introduction
the unit of historical study
historical generally illustrate rather than correct the ideas of the communities within which they live and work, and the development in the last few centuries, and more particularly in the last few generations, of the would- be self-sufficient national sovereign state has led historains to choose nations as the normal fields of historical study. but no single nation or national state of europe can show a history which is in itself-explanatory. if any state could do so it would be great britain . in fact, if great britain (or, in the earlier periods, englend) is not found to constitute in herself an intelligible field of historycal study, we may confidently infer that no other modern european national state will pass the test.
is english history, then intelligible when taken by self? can we abstract an internal history of england from her external relations? if we can, shall we find that these residual external relations are of secondary importance? and in analysing these, again, shall we find that the foreign influences upon england are slight in comparison whit the english influences upon other parts of the world? if all these questions receive affirmative answers we may be justified in concluding that, while it may not be possible to understand other histories without reference to england, it is possible, more or less, to understand english history without reference to other part of the word. the best way to approach these questions is to direct our thought backwards over the course of english history and recall the principal chapters. in inverse order we may take these chapter to be:
(a) the establishment of the industrial system of economy (since the last quarter of the eighteenth century) ;
(b) the establishment of responsible parliamentary government (since the last quarter of the seventeenth century) ;
(c) the expansion overseas (beginning in the third quarter of the sixteenth century with piracy and developing gradually into a word-wide foreign trade. the acquisition of tropical dependencies, and the establishment of new english speaking communities in overseas countries with temperate climates) ;
(d)the reformation (since the second quarter of the sixteenth century) ;
(e) the renaissance, including the political and economic as well as the artistic and intellectual aspects of the movement (since the last quarter of the fifteenth century ) ;
(f) the establishment of the feudal system ( since the eleventh century ) ;
(g) the conversion of the english from the religion of the so- called heroic age to western christianity ( since the last years of sixth century ) ;