The Catholic bulletin. [volume] (St. Paul, Minn.) 1911-1995, 1913-05-31
THE LONDON SPECTATOR PRAIs-
ES HIS SCHOLARSHIP AND I'M
PARTIALITY AS A HISTORIAN,
IN HIS LATEST WORK, "HISToR-
IcAL CONTROVERSIES"

The clergy and laity of the Twin
Cities who had the pleasure of listen
ing to Dom Gasquet, the Abbot-Presi-
dent of the English Benedictines, on
the occasion of his visit to st. Paul
some years ago, will be pleased to
read the following well-merited tribute
to his scholarship and impartiality as
a historian which was contained in a
recent issue of the London Spectator.
lon closing such book as DR.. Gas
quet's most recent work the reviewer
takes up his pen and his parable in
fear and trembling. This is not SO
much because the Abbot-President of
ly recondite in his book, nor even be-
cause most of the essays included are
Of strongly controversial nature from
the religious point of view. Contro-
versial, of course, they are. One
might relish, at a safe distance, some
of the remarks which an extreme
critic of the English Low Church fac
tion might be inspired to write about
some of them. Yet for the critic who
does not approach. his subject with a
completely uninformed and strongly
biased mind there must always be a
strong presumption in DR.. Gasquet's
favor. He is, after all, modern
scholar to whom we are deeply in
debted for knowledge of the Middle
Ages And he is scrupulously and
in oil tho cfQf0.
ments which he makes and the evil
dence that he adduces. 1t is this ac-
curacy that makes the reviewer nerv-
Gus. Nor is the fear relieved by the
final essay in this work on Editing
and Reviewing" wherein DR.. Gasquet
utters denunciations of critics
whose ambitions are greater than
their qualifications to undertake ed
itorial work
"One is inclined to concentrate in
terest, for the most part, on the first
essay of the book, which embodies a
faithful and eloquent picture of the
closing days of DR.. Gasquet's favorite
period, the Middle Ages. In this es-
say we are on fairly safe ground. 1t
would be difficult to read much that is
controversial into its argument. On
the contrary it is a contribution to his
torical research of the highest value,
and fulfi1ls a most valuable function.
One must always welcome any au-
thoritative work which is capable of
correcting the appalling misconcep-
tions current about the Middle Ages.
There is no delusion which the Eng
lishman of Radical tendencies hugs
more closely to his bosom than firm
conviction of the miseries, injustices
and expressions which he believes to
have been inevitably typical of me
dieval days. One is thankful that DR..
Gasquet goes long way towards dis
pelling this unhistoric illusion. The
essence of life in England during the
days of the Plantagenets and Tudors,
writes DIR. Gasquet, was that every
one knew his neighbor and that every
one was his brothers keeper. My
studies lead me to conclude that
though there was hardship in this life,
this hardship was a common lot, and
that there was hope, more hope than
superficial historians have conceived
possible, and perhaps more variety
than there is in the peasants lot in
our time It is customary to dis
count the highly organized character
of medieval life. Such a conclusion
is an injustice. The guilds very large
ly fulfilled the function of modern
trade unionism, and did their work not
a whit the less effectively than their
modern counterparts by reason of the
fact that their energies were directed
to the more secluded fields OF trade