Produced by Anne Soulard, Charles Franks and the Online Distributed Proofreading Team. THE HISTORY OF ENGLAND A STUDY IN POLITICAL EVOLUTION BY A. F. POLLARD, M.A., LITT.D. CONTENTS CHAP. I THE FOUNDATIONS OF ENGLAND, 55 B.C.-A.D. 1066 II THE SUBMERGENCE OF ENGLAND, 1066-1272 III EMERGENCE OF THE ENGLISH PEOPLE, 1272-1485 IV THE PROGRESS OF NATIONALISM, 1485-1603 V THE STRUGGLE FOR SELF-GOVERNMENT, 1603-1815 VI THE EXPANSION OF ENGLAND, 1603-1815 VII THE INDUSTRIAL REVOLUTION VIII A CENTURY OF EMPIRE, 1815-1911 IX ENGLISH DEMOCRACY CHRONOLOGICAL TABLE BIBLIOGRAPHY INDEX CHAPTER I THE FOUNDATIONS OF ENGLAND 55 B.C.--A.D. 1066 "Ah, well," an American visitor is said to have soliloquized on the site of the battle of Hastings, "it is but a little island, and it has often been conquered." We have in these few pages to trace the evolution of a great empire, which has often conquered others, out of the little island which was often conquered itself. The mere incidents of this growth, which satisfied the childlike curiosity of earlier generations, hardly appeal to a public which is learning to look upon historical narrative not as a simple story, but as an interpretation of human development, and upon historical fact as the complex resultant of character and conditions; and introspective readers will look less for a list of facts and dates marking the milestones on this national march than for suggestions to explain the formation of the army, the spirit of its leaders and its men, the progress made, and the obstacles overcome. No solution of the problems presented by history will be complete until the knowledge of man is perfect; but we cannot approach the threshold of understanding without realizing that our national achievement has been the outcome of singular powers of assimilation, of adaptation to changing circumstances, and of elasticity of system. Change has been, and is, the breath of our existence and the condition of our growth.