PREFACE.


This little book is an attempt to give a brief sketch of Britain under
the early English conquerors, rather from the social than from the
political point of view. For that purpose not much has been said about
the doings of kings and statesmen; but attention has been mainly
directed towards the less obvious evidence afforded us by existing
monuments as to the life and mode of thought of the people themselves.
The principal object throughout has been to estimate the importance of
those elements in modern British life which are chiefly due to purely
English or Low-Dutch influences.

The original authorities most largely consulted have been, first and
above all, the "English Chronicle," and to an almost equal extent,
Bæda's "Ecclesiastical History." These have been supplemented, where
necessary, by Florence of Worcester and the other Latin writers of later
date. I have not thought it needful, however, to repeat any of the
gossiping stories from William of Malmesbury, Henry of Huntingdon, and
their compeers, which make up the bulk of our early history as told in
most modern books. Still less have I paid any attention to the romances
of Geoffrey of Monmouth. Gildas, Nennius, and the other Welsh tracts
have been sparingly employed, and always with a reference by name. Asser
has been used with caution, where his information seems to be really
contemporary. I have also derived some occasional hints from the old
British bards, from _Beowulf_, from the laws, and from the charters in
the "Codex Diplomaticus." These written documents have been helped out
by some personal study of the actual early English relics preserved in
various museums, and by the indirect evidence of local nomenclature.