A Short History of England

A Short History of England, by G.
K.

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Title: A Short History of England
Author: G. K. Chesterton

Release Date: March 25, 2007 [eBook #20897]
Language: English
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A SHORT HISTORY OF ENGLAND
by
G. K. CHESTERTON

London Chatto & Windus MCMXVII
Printed in England by William Clowes and Sons, Limited, London and
Beccles. All rights reserved

CONTENTS
PAGE I. INTRODUCTION 1
II. THE PROVINCE OF BRITAIN 6
III. THE AGE OF LEGENDS 19
IV. THE DEFEAT OF THE BARBARIANS 30
V. ST. EDWARD AND THE NORMAN KINGS 43
VI. THE AGE OF THE CRUSADES 58
VII. THE PROBLEM OF THE PLANTAGENETS 71
VIII. THE MEANING OF MERRY ENGLAND 86

IX. NATIONALITY AND THE FRENCH WARS 104
X. THE WAR OF THE USURPERS 119
XI. THE REBELLION OF THE RICH 133
XII. SPAIN AND THE SCHISM OF NATIONS 151
XIII. THE AGE OF THE PURITANS 163
XIV. THE TRIUMPH OF THE WHIGS 179
XV. THE WAR WITH THE GREAT REPUBLICS 195
XVI. ARISTOCRACY AND THE DISCONTENTS 209
XVII. THE RETURN OF THE BARBARIAN 223
XVIII. CONCLUSION 238

A SHORT HISTORY OF ENGLAND

I
INTRODUCTION
It will be very reasonably asked why I should consent, though upon a
sort of challenge, to write even a popular essay in English history, who
make no pretence to particular scholarship and am merely a member of
the public. The answer is that I know just enough to know one thing:
that a history from the standpoint of a member of the public has not
been written. What we call the popular histories should rather be called
the anti-popular histories. They are all, nearly without exception,
written against the people; and in them the populace is either ignored or
elaborately proved to have been wrong. It is true that Green called his
book "A Short History of the English People"; but he seems to have

thought it too short for the people to be properly mentioned. For
instance, he calls one very large part of his story "Puritan England."
But England never was Puritan. It would have been almost as unfair to
call the rise of Henry of Navarre "Puritan France." And some of our
extreme Whig historians would have been pretty nearly capable of
calling the campaign of Wexford and Drogheda "Puritan Ireland."
But it is especially in the matter of the Middle Ages that the popular
histories trample upon the popular traditions. In this respect there is an
almost comic contrast between the general information provided about
England in the last two or three centuries, in which its present industrial
system was being built up, and the general information given about the
preceding centuries, which we call broadly mediæval. Of the sort of
waxwork history which is thought sufficient for the side-show of the
age of abbots and crusaders, a small instance will be sufficient. A
popular Encyclopædia appeared some years ago, professing among
other things to teach English History to the masses; and in this I came
upon a series of pictures of the English kings. No one could expect
them to be all authentic; but the interest attached to those that were
necessarily imaginary. There is much vivid material in contemporary
literature for portraits of men like Henry II. or Edward I.; but this did
not seem to have been found, or even sought. And wandering to the
image that stood for Stephen of Blois, my eye was staggered by a
gentleman with one of those helmets with steel brims curved like a
crescent, which went with the age of ruffs and trunk-hose. I am tempted
to suspect that the head was that of a halberdier at some such scene as
the execution of Mary Queen of Scots. But he had a helmet; and
helmets were mediæval; and any old helmet was good enough for
Stephen.
Now suppose the readers of that work of reference had looked for the
portrait of Charles I. and found the head of a policeman. Suppose it had
been taken, modern helmet and all, out of some snapshot in the Daily
Sketch of the arrest of Mrs. Pankhurst. I