in of the Thirty Years' War, and other smaller treatises,
all aim at delineating the international relations of the states of
Europe. His History of England may well be regarded as the concluding
portion of this series; for the relations of England, first with
France, and then with Holland, eventually determined the course of
European politics.

The book however is more than a history of this period, for Professor
Ranke, according to his custom, has prefixed to it a luminous and
interesting sketch of the earlier part of our history, presented, as
all summaries ought to be, in the form of studies of the most
important epochs. And at the end of the work are Appendices, which
supply not only happy examples of historical criticism in the
discussions on the chief contemporary writers of the period, but also
a mass of original documents, most of which have never before been
published. Above all, the critiques on Clarendon and Burnet, and the
correspondence of William III with Heinsius, will well repay careful
study; and the Appendices throw light on some of the more important
details connected with the history of the time, besides shewing the
student how a great master has found and used his materials.

The present translation was undertaken with the author's sanction, and
was intended in the first instance for the use of students in Oxford.
Its publication has been facilitated by a division of labour, the
eight volumes of the original having been entrusted each to a separate
hand. The translators are Messrs. C. W. Boase, Exeter College; W. W.
Jackson, Exeter College; H. B. George, New College; H. F. Pelham,
Exeter College; M. Creighton, Merton College; A. Watson, Brasenose
College; G. W. Kitchin, Christchurch; A. Plummer, Trinity College. The
task of oversight, of reducing inequalities of style, and of
supervising the Appendices and Index, has been performed by the
editors, C. W. Boase and G. W. Kitchin. Notwithstanding the
disadvantages incident to a translation, it is hoped that the work in
its present shape will be welcomed by a large number of English
readers, and will help to increase the deserved renown of the author
in the country to the history of which he has devoted such profound
and fruitful study.

CONTENTS.

BOOK I.

THE CHIEF CRISES IN THE EARLIER HISTORY OF ENGLAND.

PAGE

INTRODUCTION