Readings

Clayton and David Roberts, A History of England, Prehistory to 1714, vol. 1 (Prentice Hall, 1990).

A History of England: Prehistory to 1714, vol. 1 incorporates recent scholarship into a narrative that encompasses England's social, economic, cultural, and political history. Based on both primary and secondary research, this account traces how and why critical events occurred. Other notable features of the book include stressing dominant themes in English history without espousing any single interpretation, explaining institutions and phenomena in terms of the society they served, discussing events in Scotland, Wales, and Ireland as they affect developments in England, offering section headings, genealogical charts, and maps, and providing suggested Further Reading after each chapter, focusing on the ten most important books on that particular subject.

Beowulf, trans. E. Talbot Donaldson (W. W. Norton, 1966).

The greatest and most important of the Anglo-Saxon epic poems, the 1200-year-old Beowulf is one of the earliest pieces of literature in the English language. Though English, the story is set in Scandinavia, where the Anglo-Saxon races lived before migration to England. It tells of the hero, Beowulf, who kills the monster Grendel after the dragonlike beast terrorizes the mead-halls, carrying off and eating the Thanes that are under Beowulf's protection. Fascinating for its story, the echoes of myth and early religion, Beowulf is critical reading for anyone interested in the blend of the Pagan and Christian traditions among the Anglo-Saxons. This edition is a readable prose translation. (Summary from Amazon.com)

David Howarth, 1066: The Year of the Conquest (Penguin USA, 1981).

It is one of the most important dates in the history of the Western world: 1066, the year William the Conqueror defeated the English at the Battle of Hastings and changed England and the English forever. Yet the events leading to—and following—this turning point in history are shrouded in mystery and distorted by the biased accounts written by a subjugated people, and many believe it was the English who ultimately won, since the Normans became assimilated into the English way of life. Drawing on a wealth of contemporary sources, David Howarth gives us memorable portraits of the leading characters and their motivations. At the same time, he enables us to see the events of that year from the viewpoint of common Englishmen, and along the way we learn how they lived, worked, fought, and died—and how they perceived from their isolated shires the overthrow of their world.

William Langland, Piers Plowman, trans. E. Talbot Donaldson, ed. Elizabeth D. Kirk and Judith H. Anderson (W. W. Norton, 1990).

E. Talbot Donaldson wrote in his first book on Piers Plowman that Langland "in his emphasis on the individual . . . was in advance of his own church and of his own nation—and, indeed, of himself." Paradoxically, as Donaldson also recognized, Langland was "a political and religious moderate" whose cast of mind was "conservative and traditionalist." The poem that resulted from this curious paradox presents one of the great enigmas of all English poetry, as well as one of the major works of the Middle Ages. The poem is one of the most complexly introspective portrayals ever produced of how the mind works when it is attempting to solve the fundamental economic, religious, and political questions facing human societies. The poem is comic. It is social. It is satirical. But it is also a profound exploration of the processes of human thought, which drove one frustrated and fascinated student to call it "a poem that hurts your mind. . . ." Donaldson—one of the century's most distinguished medieval scholars—began his career working on Piers and continued studying it all his life. His translation not only skillfully reproduces the alliterative verse of the original, but also reanimates the poem in all its mercurial changes: menacing, lyrical, mystical, satirical—and funny.

Keith Wrightson, English Society 1580-1680 (Rutgers University Press, 1985).

Keith Wrightson provides a fascinating picture of English society and social change in the late sixteenth and seventeenth centuries. He focuses on social stratification, social mobility, family formation and relationships, neighborliness, patronage, education, religion, popular culture, and crime. Throughout the book, Wrightson emphasizes the variation in experiences between different social groups and communities, and the unevenness of the processes of change.

G. E. Aylmer, Rebellion or Revolution? England from Civil War to Restoration (Oxford University Press, 1987).

Civil war, regicide, republic, the Cromwellian protectorate, the restoration of monarchy: some of the most exciting and dramatic events in English history took place between 1640 and 1660. Gerald Aylmer conveys the massive and continuing psychological and emotional impact of those times, and offers an up-to-date analysis of the causes, significance, and consequences of what happened. The period was dominated by such powerful personalities as Charles I, John Hampden, John Pym, Oliver Cromwell, and John Lilburne; but Aylmer also attempts to discover the views of the anonymous mass of the population who lived through the political and religious upheavals of the mid-seventeenth century.

Coursepack

Bede's Account of Augustine's Dispute with the British Bishops and the Burning of the Monastery at Coldingham (ca. 720) from Bede, The Ecclesiastical History of the English People, ed. Judith McClure and Roger Collins (New York: Oxford University Press, 1994), pp. 71-75, 218-221.

The Tale of Thorvald the Far-Travelled (þorvalds þáttur vídförla) (ca. 990) from The Complete Sagas of Icelanders, vol. 5, ed. Vidar Hreinsson (Reykjavík: Leifur Eiríkson Publishing, 1997), pp. 357-369.

Annals of the Reign of Alfred the Great (ca. 890s) from Old English Chronicles, ed. J. A. Giles, (London: George Bell & Sons, 1906), pp. 43-86.

King Athelstan's Laws Issued at Grately, Hampshire (ca. 930) from English Historical Documents, c. 500-1042, vol. 1, ed. Dorothy Whitelock (New York: Oxford University Press, 1955), pp. 381-386.

Concerning the Betrothal of a Woman (ca. 1000) from English Historical Documents, c. 500-1042, vol. 1, ed. Dorothy Whitelock (New York: Oxford University Press, 1955), p. 431.

Grant by King Edward the Martyr to Ealdorman Æthelweard of Lands in Cornwall (977) from English Historical Documents, c. 500-1042, vol. 1, ed. Dorothy Whitelock (New York: Oxford University Press, 1955), pp. 522-523.

Rights and Ranks of People (ca. 1042-1066) from English Historical Documents, 1042-1189, vol. 2, ed. David Douglas and George Greenway (New York: Oxford University Press, 1981), pp. 875-879.

Glanville's "Concerning the Laws and Customs of the Kingdom of England" (ca. 1189) from English Historical Documents, 1042-1189, vol. 2, ed. David Douglas and George Greenway (New York: Oxford University Press, 1981), pp. 1004-1011.

The Hundred Rolls from Alwalton Manor (1279) from http://fordham.edu/halsall/source/alwalton.html

The Assize of Clarendon (1166) from English Historical Documents, 1042-1189, vol. 2, ed. David Douglas and George Greenway (New York: Oxford University Press, 1981), pp. 440-443.

The Assize of Arms (1181) from English Historical Documents, 1042-1189, vol. 2, ed. David Douglas and George Greenway (New York: Oxford University Press, 1981), pp. 449-451.

The Constitutions of Clarendon (1164) from English Historical Documents, 1042-1189, vol. 2, ed. David Douglas and George Greenway (New York: Oxford University Press, 1981), pp. 766-770.

The Magna Carta (1215) from Readings in Medieval History, ed. Patrick Geary (Peterborough, Canada: Broadview Press, 1997), pp. 744-750.

King John's Charter of Ipswich and Record of Proceedings at Ipswich (1200) from Sources of English Constitutional History, ed. Carl Stephenson and Frederick George Marcham (New York: Harper & Brothers, 1937), pp. 96-101.

The Rule of St. Francis (1223) from English Historical Documents, 1189-1327, vol. 3, ed. Harry Rothwell (New York: Oxford University Press, 1975), pp. 676-680.

Episcopal Visitation of a Diocese: Canterbury Diocese (1292-1294) from English Historical Documents, 1189-1327, vol. 3, ed. Harry Rothwell (New York: Oxford University Press, 1975), pp. 705-712.

Proceedings in the Parliament of 1401 and Proceedings in the Parliament of 1404 from English Historical Documents, 1327-1485, vol. 4, ed. A. R. Myers (New York: Oxford University Press, 1969), pp. 454-459.

The Statute of Labourers (1351) from The Black Death, ed. Rosemary Horrox (New York: Manchester University Press, 1994), pp. 312-316.

"The Plague at Meaux Abbey" and "The Plague According to Henry Knighton" (ca. 1350) from The Black Death, ed. Rosemary Horrox (New York: Manchester University Press, 1994), pp. 68-80.

The Anominal Chronicle (ca. 1380s) from Charles Oman, The Great Revolt of 1381 (Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1906), pp. 186-205.

The Twelve Conclusions of the Lollards (1395) from English Historical Documents, 1327-1485, vol. 4, ed. A. R. Myers (New York: Oxford University Press, 1969), pp. 848-850.

Character of Henry I from English Historical Documents, 1042-1189, vol. 2, ed. David Douglas and George Greenway (New York: Oxford University Press, 1981), pp. 319-321.

Character of Henry II from The Past Speaks, to 1688: Sources and Problems in English History, ed. Lacey Baldwin Smith and Jean Reeder Smith (Lexington, MA: D.C. Heath and Company, 1981), pp. 60-62.

Character of Henry III from Matthew Paris' English History from the Year 1235 to 1273, vol. 2, Reverend J. A. Giles (New York: George Bell & Sons, 1893), pp. 254-256.

Character of Edward I from W. D. Robieson, The Growth of Parliament and the War with Scotland (London: G. Bell and Sons, Ltd., 1914), pp. 72-73.

Character of Edward II from War and Misrule, 1307-1399, ed. A. Audrey Locke (London: G. Bell and Sons, Ltd., 1919), pp. 4-5, 14-15.

Character of Edward III from War and Misrule, 1307-1399, ed. A. Audrey Locke (London: G. Bell and Sons, Ltd., 1919), pp. 70-71.

Character of Richard II from War and Misrule, 1307-1399, ed. A. Audrey Locke (London: G. Bell and Sons, Ltd., 1919), p. 110.

The Ten Articles (1536) from English Historical Documents, 1485-1558, vol. 5, ed. C. H. Williams (New York: Oxford University Press, 1953), pp. 795-805.

The Thirty-Nine Articles (1571) from http://www.fordham.edu/halsall/mod/1571-39articles.htm

A Model of Christian Charity (1630) from http://www.winthropsociety.org/charity.htm

The Trew Law of Free Monarchies (1597) from The Political Works of James I, ed. Charles Howard McIlwain (New York: Russsell & Russell, 1965), pp. 53-70.

The Bill of Rights (1689) from English Historical Documents, 1660-1714, vol. 8, ed. Andrew Browning (New York: Oxford University Press, 1953), pp. 122-128.

Copyrighted by Hugh Dubrulle, 2001
For questions, comments, or problems with this web site, please contact the webmaster.