known as Archaeologia, published under the auspices of the Society of Antiquaries, includes · and Life of King Charles I.'; (ii) The History and Life of Charles II.'; (iii) 'The History and Life of James II.'; (iv) ‘The History and Life of William and Queen Mary'; (v) The History and Life of William III. All new writ by a learned and impartial hand.' Acta Sanctorum: quotquot toto orbe coluntur, vel a catholicis scriptoribus celebrantur, ex Latinis et Graecis aliarumque gentium antiquis monumentis collecta, digesta, notisque illustrata ab Jo. Bollando, G. Henschenio, et D. Papebrochia, et aliis presbyteris theologicis e societate Jesu, &c. 53 vols. Fol. Antwerp, 1643-1794. (A list of the principal British saints in this collection is given in Hardy D. C. i. 683-6.) This great work is still incomplete, a Continuatio' being now in progress after a cessation of publication for forty years. Of this eleven volumes have appeared, the last reaching to the latter part of October. [Students should note that saints are incorporated in the order of their feasts: it would con equently be useless to refer to this collection for the life of any saint whose anniversary is celebrated in November or December.] 2 Acta Sanctorum Ordinis Sancti Benedicti in Saeculorum Classes distributa: collegit Dominus Lucas d'Achery . . . ac cum eo edidit D. Johannes Mabillon, &c., Venice, 1733. (Those Lives of English, Scotch, and Irish Saints which Mabillon has printed from manuscripts, are enumerated by Hardy, D. C. i. 832-4; the others being excluded.) For contents, see ibid. i. 698-9. numerous documents and metrical compositions illus- INTROtrative of English medieval history. DUCTORY. Letters. The valuable collection of Historical Letters, edited Ellis's by SIR HENRY ELLIS, is in three series, each embracing very distinct periods. First Series: vol. i. Henry V. to Henry VIII.; vol. ii. Henry VIII. to Elizabeth; vol. iii. time of Lord Burghley to that of archbishop Wake. Second Series: vol. i. outbreak of Owen Glyndower's Rebellion to time of Wolsey; vol. ii. time of Wolsey to reign of Elizabeth; vol. iii. time of Elizabeth to the Protectorate; vol. iv. time of Charles II. to reign of George II. Third Series: vol. i. time of Lanfranc to that of Wolsey; vol. ii. reign of Henry VIII.; vol. iii. Henry VIII. to Elizabeth; vol. iv. Elizabeth to reign of George III. Series. Much, however, of the labour represented by some The Rolls of the foregoing collections has been superseded by the highly important publications of the Rolls Commission. Early in the present century, the unsatisfactory state of our historical literature was brought under the consideration of the Government, and at a meeting of noblemen and gentlemen held at Spencer House, it was resolved to recommend the publication of a complete collection of the sources of English history from the earliest times to the Reformation. Mr. Henry Petrie, Keeper of the Records in the Tower, was instructed to draw up a plan for the approval of the Government, and was subsequently appointed editor of the series. The method of treatment which he sought to adopt involved enormous labour; for he proposed to give a genuinely critical edition of each author, in which the spurious should be carefully distinguished from the genuine, and the various accretions which had formed round the original text should be systematically pointed out. Such a task, though of the highest value (especially in the INTRODUCTORY. case of medieval writers), was also one of great difficulty, and Mr. Petrie's death, before the publication of the first volume, augured most unfavourably for the success of the whole scheme. The undertaking was not, however, allowed to drop, and in November 1856 Mr. Stevenson again brought the subject under the consideration of the Lords Commissioners of Her Majesty's Treasury. His representations were by them referred to the Master of the Rolls, Sir John Romilly, who, on January 26, 1857, submitted to their lordships proposals for the publication of a series entitled Chronicles and Memorials of Great Britain and Ireland from the Invasion of the Romans to the Reign of Henry VIII: These proposals, after due consideration, were adopted by their lordships, and the publication of the proposed series was officially authorised under the following conditions: (1) that the works thus selected should be published without mutilation or abridgment; (2) that the text should be formed on a collation of the best manuscripts; (3) that the editor should give an account of the manuscripts used by him, a brief notice of the era when the author wrote, and an explanation of any chronological difficulties. Such were the circumstances under which this great series (now generally known as the ROLLS SERIES) was commenced; and it is scarcely an exaggeration to say that it has done more towards promoting an accurate knowledge of our medieval history than all preceding efforts put together. It has not simply rendered accessible to the majority of students a series of valuable texts in a state of accuracy previously unattainable, but it has also been the means of inducing a number of eminent scholars to concentrate their attention on definite and often comparatively little known periods of history, the prefaces which each editor has thus been DUCTORY. enabled to supply frequently representing a special INTROknowledge of the subject such as no other living writer could lay claim to. CAL SO To the assistance thus given by Government to HISTORIhistorical studies must be added the important aid CIETIES. resulting from prior and subsequent enterprise on the part of different societies.1 land Clubs Club. In 1812 the ROXBURGH CLUB2 was established, for Roxburgh, Bannatyne the purpose of reprinting 'rare old tracts or compositions, and Maitchiefly poetical.' This was followed in 1823 by the BANNATYNE CLUB,3 and in 1828 by the MAITLAND CLUB, for the printing of works illustrative of the antiquities, literature, and history of Scotland, for private circulation among its members.' In 1834 the ABBOTS- Abbotsford FORD CLUB was founded at Edinburgh in honour of Sir Walter Scott, having for its object the 'publication of miscellaneous works, illustrative of history, literature, and antiquities.' In the same year was founded the SURTEES SOCIETY,6 in honour of the historian of the Surtees Society. County Palatine of Durham, for the purpose of publishing 'inedited MSS. illustrative of the intellectual, the moral, the religious, and the social condition of those parts of England and Scotland included on the East between the Humber and the Firth of Forth, and on the West between the Mersey and the Clyde-the ancient kingdom of Northumbria.' The success of the Surtees Society appears to have With the exception of the publications of the Camden Society, a few only of the works published by these societies have been described or referred to in the following pages,‚—a large proportion of their publications being of purely local or antiquarian interest. For complete lists the reader will therefore consult Hardy's Descriptive Catalogue, to which the neces sary references are given. 2 For list of publications, see Hardy, D. C. i. 875-80. See ibid. i. 702-10. See ibid. i. 835-40. • See ibid. i. 893-5. |