There is a good brief account of general conditions—Church and State, development of learning, town and country life, architecture, etc., pp. 165-171 of Gardiner’s “Student’s History.” If one can get the time, a reading, or re-reading, as the case may be, of Green’s “Short History” on the towns, pp. 92-94; literature, pp. 117-121, and the universities, pp. 132-141, is exceedingly refreshing. Cheyney’s “Readings” also contain interesting quotations on the universities, pp. 188-195.
In bringing out the causes of the controversy over the Constitutions of Clarendon, it is appropriate to quote William the Conqueror’s Edict (Cheyney, pp. 109-110) in support of Becket’s contention, as well as to read from the Constitutions themselves (Cheyney, pp. 146-150). If one has time for a little touch of humor and human nature in the class-room, not strictly important in itself, the account of the bishop’s speeches before the pope, in connection with the quarrel with Becket, is most amusing (Cheyney, pp. 151-154).
For a very full and interesting account of feudalism, see Beard’s “Introduction to English Historians,” pp. 73-96. Shorter quotations giving some interesting detail have already been referred to (Cheyney, pp. 131-136.)
A clear account of the Government of England as established under the Normans is contained in Chapter XVII of “The Normans in Europe,” in the Epochs of History series, pp. 234-248. “The Early Plantagenets” in the same series, is concise and useful for “side-lights” on John’s and Henry III’s reigns.
On the Magna Charta, and on the Origin of Parliament, Beard’s “Introduction,” pp. 110-123 and 124-138, respectively, contains a mine of valuable comment. In connection with the famous parliament of 1265 the fact that parliament was not really a legislative body at this time should be strongly emphasized.
For realism, I know nothing better than the graphic account in the “Anglo-Saxon Chronicle” of the evils of Stephen’s reign (Cheyney, pp. 128-130, or, more briefly, Green, p. 103). The only good novel which I know of in this period (I should be glad to hear of others) is Maurice Hewlett’s “Richard Yea and Nay,” a wonderfully vivid book, but hardly suitable to put in the hands of young folk in general.
Robinson and Beard’s Development of “Modern Europe”
REVIEWED BY PROFESSOR SIDNEY B. FAY, OF DARTMOUTH COLLEGE.
If a teacher finds that the remoteness of Pericles and Clovis makes it difficult to arouse in the history class the most active interest of the student, who nevertheless would be keen to know something of Bismarck and Li Hung Chang; or if a teacher finds it unsatisfactory, in the second year course in medieval and modern European history to try to teach the spread of constitutional government and democratic ideas from the French to the Turkish Revolution before the student knows anything of the English parliamentary system and of the Industrial Revolution; or if the teacher is assailed by the school-board or by the tax-paying parents of the pupils, on the ground that ancient and medieval history is relatively useless and ought to be replaced by something more practical,—such a teacher will find in these two volumes a very present help in time of trouble.