England under the Tudors Part 37

Andre, Bernard, _De Vita atque gestis Henrici Septimi_, and _Annales Henrici Septimi_ (to be found in Gairdner's _Memorials, infra_). Andre was the court historiographer, and was blind. Honest, but not altogether trustworthy, or adequate.

Fabyan, Robert, _New Chronicles of England and France_, (supplement), ed. Ellis: and _London Chronicle_: both, in their present form, probably summaries from the original record compiled by Fabyan as the events took place; upon which original it would seem that both Hall and Stow largely based their Chronicles of the reign.

Hall, Edward, _Chronicle_: compiled chiefly from Polydore Vergil, and Fabyan for this reign. For Henry VIII., he is literally a contemporary.

_Italian Relation, An_, (Author unknown: ed. Camden Society), by an Italian visitor to England.

_Letters and Papers, Richard III. and Henry VII._, ed. Gairdner.

_Letters and Papers Henry VIII._, (vols. i. and ii.) ed. Brewer.

_Letters, Despatches and State Papers_, from Simancas, ed.

Bergenroth. Spanish relations.

Lyndsay of Pitscottie, _Historie of Scotland_: picturesque but not too trustworthy.

Macchiavelli, N., _The Prince_. An interesting contrast to the political philosophy of the _Utopia_.

_Memorials of Henry VII._, ed. Gairdner: contemporary records.

More, Sir T., _Utopia_, first book (ill.u.s.trating social and economic conditions).

_Paston Letters_, ed. Gairdner; correspondence of the Paston family.

Polydore Vergil, _Historiae Anglicae Libri_. P. V. was an Italian who came to England in 1502. For the earlier years of Henry VII. he had access to good sources of information; for the latter years he was a witness, but with the inevitable limitations of a foreign observer.

INTERMEDIATE

Bacon, Francis, _History of the Reign of King Henry VII._ This has been the basis of all the popular histories, for the reign. It is often referred to as "contemporary". But Bacon was not born till fifty years after Henry's death, and did not write the history till he was over fifty himself. His work contains much that is merely rhetorical amplification of above named contemporary authorities, with occasional imaginative variations and misreadings: nor does he appear to have had additional sources of information.

Ware, _De Hibernia;_ a supplement to which contains annals of Irish History in the reign of Henry VII.; written in the time of Charles I.

MODERN

Busch, Wilhelm, _England under the Tudors,_ vol. i., Henry VII.

Translated by A. M. Todd. The one complete and thorough account of the reign, with an exhaustive examination of the authorities: and notes by J. Gairdner.

Gairdner, J., _Henry VII._ (Twelve English Statesmen series), an admirable study but with less detail; written before Busch's work was published.

Seebohm, F., _The Oxford Reformers,_ Colet, Erasmus and More: an illuminating study.

HENRY VIII

CONTEMPORARY: A. DOc.u.mENTARY

_Calendar of State Papers_

(1) _State Papers, Henry VIII._ A series of eleven volumes edited before the commencement of the series next named. These are referred to in this work as "S. P."; and the next series mentioned, as "L. & P."

(2) _Letters and Papers, Foreign and Domestic, of the reign of Henry VIII._ Vols. i.-iv. ed. Brewer, vols. v. ff. ed. J. Gairdner and others. Dr. Brewer carried his work down to the fall of Wolsey, arranging all available doc.u.ments so far as possible chronologically, but without other cla.s.sification. His introductions have been edited as two solid volumes (_v. infra_) by Dr. Gairdner. The subsequent editors were restricted as to the length of introduction permitted but the same system of arrangement is followed. Throughout, all doc.u.ments of any importance are transcribed with fulness.

(3) _State Papers, Venetian,_ (4) _State Papers, Ireland,_ (5) (State Papers, Spanish;_ all official collections throwing some light on (various aspects of the history. [2, 3, and 5 belong to the Rolls series.]

_Hamilton Papers_ (Scotland) 2 vols.: full transcriptions of the Hamilton collection of Papers.

_Letters of Thomas Cromwell,_ ed. Merriman, a complete collection of all the available letters of Cromwell, with a historical survey.

B. CHRONICLES AND OTHER PUBLICATIONS

Buchanan, G., _History of Scotland;_ the author was an excellent scholar but a violent partisan with a rudimentary idea of evidence.

Cavendish, _Life of Cardinal Wolsey_. The author was a member of Wolsey's household, from 1526, and regarded him with affection and admiration.

Fabyan: see under Henry VII.

Fish, Simon, _The Supplicacyon for the Beggers,_ a pamphlet ill.u.s.trating the most extravagant anti-clerical att.i.tude, just before Wolsey's fall.

Foxe, J., _Acts and Monuments,_ commonly known as the "_Book of Martyrs_". The work of a strong but honest partisan and a good hater.

_Narratives of the Reformation_ by the same author.

Hall's Chronicle: see under Henry VII.

Holinshed, Raphael, _Chronicle_: compiled in the reign of Elizabeth. It forms with Hall's Chronicle, the basis of the popular impressions of English History down to Elizabeth, partly no doubt because Shakespeare, drawing upon those works, has made those popular impressions permanent.

Knox, John, _History of the Reformation;_ less valuable perhaps as a record of facts set forth with a strong bias than as a revelation of the mental att.i.tude of the great Reformer and his followers.

Latimer, Hugh, _Sermons_.

Lyndsay, Sir David, _Poetical Works,_ for Social and Ecclesiastical conditions in Scotland.

Lyndsay of Pitscottie, _Historie of Scotland_. See under Henry VII.

More, Thomas, _Utopia_ (1516) expresses the ideas of an advanced political thinker, and incidentally, directly or by implication, conveys much information as to prevalent social economic and intellectual conditions.

Pole, Reginald (Cardinal), _Epistolae,_ ill.u.s.trating the Cardinal's own views.

Roper, W., _Life of Sir T. More,_ whose son-in-law the author was.

Sanders, Nicholas, _History of the Anglican Schism_ presented from the extreme (contemporary) Catholic point of view.

Skelton, J., _Poems_.

Macchiavelli, N., _The Prince_.

INTERMEDIATE

Burnet, Gilbert, _History of the Reformation;_ painstaking, liberal-minded and Orthodox, but requiring modification in the light of later information.