History of the English People, Volume 1Useful knowledge publishing Company, 1882 |
Other editions - View all
Common terms and phrases
abbey Ælfred Angevin Archbishop arms army Bæda baronage barons became Bernicia bishop borough Britain Britons broke brought castles charter Christian Chronicle church claim clergy Cnut coast conquered conquerors conquest council court crown Cumbria Danelagh death Eadwine ealdorman Earl Simon ecclesiastical Ecgberht Edward Elfred England English Englishmen Ethelred fell feudal forced foreign France freedom French fresh Gascony gathered gave Geoffry hand Harthacnut held Hengest Henry the Second Henry's John justice justiciar king king's kingdom knights land London lord marched ment Mercia monks nobles Norman Normandy Northmen Northumbria older Oswiu Oxford papal parliament passed peace political pope primate Provisions of Oxford realm reign revolt Richard Roman Rome round royal rule Saxon Scot Scotland scutage seemed shire stood strife struggle summoned temper thegns throne tion town tribes victory Wales Welsh Wessex West-Saxons William witenagemote
Popular passages
Page 314 - And the City of London shall have all its ancient liberties and free customs, as well by land as by water; furthermore we will and grant, that all other cities and boroughs, and towns and ports, shall have all their liberties and free customs.
Page 91 - First among English scholars, first among English theologians, first among English historians, it is in the monk of Jarrow that English literature strikes its roots. In the six hundred scholars who gathered round him for instruction he is the father of our national education.
Page 312 - No freeman," ran the memorable article that lies at the base of our whole judicial system, " shall be seized or imprisoned, or dispossessed, or outlawed, or in any way brought to ruin : we will not go against any man nor send against him, save by legal judgment of his peers or by the law of the land.
Page 291 - Foul as it is, hell itself is defiled by the fouler presence of John." The terrible verdict of his contemporaries has passed into the sober judgment of history. Externally John possessed all the quickness, the vivacity, the cleverness, the goodhumor, the social charm which distinguished his house.
Page 310 - ... gained from Christmas to Easter, he had summoned mercenaries to his aid and appealed to his new suzerain, the pope. Summons and appeal were alike too late. Nursing wrath in his heart, John bowed to necessity and called the barons to a conference on an island in the Thames, between Windsor and Staines, near a marshy meadow by the river side, the meadow of Runnymede.
Page 104 - Little by little men came to know what such a life of worthiness meant. Little by little they came to recognize in Alfred a ruler of higher and nobler stamp than the world had seen. Never had it seen a king who lived solely for the good of his people. Never had it seen a ruler who set aside every personal aim to devote himself solely to the welfare of those whom he ruled. It was this grand self-mastery that gave him his power over the men about him. Warrior and conqueror as he was, they saw him set...
Page 336 - Notwithstanding, certain it is that if those schoolmen to their great thirst of truth and unwearied travail of wit had joined variety and universality of reading and contemplation, they had proved excellent lights, to the great advancement of all learning and knowledge...
Page 269 - In the silent growth and elevation of the English people the boroughs led the way : unnoticed and despised by prelate and noble they had alone preserved or won back again the full tradition of Teutonic liberty. The rights of self-government, of free speech in free meeting, of equal justice by one's equals, were brought safely across the ages of tyranny by the burghers and shopkeepers of the towns.
Page 101 - ... the most complete embodiment of all that is great, all that is lovable, in the English temper. He combined as no other man has ever combined its practical energy, its patient and enduring force, its profound sense of duty, the reserve and self-control that steadies in it a.
Page 63 - ... and then flying forth from the other vanishes into the wintry darkness whence it came. So tarries for a moment the life of man in our sight, but what is before it, what after it, we know not. If this new teaching tells us aught certainly of these, let us follow it.