SOURCES AND AUTHORITIES FOR ENGLISH HISTORY In this brief section it is impossible to attempt more than three things, viz.: (I) to indicate the nature of the chief sources of English history; (2) to mention the leading authorities in which the evidence derived from these sources is examined and formu lated; and (3) to point the reader to fuller bibliographies where the sources and authorities are treated in detail.
Our knowledge of the incalculable ages prior to the Roman Conquest, during which the land now called Eng land was inhabited, is derived almost entirely from the remains which the primitive inhabitants left behind them. These consist in the main of earthworks and burial-mounds, of monuments such as Stonehenge and Avebury, of flint or bronze implements and weapons, and of bone and other tools. Human relics also have, in some places, survived; of these the most notable is the Piltdown skull, discovered in 1912, considered by experts to be not less than 1 oo,000 years old.
The most convenient summary of the approved results of archaeological research respecting this period is provided by D. A. Mackenzie's Ancient Man in Britain (1922).
The most considerable references to Roman Brit ain are to be found in Caesar's Gallic War; Strabo's Geography; Tacitus's Agricola, Histories, and Annals; Suetonius's Lives of the Caesars; Dion Cassius's Roman History; the Itinerary of Anto nine; Ammianus Marcellinus's History (A.D. 353-378), and the Notitia Dignitatum. The relevant passages from these and other less important Latin writers are usefully collected in the one and only volume of the Monumenta historica Britannica (1848) , edited by Henry Petrie and John Sharpe. For the Roman occupa tion of Britain, however, literary sources are supplemented, and to some extent superseded, by archaeological evidence. Sum maries of this evidence will be found in F. Haverfield's Romani sation of Roman Britain (4th ed., 1923) ; B. C. A. Windle's Romans in Britain (1923) ; R. G. Collingwood's Roman Britain (1923); and G. Home's Roman Britain (1927).
For the Anglo-Saxon conquest of southern Britain there are four main literary sources, viz.: Gildas's De Excidio Britanniae, Nennius's Historia Brittonurn, Baeda's His toria Ecclesiastica, and the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle. None of these is contemporary, and the two former are very scanty. Nineteenth century historians, such as Freeman and Green, constructed their narratives of the coming of the English almost wholly on the basis of Baeda and the Chronicle. Archaeology, however, rein forced by ethnology and philology, has compelled criticism of these sources; the stories of Hengist and Vortigern, of Cerdic and Cynric, of the process of West Saxon conquest, and many others, are called in question. For statements of new views, see H. M. Chadwick, Origin of the English Nation (190 7) and E. T. Leeds, Archaeology of the Anglo-Saxon Settlements (1913) . For the story of the English people from their first settlement till the Norman Conquest, the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle remains the pri mary source; it is authoritative and invaluable from the time of Alfred. It is supplemented by a number of minor chronicles, such as Asser's De Rebus Gestis Al f redi, Ethelweard's Chronicon, and by numerous imaginative Lives of Saints. For constitutional his tory the large collections of Anglo-Saxon Laws and Charters are indispensable. The best edition of the former is F. Liebermann's Gesetze der Angelsachsen (1898 seq.) ; for the latter, either J. M. Kemble's Codex Diplomaticus Aevi Saxonici (1839-48) or B. Thorpe's Diplomatarium Anglicum (1865) may be consulted. A useful selection is provided by F. L. Attenborough's Laws of the Early English Kings (1922).
The main sources for the history of England from the Norman Conquest to the Battle of Bosworth can be classed under the two heads, chronicles and records. The most important and valuable of the chronicles are those which, in the form of annals, were compiled in the great monasteries, and of these easily the best are those which emanated from the abbey of St. Albans, e.g., Roger of Wendover's Flores Historiarum, and Matthew Paris's Chronica Ma fora and Historia Anglorum. Monas tic chronicles form a large proportion of the 235 volumes known as the Rolls Series. A popular account of them will be found in James Gairdner's Early Chroniclers (1879) ; fuller and more crit ical estimates are provided in C. Jenkins's Monastic Chronicles and the Early School of St. Albans (1922), and R. L. Poole's Chronicles and Annals (1926). Besides the monastic chronicles, there are a few written by secular clergy, e.g., Henry of Hunting don's Historia Anglorum and Roger of Hovenden's Chronica. Towards the close of the middle ages city chronicles began to be compiled by laymen; those of London are particularly valuable as sources of information (see C. L. Kingsford's English Histori cal Literature in the Fifteenth Century [1913]).
The records—that is to say, official documents, financial, legal, administrative, and legislative—are legion and to those who can interpret them they are sources of information unique in authority and significance. First in order of time comes the famous Domes day Book compiled as a geldbook by order of William the Con queror; then come the Pipe Rolls; and, after these, innumerable Court Rolls, Plea Rolls, Year Books, Patent Rolls, Close Rolls, Charter Rolls, Hundred Rolls, Rolls of Parliament, and others too numerous to mention (see S. R. Scargill-Bird's Guide to the Public Records [3rd ed. 1908] or the more extended guide in process of publication under the editorship of M. S. Giuseppi) . Towards the close of the middle ages, chronicles and records are supplemented by letters, such as the Paston Letters and the Stonor Letters; by Political Songs; and by literary works such as the writings of Wycliffe, Chaucer, and Peacock. For the whole course of English history up to 1485 the student should refer to Charles Gross's admirably complete and well-arranged Sources and Liter ature of English History (2nd ed. 1915) .
In the Tudor period several of the mediaeval sources of information cease to be available. For example, the chronicles dwindle away, giving place to formal histories such as Herbert's Henry VIII., or to biographies such as Cavendish's Life of Wolsey. The records, moreover, change their characters. The Rolls of Parliament develop into the Journals of the House of Lords (1509) and the Journals of the House of Commons
Further, the Statutes of the Realm for the first time become of primary importance, English superseding French as their language from 1485. But the immense increase of the power and compe tence of the central government under the Tudors involves the appearance of enormous new classes of official documents which soon dwarf the old ones in historical importance. These are, for the most part, included under the title State Papers, consisting primarily of correspondence of the government with its agents at home, or with its representatives abroad. These invaluable sources of knowledge are stored in the Public Record Office. Calendars, in two great series, one domestic, the other foreign, containing summaries of the more important information, are in rapid course of publication by His Majesty's Stationery Office. The series for the Tudor period is fairly complete. Besides the documents in the Public Record Office, however, there is a rich store in the British Museum. Many important collections of papers, moreover, exist in private hands, e.g., the Cecil manu scripts at Hatfield House : good work in making the contents of these collections known to students has been done by the His torical Manuscripts' Commission, whose Reports are a mine of historical wealth. In the Tudor period, too, the Law Re ports, beginning with Keilway's Cases, become regular sources of knowledge ; they take the place of the mediaeval Year Books. It should be noted, moreover, that with the spread of printing, collections of historical materials, such as the Chronicles of •Fab yan, Hall, Grafton, and Holinshed, popularized the study of his tory, provided writers like Shakespeare both with subjects for their works and with understanding audiences, and handed down to modern readers useful books of reference respecting mediaeval legends.
In addition to the sources specified for the Tudor period, the following may be noted. The struggle between monarch and parliament gave rise on the one hand to numerous unofficial reports of debates in parliament and to parliamentary diaries, and, on the other hand, to an enormous pamphlet litera ture. It is estimated that between 1640 and 166o no fewer than 25,000 pamphlets were printed and circulated. Of these, two ex tensive collections are contained in (1) the Harleian Miscellany (18o8-15), and (2) the Somers Tracts (18o9-15). Numerous memoirs and autobiographies now begin to throw sidelights upon the course of history, e.g., Gilbert Burnet's History of My Own Time; Clarendon's Life, and the famous Diaries of Samuel Pepys and John Evelyn. Contemporary biography, too, is valuable : e.g., P. Heylyn's Life of Laud, and Mrs. Hutchinson's Memoirs of the Life of Colonel Hutchinson. Further, the letters of eminent men, such as Temple, Marvell, Halifax, and Sidney, are now available in large quantities, and mainly in printed and well-edited editions. Towards the end of the Stuart period, in the reign of Anne, the periodical literature, e.g., the Spectator, becomes im portant.
In dealing with the period from 1714 on ward the main difficulty is embarrassment of riches. All the official sources—statutes, state papers, journals, reports, etc.— are present in overwhelming masses. In addition, large and im portant collections of private papers exist, e.g., the Newcastle papers in the British Museum. Much published correspondence also is accessible, e.g., Lord North's correspondence with George III. The periodical literature is immense ; to the magazines are added the files first of weekly, then of daily, newspapers. In
the Annual Register, an invaluable record of contemporary events, began to appear. After the vindication of the publication of parliamentary debates in Onslow's case (1771), reports of speeches in the two houses became fuller and clearer. Before the end of the eighteenth century Cobbett's Parliamentary History supplied the fullest information : in 1803 it was merged in Hansard's Parliamentary Debates, the quantity of which leaves nothing further to be desired. Political writing continually increases in importance as the Hanoverian period advances : the writings of Swift, Defoe, Bolingbroke, Johnson, "Junius," and Burke, are historical sources of prime interest.
Of the sources for the period dating from the accession of Victoria to the present day, little need be said. All the materials which serve for the 17th and 18th centuries continue to exist and to increase in bulk; although, of course, for very recent times not all of them are yet accessible to the his torical student. The main addition to the older sources is the long and valuable series of Blue Books and other Government publica tions, the fruits of special enquiries made by various committees and commissions. For the list of these the student should con sult the Catalogue of Parliamentary Papers 1801-1900 issued by P. S. King and Sons. The newspaper sources of information for the i9th century are made the more readily discoverable by the index volumes of The Times which run from 1803 onward.
Such, in briefest outline, are the principal original sources for the history of England. When we turn from these to the authori ties by whom they have been used and in whose works they have been put to the best account, all that can here be done is to direct the reader to a few bibliographies where detailed information can be found. First, and most convenient, are the appendices to the twelve volumes of The Political History of England, edited by W. Hunt and R. L. Poole, and published by Longmans and Co., and the appendices to the seven volumes of The History of Eng land, edited by Sir Charles Oman, and published by Methuen and Co. These may be supplemented by selected bibliographies in the Cambridge Mediaeval and Modern Histories. An older, but still serviceable, guide is S. R. Gardiner and J. B. Mullinger's Introduction to the Study of English History (3rd ed. 1894). The biographical articles in the Dictionary of National Biography, The British Museum Subject Index (covering acquisit;ons 1881 1925) and Sonnenschein's The Best Books (Part III., 1923) should also be consulted. Finally, mention should be made of the excel lent bibliographical leaflets published by the Historical Associa tion (22, Russell Square, London), and to the Annual Bulletins of Historical Literature issued by the same body since 1911.
(F. J. C. H.)
