66,419 COPYRIGHT By G. P. PUTNAM'S SONS 1889 Entered at Stationers' Hall, London Press of New York F451 PREFACE. I DESIRE to make a most grateful acknowledgment of the assistance which I have received in writing this book from the "Norman Conquest" of Professor Freeman and from Mr. J. R. Green's "Short History of England" and "The Making of England." From time to time in the course of these pages special references are made to these works; but these references express but a small part of my obligations to them. I have also consulted with great advantage to myself the "History of England under the AngloSaxon Kings" of Dr. Lappenburg, and Sharon Turner's "History of the Anglo-Saxons"; the " Dictionary of English History," edited by Messrs. Low and Pulling (Cassell and Co.); the “Dictionary of National Biography"; Dr. Collingwood Bruce's "Roman Wall"; and several of the volumes included in the Rolls Series. For one or two incidents in the story there is, as far as I am aware, no other authority than the Pseudo-Ingulphus. The Charters given in the "Description of Croyland Abbey" are unquestion ably forgeries; but the narrative, which embodies genuine records and traditions, need not therefore be wholly discredited. I do not know whether it is necessary to vindicate the propriety of my title. This island may have ceased to be properly called "Britain" after the middle of the fifth century; but it certainly could not be called "England" before that time. To the writers and readers of Latin it was always "Britannia," and it is still formally known "Britain" to the rest of the world. BARNET, A. J. CHURCH. as August, 1889. |