ANGLO-SAXON BRITAIN.

BY

Grant Allen, B.A.

PUBLISHED UNDER THE DIRECTION OF THE COMMITTEE OF GENERAL LITERATURE AND EDUCATION APPOINTED BY THE SOCIETY FOR PROMOTING CHRISTIAN KNOWLEDGE.

London: 
Society for promoting Christian knowledge,
Northumberland Avenue, Charing cross, S.W.;
43, Queen Victoria street, E.C.; 48, Piccadilly, W.;
And 135, north street, Brighton.

New York:  E. & J.B.  Young & co.

PREFACE.

This little book is an attempt to give a brief sketch of Britain under the early English conquerors, rather from the social than from the political point of view.  For that purpose not much has been said about the doings of kings and statesmen; but attention has been mainly directed towards the less obvious evidence afforded us by existing monuments as to the life and mode of thought of the people themselves.  The principal object throughout has been to estimate the importance of those elements in modern British life which are chiefly due to purely English or Low-Dutch influences.

The original authorities most largely consulted have been, first and above all, the “English Chronicle,” and to an almost equal extent, Baeda’s “Ecclesiastical History.”  These have been supplemented, where necessary, by Florence of Worcester and the other Latin writers of later date.  I have not thought it needful, however, to repeat any of the gossiping stories from William of Malmesbury, Henry of Huntingdon, and their compeers, which make up the bulk of our early history as told in most modern books.  Still less have I paid any attention to the romances of Geoffrey of Monmouth.  Gildas, Nennius, and the other Welsh tracts have been sparingly employed, and always with a reference by name.  Asser has been used with caution, where his information seems to be really contemporary.  I have also derived some occasional hints from the old British bards, from Beowulf, from the laws, and from the charters in the “Codex Diplomaticus.”  These written documents have been helped out by some personal study of the actual early English relics preserved in various museums, and by the indirect evidence of local nomenclature.

Among modern books, I owe my acknowledgments in the first and highest degree to Dr. E.A.  Freeman, from whose great and just authority, however, I have occasionally ventured to differ in some minor matters.  Next, my acknowledgments are due to Canon Stubbs, to Mr. Kemble, and to Mr. J.R.  Green.  Dr. Guest’s valuable papers in the Transactions of the Archaeological Institute have supplied many useful suggestions.  To Lappenberg and Sir Francis Palgrave I am also indebted