character are introduced in the terse and energetic form adopted in the Roman classics.' With respect to the books included in the above translation, the same critic observes, that 'it is important to know that Polydore wrote this portion of his work whilst many of the persons alluded to in the events of the reigns of Edward IV. and Richard III. were alive, and who communicated with him' (Pref. pp. xxviii. and xxxii). СНАР. Hall. The work of EDWARD HALL, entitled The Union Edward of the Two Noble Families of Lancaster and Yorke, first printed in 1542, commences with the deposition of d. 1547. Richard II., and terminates with the reign of Henry VIII. For the present period it is mainly a compilation, made, however, with much care, from every available source, including French and German authorities. The style, though highly Latinised, is vigorous and clear. To the student of Shakespeare, Hall's narrative is of special interest, as the source from whence the great dramatist derived the materials for his historical plays. A Life of Henry V., by one ROBERT REDMAN,' written about 1540, is interesting as a source of tradition with respect to Henry's foreign policy, and also for the corroboration it affords of some of Shakespeare's representations of events; it has, however, no claim to rank as an authority. The writer appears to have belonged to the party of the Reformers. Redman's Pauli, Wallon, (c.) Modern Writers. In relation to the careers and Lives by characters of the Black Prince and Richard III., Dr. Gairdner, PAULI has given a careful and interesting study of each Longman, in his Aufsätze zur Englischen Geschichte (1869); but of Freeman, Brougham, the latter, the most complete and trustworthy account Hallam. is that supplied in the Life by MR. JAMES GAIRDNER,2 Memorials of Henry the Fifth. Edited by C. A. Cole. R. S. 2 History of the Life and Reign of Richard the Third. To which is CHAP. Walcott's Anstey. Hook's Archbishops. in which the conclusions of the writer tend mainly to a vindication of the traditional accounts, and especially of the representations contained in Hall. For the history of Edward III., LONGMAN'S History of the Life and Times of that monarch may be consulted with advantage.1 M. WALLON has written the best account of Richard II.2 MR. FREEMAN'S comparative estimate of the French wars of Edward III. and Henry V., in his Essays (First Series), offers the best criticism of our continental policy at this period; while LORD BROUGHAM'S History of England under the House of Lancaster3 is a vigorous sketch of our political history at large. The last two chapters of HALLAM's Middle Ages are eminently suggestive for the whole subject of medieval legislation and institutions, and his treatment of the subject of Chivalry still remains one of the best and most dispassionate estimates of that phase of civilisation. MR. MACKENZIE E. C. WALCOTT's William of Wykeham and his Colleges (1852) is an interesting and careful sketch of the great reformer of education in the fourteenth century. MR. ANSTEY'S Preface to the Munimenta Academica illustrates the conditions of academic life and learning throughout the period, while these features may be further studied in DEAN HOOK'S sketch of Thomas Bradwardine in his Lives of the Archbishops. The biographies in the same series-John Stratford (archbp. 1333-48), Simon Islip (1349-66), Simon Sudbury (1375-81), William Courtney (1381–96), added the story of Perkin Warbeck from original Documents. By James Gairdner. 1878. man. The History of the Life and Times of Edward III. By W. Long2 vols. 2 Richard II. Episode de la rivalité de la France et d'Angleterre. 2 vols. 1864. 3 New edit. 1861. 4 Munimenta Academica; or, Documents illustrative of Academical Life and Studies at Oxford. 2 vols. R. S. 1868. СНАР. V. Thomas Arundel (1396-1414), Henry Chicheley (141443), and Thomas Bourchier (1454-86),—-are, for the most, animated sketches, which supply useful illustration of the relations of the English Church to the State, a subject that is more systematically treated in the 19th chapter of PROFESSOR STUBBS' Constitutional History. MR. SHIRLEY'S Preface to the Fas- Shirley. ciculi Zizaniorum renders a like service in connexion with Wyclif and Lollardism, and the Papacy, a piece of valuable criticism which should be studied in conjunction with MR. GAIRDNER'S article entitled Bible Thought in Gairdner. the Fifteenth Century.1 Another article by the same writer on Jack Cade's Rebellion 2 brings out the real significance of that movement, as the first move in the struggle between the Houses of York and Lancaster.' A good general outline of the decline of the Papacy and the causes that led to the Reformation will be found in the tenth chapter of GEFFCKEN'S Church and State, Geffcken. translated by Fairfax Taylor. For the career of Charles the Bold, duke of Burgundy, who played an important part in relation to English politics in the fifteenth century, the student should consult the Life by MR. KIRK, a work of con- Kirk's siderable research, and enlivened by much brilliant and Life of vigorous description. Charles the In connexion with the condition of the English peasantry at this period, and more especially with the popular revolt of 1381, the first two volumes of professor THOROLD ROGERS' History of Agriculture and Prices Rogers's in England supply the best statistical information. 1 Fortnightly Review, vol. ii. 2 Ibid. Oct. 1870. 3 History of Charles the Bold, Duke of Burgundy. By John Foster Kirk. 3 vols. 1863. Of this valuable work only the first two volumes are published, commencing with the year after the Oxford Parliament (1259) and concluding with the year 1400. It is the author's design to carry it on to the year 1793. Two more volumes are now in the press. History of 302 CHAP. VI. Polydore Vergil and Hall. CHAPTER VI. FROM THE ACCESSION OF HENRY VII. TO THE DEATH (A.) Contemporary Writers.-IT is a significant proof of the dearth of literary talent in England at the close of the fifteenth century, that our best sources of information with respect to the national history, so far, at least, as they assume the form of narrative, are from the pens of foreigners. Polydore Vergil now attains his chief value,' and as an authority for the reign of Henry VII. greatly surpasses all native writers, Hall being here little more than a translator of his contemporary's work. nexion with the reign of Henry VIII., however, Polydore is by no means altogether to be trusted, and more than one critic, and especially Mr. Brewer, has convicted him of very unscrupulous misrepresentations with respect to individual characters; of cardinal Wolsey he habitually writes with an animosity which is sufficiently ex 1 As regards Polydore, Mr. Gairdner's criticism appears well worthy of being quoted. There was certainly,' he says, ‘something in the new condition of things that produced a feeling of constraint; and the dull intellects of native writers, accustomed only to record external events, which the contentions of feudal nobles and rival dynasties had produced in unwelcome abundance, could not be expected to penetrate the veil of subtle statesmanship, by which a politic and peaceful, but watchful and suspicious king, was putting an end to the long reign of violence. It required the brain of an Italian to gather the acts of such a reign into a regular narrative, and make their real significance apparent.'—Early Chroniclers, p. 306. plained by some of the incidents in his personal career. Hall, on the other hand, exhibits the opposite prejudices. He was a lawyer by profession, and he appears to have hailed with special satisfaction the accession of a sovereign whose undeniable hereditary right gave promise of a more tranquil era. While therefore he continues to borrow largely from Polydore, his strong sympathies with the Crown lead him to justify and extol Henry's policy to an undue extent; some of the passages which he adapts from his contemporary, containing expressions unfavourable to the Reformation, are even altered by him so as to bear a contrary sense. But there are also portions of Hall's narrative in which he becomes a valuable original authority. Among these is his account of the rising of the 'prentice lads against the aliens in London, and of some of the passages in Wolsey's career, where he writes as a personal observer. CHAP. VI. André. To another foreigner, BERNARD ANDRÉ of Toulouse, Bernard we are also indebted for an excellent account, perhaps the best from a contemporary pen, of the reign of Henry VII. André was an Italian scholar, who, after having taught at Oxford, became permanently attached to the court of Henry VII. as poet laureat, and was the recipient of an annual pension. His Life of his royal patron is written in excellent Latin, and reflects, in its numerous quotations from classical authors and its frequent poetical effusions, the influence of the Renaissance. The example of Livy is especially to be recognised in the speeches attributed to Richard III. and Henry. The sketch of Henry's career prior to his coronation is probably derived from statements made by the monarch himself, but it supplies only an imperfect Edited by 'Historia Regis Henrici Septimi, a Bernardo Andrea Tholosate conscripta, necnon alia quaedam ad eundem regem spectantia. James Gairdner. R. S. 1858. |