Henry's reign, from 1530 onwards, has been described by the late Mr. Froude in one of the most brilliant and fascinating masterpieces of historical literature, a work which still holds the field in popular, if not in scholarly, estimation. But Mr. Froude does not begin until Henry's reign was half over, until his character had been determined by influences and events which lie outside the scope of Mr. (p. vii) Froude's inquiry. Moreover, since Mr. Froude wrote, a flood of light has been thrown on the period by the publication of the above-mentioned _Letters and Papers_;[2] they already comprise a summary of between thirty and forty thousand documents in twenty thousand closely printed pages, and, when completed, will constitute the most magnificent body of materials for the history of any reign, ancient or modern, English or foreign. Simultaneously there have appeared a dozen volumes containing the State papers preserved at Simancas,[3] Vienna and Brussels and similar series comprising the correspondence relating to Venice,[4] Scotland[5] and Ireland;[6] while the despatches of French ambassadors have been published under the auspices of the Ministry for Foreign Affairs at Paris.[7] Still further information has been (p. viii) provided by the labours of the Historical Manuscripts Commission,[8] the Camden,[9] the Royal Historical,[10] and other learned Societies. [Footnote 2: This series, unlike the _Calendars of State Papers_, includes documents not preserved at the Record Office; it is often inaccurately cited as _Calendar of State Papers_, but the word "Calendar" does not appear in the title and it includes much besides State papers; such a description also tends to confuse it with the eleven volumes of Henry VIII.'s State papers published _in extenso_ in 1830-51. The series now extends to Dec., 1544, and is cited in the text as _L. and P._.] [Footnote 3: Cited as _Spanish Calendar_; the volume completing Henry's reign was published in 1904.] [Footnote 4: Cited as _Ven. Cal._; this correspondence diminishes in importance as the reign proceeds, and also, after 1530, the documents are epitomised afresh in _L. and P._.] [Footnote 5: Three series, _viz._, that edited by Thorp (2 vols., 1858), a second edited by Bain (2 vols., 1898) and the _Hamilton Papers_ (2 vols., 1890-92).] [Footnote 6: Vol. i. of the _Irish Calendar_, and also of the _Carew MSS._; see also the _Calendar of Fiants_ published by the Deputy-Keeper of Records for Ireland.]