The Childhood of the English Nation: Or the Beginnings of English History

Excerpt from The Childhood of the English Nation: Or the Beginnings of English HistoryI have not carried my work further than the end of the twelfth century, chiefly because by that time the reader will have made acquaintance with all those things in mediaaval history which most require explanation, and from that time forward he can advance without further commentary; if he has understood what went before, he will understand what comes after, and is developed out of it. The twelfth century is also an important crisis in many respects. It saw the influence of the Church reach its zenith; it saw England united under a firm central government; it saw the rise of the forces which were ultimately to overthrow feudalism. With the thirteenth century a new period of history begins; the struggles of the nation against the despotism of John are wholly different from the struggles of the feudal baronage against the government of Henry II.About the PublisherForgotten Books publishes hundreds of thousands of rare and classic books. Find more at www.forgottenbooks.comThis book is a reproduction of an important historical work. Forgotten Books uses state-of-the-art technology to digitally reconstruct the work, preserving the original format whilst repairing imperfections present in the aged copy. In rare cases, an imperfection in the original, such as a blemish or missing page, may be replicated in our edition. We do, however, repair the vast majority of imperfections successfully; any imperfections that remain are intentionally left to preserve the state of such historical works.