bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
The Persecution Under Elizabeth
Authors: chapman John H
Published: March 2007

This subject has been ignored by the majority of writers of English history. Some have assumed that the unfortunate persons who suffered death and lesser penalties for their religion during this reign, were also guilty of what we should admit to be acts of treason against the State. This theory is not supported by facts. Modern research (and the word “ modern,” in this case, means that of the last ten or fifteen years) has proved beyond question the utter falsity of Coke's statement, “That in the reign of Elizabeth there was put to death for religion not one.” The most has been made of the persecution under Queen Mary, and the names of the sufferers have become as household words, yet even now but little is generally known of similar deeds that were done in the reign of her sister.
Domestic Every-day Life, and Manners and Customs in this Country, from the Earliest Period to the End of the Last Century.
Authors: Harris George
Published: March 2007

In the series of papers on “Domestic Every-day Life, and Manners and Customs in the Ancient World,” which I have had the pleasure of reading before this Society, I endeavoured to afford an insight into the mode of living among the people of the nations of old, more especially the Egyptians, Greeks, Romans, and Jews, commencing with those of which we have the earliest authentic records, and carrying the account down to the period when Roman civilization arrived at the highest state of perfection which it ever reached. I described to you “the style of dress of the people, their cities and houses, the furniture which they used, their mode of taking their meals, their different kinds of amusements, their method of travelling both by land and water, their professional and commercial pursuits and occupations, their arts and manufactures, their way of carrying on war, their religious rites and ceremonies, and their funeral solemnities.” In affording this account I availed myself of the records of various kinds which the people of these several nations have left behind them, including not only the productions of their historians, but the various national monuments which yet remain, the works of art that have been preserved, the relics of ornaments and articles of domestic use that have been discovered, and the relics of their cities and buildings which have survived the shocks of time.
On the Phenomena of Historical Repetition: A Study of the Relation of Historical to Scientific Research
Authors: Richardson Benjamin W.
Published: March 2007

Dlonysius of Halicarnassus tells us that History is “Philosophy teaching by examples.” Of all the definitions of history, this, one of the oldest, is probably one of the best. It is assuredly the best in a scientific point of view, since it places history in the true light of a natural science. It is as though it said history is the record of phenomena which occur and which recur, so that an example is set which may be accepted and remembered as something that will be seen again and recognised again like other and more obviously mechanical examples of natural processes.
Pestilences: their Influence on the Destiny of Nations, as Shown in the History of the Plague
Authors: Palmer J. Foster
Published: March 2007

In that region of the world where the three continents of Europe, Asia, and Africa meet, there are constantly latent the germs of that typical form of pestilence known as the Egyptian or Levantine Plague. This frightful disease has, on account of its enormous and rapid mortality, struck terror into all minds, and has consequently been recorded by the historians of every nation that has been visited by it. From the records that have been handed down to us, it would appear to have been in existence from the earliest times, and to have been liable, at intervals, to be fanned into a flame, and increase in extent and intensity to an almost unlimited degree.
The Historical Development of Idealism and Realism
Authors: Zerffi Gustavus George
Published: March 2007

Throughout the whole of man's mental development, which word in itself excludes any repetition or stagnation in history, we can trace action and reaction, or rather, according to Hegel's dialectics, “ progress by contrasts.” Certain ideas take root in humanity. They blossom, bear fruits, and then die away. Similar ideas shoot up again; not the same, but full of a new vigour and vitality, rooted in an altogether changed soil; composed of the intellectual blossoms and fruits of a previous era, nourished by the totally different mode of thinking, the increased or decreased amount of knowledge of new generations. This was the case with the acting and counteracting movements of idealism and realism in Greece. The ideas of Demokritos or Hippokrates were superseded by the idealistic arguments of Sokrates, whose principles formed the basis of the philosophies of Plato and Aristotle in the following century. The supernaturalism of Plato and the realism of Aristotle both had their followers, who read and understood them differently. We have first the celebrated physicist Strato, who looked upon the vôs of Aristotle as a mere consciousness of impressions. The activity of the soul was with him simply motion. He explained all existence and life as originating in the natural forces with which matter is endowed. Strato led to Epikurus, who was counteracted by the Stoiks, who, despite their professed idealism, were the most prominent materialists in physical science. We can trace an analogous phenomenon in our own times in which it often occurs, that men with theologically biased minds in metaphysical matters are the most pronounced realists where natural sciences are concerned.
Register of the Collegiate Church of Crail, Fifeshire. With Historical Remarks
Authors: Rogers Charles
Published: March 2007

Crail is a royal burgh situated on the eastern coast of Fife-shire, near the apex of that peninsula familiarly known as the East Neuk. Anciently written Carrail, Caryl, and Karaite, the name is derived from caer, a fortified place, and ail, a corner. A castle belonging to the Scottish kings occupied the rock which overhangs the present harbour, of which some vestiges remain. This structure was probably of ancient origin. Constantine, King of Scotland, while unsuccessfully contending with invading Norsemen, fell in battle among the rocks at Balcomie near Crail in 877. He may have occupied the castle as a principal seat. To Sir Robert Sibbald, writing in 1710, it appeared as “the ruins of a strong castle.” It was a favourite hunting-seat of David I. in the twelfth century, when he followed the chase in the adjoining territory of Kingsmuir. By a royal charter granted to the collegiate church of Crail, dated 24th November 1526, James V. de-scribes the site of the church as “an ancient borough where sundry princes, his predecessors, had made their residence and dwelling-place, and as he and his successors might do in time to come as reasonable causes and occasions should befall.” These expressions would imply that the castle was inhabitable in the sixteenth century. The royal demesne of Crail was frequently included in the jointure lands of the Scottish queens.
Notes in the History of Sir Jerome Alexander, Second Justice of the Court of Common Pleas, and Founder of the Alexander Library, Trinity College, Dublin
Authors: Rogers Charles
Published: March 2007

The Will of Sir Jerome Alexander, a parchment transcript of which is preserved in the Chief Probate Office, Dublin, is a document of more than ordinary interest; even with its cumbrous repetitions we owe no apology for producing it in full:–

“In the name of God Amen. I, Sr Jerome Alexander of the City of Dublin, one of the unprofitable servants of Almighty God, being of a perfect sound disposing memory, praised bee God, this three and twentieth day of March in the yeare of the Raigne of our Soveraigne Lord Charles the Second of that name by the grace of God of England, Scotland, Fraunce and Ireland King Defender of the Faith &c. the two and twentieth, and hereby renounceing and admitting and declareing all former Wills and Testaments by mee at any time heretofore made to bee utterly void & of none effect, doe declare this to bee my last true Will and Testament in manner & form following and doe now soe declare it to bee.
An Estimate of the Scottish Nobility during the Minority of James VI. and Subsequently, with Preliminary Observations
Authors: Rogers Charles
Published: March 2007

During the spring of 1872, while engaged in the Public Record Office in some important researches, I chanced to discover a small quarto MS. volume, bearing the following inscription:—“Index of ye Nobility of Scotland in ye Time of James ye First.” The volume was in the handwriting of Sir Joseph Williamson, and, though undated, clearly belonged to the period between 1666 and 1701, when the transcriber held office as Keeper of the State Papers. Along with a written narrative concerning the nobility and their several families were descriptions of their armorial escutcheons, partly in French, and other entries of an extraneous and unimportant character.
Notices of the Pilgrim Fathers. John Eliot and His Friends, of Nazing
Authors: Winters William
Published: March 2007

The life and labours of John Eliot, together with those of his Nazing associates, occupy no small space in the evangelical annals of New England. As a pioneer and reformer, Eliot stands prominent among the settlers and founders of the New World, surrounded and supported by a galaxy of Essex Nonconformists of the purest type.
Development of the Fine Arts Under the Puritans
Authors: Palmer J. Foster
Published: March 2007

In all nations of the world the development of art in its earlier stages has had an undefined but intimate connection with some form of religion, hero-worship, or superstition. In Greek mythology, for instance, we find that Boreas, the North Wind, aided the Athenians against the Persian fleet. By continual repetition Boreas gradually assumed to those who spoke of this event a personal form and character, and at last developed into a divine or semi-divine being. But lest this form and this character be lost, it is necessary that the imaginary attributes of Boreas should be stereotyped. Human imperfection renders this a task which can only be accomplished piecemeal. The poetic art celebrates his actions in its boldest flights of language; the histrionic art gives vitality to the poet's descriptions; while the art of the painter and sculptor permanises the idea of his outward form. Boreas becomes a god, and idol-worship commences by the aid of art.
The Meeting of the Duke of Marlborough and Charles XII. at Altranstadt, April 1707
Authors: Stamp A. E.
Published: March 2007

The two most interesting periods in the career of Charles XII. of Sweden are for many people, curiously enough, the two periods during which he did nothing—the two years spent at Altranstadt and the years spent at Bender. During the former period he engrossed the attention of all Europe; during the latter he was forgotten by the world. The stay at Altranstadt contained picturesque incidents—picturesque incidents, indeed, occurred almost every day of Charles's life. The visit of his protégé Stanislaus, the visit of his conquered enemy Augustus, would both afford material for the historical word-painter; but the incident which was fixed upon by contemporary Europe as a topic of wonder and speculation was the visit of Marlborough in the spring of 1707. From the common man's point of view, as something merely picturesque and extraordinary, nothing so wonderful had occurred in the memory of living men. It was the meeting of the two greatest men of their time, an event almost without precedent in history.
The State Papers of the Early Stuarts and the Interregnum
Authors: Lomas S. C.
Published: March 2007

The subject of the Stuart State Papers cannot be better introduced than by quoting the words of that excellent historian and admirable editor, Mr. John Bruce, words which, although written in reference to the reign of Charles I., are equally applicable to the years which preceded and followed it. The term State Papers, Mr. Bruce says, is a convenient general title, under which the papers may be easily and properly recognised—‘a title clearly applicable to them with reference to the place of their deposit, and generally so with reference to their actual character; but it is by no means put forth as a precise diplomatic description of every single document.’ For, ‘intermingled with sign manuals, proclamations, orders, and correspondence of the Council, letters of the Secretaries of State, of the Lord High Admiral, and of other important public functionaries—great and primary evidences of the acts of the King's Government—there occur papers, some entirely private’, which have ‘evidently found their way thither by the accidents to which in disturbed periods the papers of public men are subject. With some slight exceptions they are now all intermingled, and arranged chronologically in one great series. Together they form a collection of papers, public and private, general and individual, local and personal, which has not indeed the definiteness, or what may even be called the grandeur, of some of our great series of public records, but they constitute a collection which cannot be surpassed for facility of consultation, and one which … will be found to develope the facts of our national history in a way and to a degree altogether unexampled.’
Social Condition of England during the Wars of the Roses
Authors: Redstone Vincent B.
Published: March 2007

The social life of the inhabitants of England during the years of strife which brought about the destruction of the feudal nobility, gave to the middle class a new position in the State, and freed the serf from the shackles of bondage, has been for some time past a subject of peculiar interest to the student of English history. If we desire to gain an accurate knowledge of the social habits and customs prevalent during this period of political disturbance, we cannot do better than direct our attention towards that part of the country which was the least affected by the contest between the Houses of York and Lancaster, the eastern district of England, which since the days of King John had enjoyed a remarkable immunity from civil war. Here the powerful lords of the North and South found little support; the vast estates of the old feudal barons were broken up into numerous independent manors. Moreover the arts of peace, in the shape of the mysteries of trade, manufactures, and commerce, widely flourished among the inhabitants of these regions.
The Raising of the Ironsides
Authors: Firth C. H.
Published: March 2007

The term ‘Ironsides’ was a nickname, originally conferred upon Cromwell by Prince Rupert, which was afterwards applied to the regiment, as well as to the man who commanded it. Popular usage has come to employ it as a designation for Cromwell's troopers rather than for Cromwell himself, and in its popular sense it is employed in the title of this paper. In this paper, therefore, I shall attempt to trace the history of Cromwell's regiment of horse from its origin in 1643 to its incorporation in the New Model in 1645, and to show how it was raised, equipped, and organised, and by whom it was commanded.
The Fall of Cardinal Wolsey
Authors: Gairdner James
Published: March 2007

It is sufficiently well known to the general reader of history that the cause of Wolsey's fall was his failure to obtain for Henry VIII. a divorce from Katharine of Arragon. Wolsey had certainly done his utmost in that bad cause, however unwillingly he engaged himself to it in the first instance; for it was a matter of life or death to him to give the king satisfaction. For years the old nobility of England, who were councillors by right of birth and standing, had resented his monopoly of the king's confidence. Several of them were related to Anne Boleyn, and others who were not personally interested backed the king's wishes in the divorce—unpopular as it was in the country generally—as a means of securing the downfall of the Cardinal. Even the Duke of Suffolk, no less an upstart than Wolsey himself, and whom Wolsey had saved at the outset of his career from the vengeance of the other nobles, now most ungratefully turned against him; and when the Legatine Court was prorogued by Campeggio, gave a great rap on the table and said with haughty mien, ‘It was never merry in England whilst we had Cardinals among us.’
Pitt and Peel—1783–4, 1834–5
Authors: Hill Frank H.
Published: March 2007

The classic view of the struggle between George III. and the Whig aristocracy, which had its climax and catastrophe in the years 1783–4, is given with great force in Sir George Trevelyan's ‘History of the American Revolution.’ ‘By the time,’ he writes, ‘George III. had been on the throne ten years, there were no two opinions about the righteousness and wisdom of the Revolution of 1688. To hear them talk they were all Whigs together, but meanwhile, under their eyes and with their concurrence, a despotism of subtle and insidious texture was being swiftly and deftly interwoven into the entire fabric of the constitution. The strong will, the imperious character and the patient unresting industry of the King, working through subservient Ministers on a corrupt Parliament, had made him master of the State as effectively and far more securely than if his authority had rested on the support of an army of foreign mercenaries.’
The Relations of the Crown to Trade under James I
Authors: Durham F. Hermia
Published: March 2007

The reign of James I., covering the first quarter of the seventeenth century, coincides with the period of perhaps the greatest economic confusion in our history. The seeds of England's future greatness as a commercial nation and maritime power had been sown under Elizabeth's rule. In James's reign it was yet too soon for these to bear fruit. It was a critical period for the country which was undergoing an apprenticeship in commerce, trade, and industry. It was as yet doubtful whether she would surmount the difficulties with which she was beset, or whether she would be crushed by their weight.
The Intellectual Influence of English Monasticism between the Tenth and the Twelfth Centuries
Authors: Graham R.
Published: March 2007

At the opening of the tenth century monasticism was at its lowest ebb in England. King Alfred's attempts to revive the regular life had failed; some of the monasteries were homes of married priests, many more were ruinous and deserted. When Edgar had come into his kingdom, and was able to fulfil the vow which he had made as a boy to restore the monasteries to their former splendour, the time was ripe for success. The land had recovered from the ravages of war, and ‘the three torches’ of the Church—Dunstan, Athelwold, and Oswald—were ready to guide him. However, the brief but brilliant revival was checked by national disaster. From the time of the renewed Danish invasions monastic life steadily languished.
The Alleged Condemnation of King John by the Court of France in 1202
Authors: Norgate Kate
Published: March 2007

The scope of this paper is strictly defined by its title; its subject is the judgment said to have been pronounced upon John Lackland in 1202, and nothing else. I do not intend to discuss that other judgment which John is said to have undergone, in 1203 or later, for the murder of Arthur; nor the composition of the court before which the trial, on either or both of these occasions, is supposed to have been held. With respect to the so-called ‘second condemnation’ I will only say—for the sake of making my own attitude clear—that, notwithstanding the arguments recently put forth by M. Guilhiermoz in support of its reality, I am still content to abide by the conclusion which the generality of historical scholars, on both sides of the Channel, have for the last six teen years regarded as established by M. Bémont: that the ‘condemnation of 1203’ is fictitious. My study of the evidence relating to the matter has, however, led me to form the opinion that the condemnation of 1202 is fictitious likewise. It is with reference to this point alone that I venture to offer a few considerations.
Notes on the Family of Betoun in Connection with some Royal Letters of James VI
Authors: Malden Henry Elliot
Published: March 2007

The following paper has for its raison d'être certain letters, three of James VI. of Scotland, and one of Francis Stewart, Earl of Bothwell, which have never before been made public, I believe, and the originals of which I can submit to the inspection of the Society. They are of no great historical importance, but with the circumstances amid which they were written they will help to throw some light upon the state of society in Scotland during the latter part of the sixteenth century, when James VI. was endeavouring to hold his own and support the dignity of the crown among the contending religious and family parties in Scotland, and was so serving an apprenticeship in kingcraft which ill fitted him for his subsequent place at the head of a peaceful, well-ordered kingdom like England. The letters are addressed to members of the family of Betoun, James Betoun of Creich, and his third cousin, Robert Betoun of Balfour.
Shakespeare as an Historian
Authors: Malden Henry Elliot , V.-P. R.Hist.S
Published: March 2007

There is an advantage in dealing with such a subject as this, which may counterbalance the disadvantages under which a writer labours who ventures to bring forward ‘common saws and modern instances,’ in place of that serious investigation of obscure historical facts, or that review of the social questions of the past, which have honourably distinguished the last few years of the Society's labours. On such a familiar topic a brief treatment of a large matter is possible. There is no need to quote many examples, or passages at length, when the mere mention of the name of a character will commonly recall at once how he and his actions have been presented upon the stage by Shakespeare:

I only speak right on; I tell you that which you yourselves do know.
Richard the Redeless
Authors: Holton S. H. D.
Published: March 2007

The reign of Richard II. is a landmark in the political and constitutional history of England, and in the history of her church and people. At home it was an era of corrupt party politics which led to the crisis of 1399; abroad, there was a lull in the great French war; and already the victories of Edward III. and the Black Prince had initiated the course of events which were to make England an insular power, and her government a limited monarchy. Social and religious discontent joined hands in Wat Tyler's revolt, when the causes of Labour and Nonconformity made their first loud claim to the right of existence in England. In the following pages, however, we are concerned less with the history of the reign as a whole, than with the interesting personality of the boy-King. King and kingdom were closely bound up with one another in the Plantagenet epoch; and the unequal and ill-regulated character of Richard II. has left no uncertain impress upon the events of his reign. And here the historical student is brought face to face with the unsatisfactory condition of the original authorities. The whole reign abounds in political mysteries, and the figure of the young King is shrouded in obscurity.
Some Survivors of the Armada in Ireland
Authors: Hume Martin A. S.
Published: March 2007

Of the great fleet of 130 sail that left Corunna for England on July 12, 1588, 65 vessels, exactly one-half, perished. At least 32 of these foundered with all hands in the wild gales of the North Atlantic, where, when, and how will now never be revealed. Of the remaining 33, two were lost on the Hebrides, but no particulars are known, two were disabled and abandoned in the Channel, five were subsequently lost on the coast of France, two were crippled in the fighting in the North Sea and drifted on to the Dutch coast, one was lost at Bigbury Bay, Devon, and two perished on their return to Spain. Full particulars of all these ships except those lost on the Hebrides are known. The remaining 19 vessels were wrecked off the Orkneys and the rugged coast of Ireland. At what places and under what circumstances most of them perished has never yet been satisfactorily established. This is not surprising, for several reasons. It will be seen that most of the places mentioned in the Irish State Papers as the scenes of wrecks are not identifiable on modern maps, not only the names of villages but the names and divisions of districts and counties having been greatly changed. It will be seen, also, that the somewhat meagre reports sent by the Lord Deputy Fitzwilliam, and the Presidents of the provinces, are vague as to the localities of the wrecks, and in nearly every case are silent as to the names of the ships.
The Conference of Pillnitz
Authors: Browning Oscar
Published: March 2007

The conference of Pillnitz, although it occupies an important place in all histories of the French Revolution, is still the subject of much misconception amongst historians. Immediately after it was held, a person so well informed as Mr. Burges, the English Under-Secretaryfor Foreign Affairs, believed that it resulted in a kind of treaty between Austria and Prussia for the dismemberment of France, and it was long regarded as the beginning of the first Coalition.
The Beginnings of the Cistercian Order
Authors: Mason W. A. Parker
Published: March 2007

In the eastern part of the Duchy of Burgundy, in a region which now forms the southern portion of the Côte-d'Or Department, lies Cîteaux. The country around, after gently sloping from the hills on which Dijon stands, some four or five leagues to the north, here expands into a rolling plain formed by the basin of the Saône, and not far away southwards there is the junction of this river with its tributaries, the Doubs and the Denthe. The Côte-d'Or hills to the north-west protect it from some of the more violent storms, and under their shelter and through the congenial nature of the soil has grown up the great vine-growing industry of the district. Around Cîteaux in old days the country was wild, marshy, and a tangled mass of scrub, and even to-day the soil here is marshy, and there is an abundance of pools. The name itself shows the nature of the place: in its older form Cisteaux, or Cistercium, it seems to be derived either from Cisternæ, which Du Cange explains as ‘a marsh with stagnant pools’; or from Cistels, as the Bollandists give the form of the word; or Citeals, which is the form of the word preferred by Courtépée, with a variant Cisteauls. These last are explained as old French words meaning marsh rushes. Whichever be the correct derivation, the fact pointed to is the same; the word itself shows the swampy, unpromising nature of the country. But here was to spring up the mother-house of one of the greatest and most powerful of the religious orders of the Church, which some ot its adherents could claim to have been the mother of 10,000 dependent houses, 4,000 male, and 6,000 female, by the seventeenth century.
Bondmen in Surrey under the Tudors
Authors: Malden Henry Elliot
Published: March 2007

In the appendix printed at the end of Mr. Savine's paper on ‘Bondmen under the Tudors,’ where cases are given under counties, no instance is noticed in Surrey. I can at present supply two, and have little doubt that I shall come across more.
The Parish Clergy of the Thirteenth and Fourteenth Centuries:The Alexander Prize Essay, 1911–12
Authors: Richardson H. G.
Published: March 2007

Until the thirteenth century records touching the parish clergy are scanty, but thereafter they increase in bulk and, with the fourteenth century, there exist, side by side, a number of literary works which afford more than a passing glance at their lives and deeds. The parish priests and clerks of these centuries were not perhaps typical of the mediaeval period, since no century or centuries will afford a type of any class or institution which will be true for the whole of the Middle Ages; and it is possible that the tenthcentury parish and its people resembled the parish and people of the fourteenth century as little—or as much—as the Elizabethan parish resembled the parish of the present day. The changes that affected so profoundly the organisation of the manor during the course of the Middle Ages did not leave its counterpart, the parish, unaltered; and the same economic forces that helped to make the villein a copyholder and serfdom an anachronism, helped also to raise the chaplain's wages from five to eight marks within thirty years of the Black Death. But although the
The Records of the English African Companies
Authors: Jenkinson Hilary
Published: March 2007

What I propose to put before the Society is a study in English diplomatic, that is, in the Science of Diplomatic under the form which I conceive it may take when applied to English Records. Opinion is so vague upon many points connected with this Science—such for instance as whether it is an unchanging series of rules, or merely a method of looking at historical sources which varies with the subject to which it is applied; whether it is applicable to documents of all periods and countries; whether it is an essential preliminary or only an interesting supplement to historical research upon documents—Diplomatic is, in fact, still so unreal a thing to many of the mass of students who now use documents for their work that it may be a little profitable to give, not indeed an exposition of its principles, but a slight view of its practical working upon an easily comprehended group of documents. If it can be made to appear that an ordered survey thus taken is a useful, even essential, preliminary to practical search in documents after any class of information, the fact that the documents here used are much later in date than those which usually form the subject of this science, will only make stronger the plea for its serious consideration by historical students. Though the mistakes caused by neglect of any introductory study of the inner side of the documents used may be more glaring (as indeed they are very glaring) in the case of the medieval than in that of the modern classes; though the latter are more comprehensible as being less removed, by reason of their dates, from our habits of thought and action; yet I hope it may appear that the difference in the character of English Records of all manner of dates is much less than it is usually believed.
The Metropolitical Visitation of the Diocese of Worcester by Archbishop Winchelsey in 1301
Authors: Graham Rose
Published: March 2007

The exercise of metropolitical jurisdiction by the Archbishops of Canterbury is of great interest. Sometimes in the course of their visitations, they came into conflict with the Bishops, sometimes with the King, and these proceedings throw a flood of light on the history of the medieval Church.
The Whigs and the Peninsular War, 1808–1814
Authors: Davies Godfrey
Published: March 2007

The attempt of George III to revive personal government tended to embitter politics and to accentuate the differences between the two rival parties in the State. At the same time the distrust existing between the various sections of the Whigs proved that personal animosities were unusually prominent. Conciliation seemed to be regarded as a sign of weakness, and the general antipathy to compromise was strengthened by the unpopular union of Fox and North in 1783. Consequently it proved impossible to form a real Coalition Government in 1794, when only the Portland Whigs joined Pitt's administration.
The English Province of the Order of Cluny in the Fifteenth Century
Authors: Graham Rose
Published: March 2007

During the schism in the papacy, when France recognised the pope at Avignon and England the pope at Rome, the relations between Cluny and the English province were broken off completely; Urban VI and Boniface IX put the English Cluniacs under the provisional government of the archbishop of Canterbury and the priors of Thetford and Bermondsey, who nominated priors as vacancies occurred and summoned provincial chapters. When England and France both recognised Pope Alexander V in 1409 and the schism came to an end, it was not possible to revert to the earlier relations between the mother-houses in France and their dependencies in England. National feeling against French superiors had been intensified by the long wars, and some French monasteries had sold their English possessions. The abbots of Cluny aimed at recovering all the rights which they had lost during the wars and the schism.
The Ballad History of the Reigns of the Later Tudors
Authors: Firth C. H.
Published: March 2007

Ballads about events which happened during the reigns of the later Tudors are far more numerous than those which relate to the reigns of their predecessors. They fall naturally into three classes. There are a few traditional ballads, probably handed down by word of mouth, committed to writing much later, and generally not printed till the eighteenth or nineteenth century. The authors of these are unknown; in the shape in which we possess them they may be the work of more than one hand; in many cases it is certain that they have been pieced together and reshaped by modern editors.
‘The Diaries (Home and Foreign) of Sir Justinian Isham, 1704–1735.’
Authors: Longden H. Isham
Published: March 2007

Notes on the Diaries of Sir Justinian Isham, the fifth baronet of Lamport, would hardly be complete unless allusion were made to the origin of his house. He and his forefathers were ever careful to make a note of every family event, whether christening or burial, the building of a house, the planting of trees or the making of a pond. Sir Justinian added to the materials already to hand, and with the help of many friends among clergy and laity, including John Bridges, the Northamptonshire historian, he made collections from parish registers, wills, and other sources. From these he carefully put together the family pedigree, marking as certain that only for which he had ample evidence. His pedigree, representing the family tradition, has lately been proved to be correct in several steps; possibly the earlier portion may yet be confirmed. A manorial family of Isham dwelt at Isham from the twelfth to the fourteenth century. Isham is a village on the Isebrook. It has been suggested that in the fess wavy of the arms of the family there is an allusion to the brook, and that in the piles wavy we may see the icicles which play upon the name of the house.
The Minority of Henry III.—Part II
Authors: Turner G. J.
Published: March 2007

Three years ago I read a paper to this Society on the subject of the minority of Henry III. Part of that paper was published in a somewhat enlarged form in the ‘Transactions’ of the Society for 1904, and part was reserved for publication in a subsequent volume. To-night I shall read some introductory words which I was then obliged to omit They are concerned partly with the authorities for the period, and partly with the state of political feeling in the early years of the reign.
The Errors of Lord Macaulay in his Estimation of the Squires and Parsons of the Seventeenth Century
Authors: Ditchfield P. H.
Published: March 2007

I feel somewhat diffident in venturing to read a paper on the subject of the work of the great historian, on whose writings the President of the Royal Historical Society is the leading modern authority. His new edition of Macaulay's ‘History’ is a work that has been welcomed by all historical students, and the wealth of the illustrations corresponds with the richness of the style of which the historian was a past master. No one can study the ‘History’ without experiencing the pleasure of reading the graceful, flowing, well-balanced sentences, the pure English, the rhythm of each phrase, and of noting the graphic power of description and characterisation. It may be that the more exact historians of our own day, whose facts are supported by numerous references to authorities and documents, who never give the rein to their imaginations, take too little trouble to clothe their bare statements with suitable adornment, and cultivate a bald, tedious and cumbersome style depressing to the reader, might learn a lesson from the elder school of which Lord Macaulay was so bright an example.
Financial Administration Under Henry I
Authors: White Geoffrey H.
Published: March 2007

For the financial administration under Henry I we have no such detailed information as is given for the reign of his grandson by the Dialogus de Scaccario. When Richard Fitz Neel composed that famous dialogue, which was completed before April, 1179, the head of the financial administration was the Treasurer, who was assisted by two Chamberlains. This arrangement was already in existence before the death of Henry I, although the Treasurer seems to have been a somewhat recent addition to the staff of the Treasury, which had previously been managed by the Chamberlains; whose title was a survival from the earlier period when the royal treasure was kept in the royal bed-chamber, and the king's chamberlain acted as treasurer ex-officio. If we can trust an anonymous poem of the thirteenth century, this primitive arrangement still existed in England under the Confessor, at least so far as the funds for the expenses of the Royal Household were concerned; indeed, Professor Tout is doubtful whether any royal treasury or treasurer, except the Chamber and the Chamberlain, existed in England before the Conquest.
The Beginning of the Dissolution: Christchurch, Aldgate, 1532
Authors: Davis E. Jeffries
Published: March 2007

To all who are well versed in the current accounts of the dissolution of the English monasteries it will at once be evident that the date 1532 does not fall within any of the familiar stages of that revolution. It is usually said to have been begun by Wolsey, who obtained in 1524 and 1528 papal authority to suppress some houses, with the assent of the king and their other founders, and endow his two new colleges with their property. Towards the end of 1528 Henry himself extorted from the Pope a similar bull for the benefit of the royal foundations of Eton and King's College; and afterwards, at his request, others were issued (the last being dated 31 August 1529) authorising the cardinal to unite very small convents with larger ones, and to establish new cathedrals endowed with monastic lands. The fall of Wolsey and the meeting of the Reformation Parliament ended this stage, during which some thirty insignificant houses had been suppressed. The next familiar episode occurred in 1534: the extinction of the Order of Observant Franciscans in England. But meanwhile, as modern historians have failed to note, the very important house of Austin canons at Aldgate, Holy Trinity or Christchurch (the names were interchangeable) had fallen: the first monastery dissolved by the king, with no shadow of authorisation from the Pope.
The Exchequer Year
Authors: Richardson H. G.
Published: March 2007

From the earliest times and for many centuries the year of account in the Exchequer ended at Michaelmas. The great roll of the Exchequer, or Pipe Roll, was made up to that period and until the fourteenth century bore the date of the regnal year in which Michaelmas fell. Thus the roll which was composed of the accounts for the twelve months ending at Michaelmas 1189 covered the concluding part of the thirty-fourth year of Henry II's reign, the uncompleted thirty-fifth year, the interregnum between Henry's death and Richard's coronation, and less than a month of the first year of Richard's reign: yet the roll is dated I Richard I. This rule has been frequently expounded, but it is necessary to restate it since mistakes are constantly made, and even within the last few years a useful little handbook for students of history has been published which is, in this regard, certainly at fault.
Illustrations of the Mediæval Municipal History of London from the Guildhall Records
Authors: Thomas A. H.
Published: March 2007

The title of this Paper, which was suggested to the present writer many months ago, was framed in rather vague terms in order to afford him an opportunity of selecting a particular topic at his leisure. It would be no easy matter to deal with the whole subject,—to catch in a single lecture the spirit of mediæval London, or to speak adequately of a mass of Records, which even for this restricted period, are very numerous. Happily, as regards the latter, something has already been done. Some sixty years ago Mr. H. T. Riley contributed to the Rolls series four volumes containing the essential matters in the Liber Custumarum and Liber Albus, two custumals of the fourteenth and fifteenth centuries, which are a treasury of information for the student; a life's work, directed by fine scholarship, is represented in Dr. R. R. Sharpe's Calendars of Wills in the Court of Husting, his Calendars of Coroner's Rolls and Mayor's Correspondence, and the nine volumes of Letter Books abstracted by him; and other portions of the City's Records have been freely quoted in standard works on social, political and economic history. In view, therefore, of the abundance of evidence available for those well qualified to interpret it, I trust you will allow me to take a narrower and more modest subject, yet within the wide boundaries of the title given.
Presidential Address
Authors: Firth C. H.
Published: March 2007

One result of the war has been to turn our attention from domestic to foreign affairs. For a long time the British electorate had been so wrapped up in our own constitutional struggles that it was almost completely blind and deaf to other issues. It has been brought back to the affairs of Europe as it were by an earthquake. People who never thought seriously about the relations of England and the Continent, and were content to leave foreign policy to our Foreign Secretaries, begin to form opinions of their own, and will in due season express them at the poll. A new period of our history has begun in which a democracy, hitherto indifferent to external problems and exceptionally ignorant about them, will demand information about these problems, and cannot, without great peril to national interests, be left as uninformed as it is.
The Correspondence of the First Stuarts with the First Romanovs
Authors: Lubimenko Madame Inna
Published: March 2007

The early relations of England with Russia were not only of a commercial, but also of a political character. The correspondence of Queen Elizabeth with the Russian Czars has already been described by the author. The friendly intercourse between both courts had attained the force of a tradition at the end of the century, and even the great unrest, the ‘Smuta,’ which preceded in Russia the elevation of the new dynasty, had no fatal influence on the position of the English in the Muscovite empire. Since the accession to the Russian throne of Czar Michael, the relations of the two courts, interrupted for a time, were resumed, and an animated correspondence followed between the first Stuarts and the first Romanovs. For the period of thirty-seven years (from 1613–49) We can identify 128 letters, though it is probable that a few others have not come to our knowledge. Of these, seventy-five were written by the English court, sixteen by James I, fifty-seven by Charles I, and two by the young prince Charles; fifty-three letters were written in Russia, forty-four by Czar Michael and nine by his father, the patriarch Philaret.
The Constitutional Development of Canada
Authors: Wrong E. M.
Published: March 2007

I Have been asked to speak on the constitutional development of Canada, and there is perhaps a danger in a lecture on this subject being given by a Canadian. We are all inclined to think the history of our own country of special importance, to claim that all men should study the chronicles of our own land, where they may see different principles in conflict more clearly than they will in the story of other nations; where they may learn solutions for modern problems, which if they will only apply them, will send a more efficient and more peaceful world spinning on its way. Most of us, indeed, suffer from national egotism, which perverts our sense of history. You have only to read debates in Parliament in the eighteenth century to see how Englishmen overvalued English institutions. Trial by jury, Habeas Corpus, and representative assemblies were to Burke and Fox, and to many lesser men, panaceas for a world diseased.
The Ballad History of the Reign of James I
Authors: Firth C. H.
Published: March 2007

A verylarge number of ballads written during the reign of James I have been preserved in various collections, though the dates of these productions are often obscured by the fact that those editions of them which have survived bear the imprint of publishers of a later time. The ‘Stationers' Registers,’ so far as the entry of ballads is concerned, were very carelessly kept during the twenty-two years that the king's reign covered, and during some years only two or three appear in the lists. Of those which can be dated, many are amorous and romantic ballads, or illustrate the general aspects of the social history of England during the whole century rather than the limited period with which we are concerned. There remain, however, after all these deductions, a considerable number of still extant ballads which supply a kind of commentary on the political events of the reign, and show what the feeling of the people was at the time when those events happened.
Respublica Christiana
Authors: Figgis J. Neville
Published: March 2007

I think it was Lord Halsbury, in the Scotch Church case, who stopped one of the advocates in his use of the word Church, saying that they as a Court had nothing to do with that, and that they could only consider the question as one concerning a trust. In other words, with a religious society as such they could not deal, but only with a trust or a registered company. This is only one instance of a fact exhibited in the whole of that case: namely, the refusal of the legal mind of our day to consider even the possibility of societies possessing an inherent, self-developing life apart from such definite powers as the State, or the individuals founding the body under State authority, have conferred upon them explicitly. In this view, apart from the State, the real society—and from individuals the living members of the State—there are no active social unities; all other apparent communal unities are directly or indirectly delegations, either of State powers or of individuals. To such a view the notion is abhorrent of a vast hierarchy of interrelated societies, each alive, each personal, owing to the State loyalty, and by it checked or assisted in their action no less than are private individuals, but no more deriving their existence from Government concession than does the individual or the family. In other words, these phrases of Lord Halsbury are but the natural expression of the concession theory of corporate life which sees it as a fictitious personality, the creation by the State for its own purposes, and consequently without any natural or inherent powers of its own. This theory is not so universally accepted as was once the case, but Professor Geldart's inaugural lecture on ‘Legal Personality’ shows how great are the obstacles still to be encountered by that theory of realism which is for most of us associated with the name of Gierke, and was popularised by Maitland. The latter, moreover, has shewn how this very English institution of the trust has preserved us from the worse perils of the rigid doctrinaire conception of the civilian. For under the name of a trust many of the qualities of true personality have been able to develop unmolested. But this has not been all to the good. It has probably delayed the victory of the true conception, by enabling us to ‘muddle through’ with the false one. Moreover, the trust is and assimilates itself always rather to the Anstalt or the Stiftung than to the living communal society, the true corporation, with its basis in the Genossenschaft; and consequently, as was proved in this Scotch case, the necessary independence of a self-developing personality is denied to it, and its acts are treated as invalid on this very ground—that it is only a trust tied rigidly to its establishing terms, and not a true society with a living will and power of change.