Author: H. W. C. Davis

Publisher:

Published: 2014-09-11

Total Pages: 278

ISBN-13: 9781502338556

From the preface:"THE period of English history which is covered by the present volume possesses a distinctive character and unity. With the Norman Conquest the nation passes at one bound from the Dark into the Middle Age; the death of Henry III. marks the moment of transition from the first to the second stage of our medieval history, from the inventive and experimental era to that of consolidation and completion. The years 1066-1272 witnessed the beginning and the end of some remarkable developments; the creation of English Feudalism, the rejuvenation of the English Church, the decisive conflicts of Church and Feudalism with the State. They also witnessed the trial and failure of autocracy at home, and in foreign policy of a premature imperialism. The common law and the royal courts of justice were created; the principle of representative government gained general recognition. Behind all these developments we can trace the progress of another and a wider movement in which they are but episodes. It is not, as Thierry asks us to believe, a duel between two races. It is much rather a struggle of native against foreign ambitions and ideas; a struggle of which the influence is apparent in every class and almost every individual. The policy of the Crown is moulded at one time by the dream of continental acquisitions, at another by the ambition of realising that Empire of the British Isles which the House of Cerdic had projected. The Baronage are dubious whether, like their French cousins, to pursue the path of individual aggrandisement, or, in the manner of the West Saxon witan, to aim at a collective control of the administration. The Church vacillates between the national and oecumenical ideals, in one breath admitting the Roman theory of the Papal power, and in the next denying its logical corollaries. The masses, finally, are divided between their ancestral love of liberty and their gratitude for the orderly despotism of their alien rulers. By the year 1272 these doubts and difficulties have been provisionally solved. The policy of the Church and Baronage is stereotyped; De Montfort has given a clear and consistent form to the aspirations of the masses; the Crown has reluctantly accepted an insular policy and the idea of a limited prerogative. And, as the result, England has entered upon the truly English phase of her development. We dwell particularly upon the political aspects of the change, for politics are the main subject of this volume. But in art, in literature, in social life, there are similar and simultaneous revelations of the national genius: and of these also some account will be found in the following pages."