I think it is helpful to the memory, and useful, because of the great influence of the crown throughout English History, to bring out the _personality_ of _every_ sovereign, so that the names of each dynasty will not be a list of names and nothing more. But in every century we shall find certain great personalities, either on the throne or off it, which should be made as vivid as may be. To this rule the eleventh and twelfth are no exception. There are five men in these centuries which seem to me particularly worth dwelling on: William I and Henry II,--surely two of the really great kings of England; Becket and Langton, types of great churchmen and exemplars of the enormous power of the Church; and Simon de Montfort, highest type among the early nobility. Vivid word pictures of the Conqueror may be found in Freeman’s “Norman Conquest,” Vol. II, pp. 106-113, and (shorter) in Green’s “Short History,” pp. 74-76. Henry II is portrayed by a contemporary, Cheyney’s “Readings,” pp. 137-139, and in Green, pp. 104-105. Becket is described by Green, p. 106, and a good story of his relation to Henry II is told in Cheyney, p. 144. For Langton see Green, pp. 126-127; for Simon de Montfort see Green, 152-153, or Cheyney, pp. 221-224. Further Notes and References. There is a good brief account of general conditions--Church and State, development of learning, town and country life, architecture, etc., pp. 165-171 of Gardiner’s “Student’s History.” If one can get the time, a reading, or re-reading, as the case may be, of Green’s “Short History” on the towns, pp. 92-94; literature, pp. 117-121, and the universities, pp. 132-141, is exceedingly refreshing. Cheyney’s “Readings” also contain interesting quotations on the universities, pp. 188-195. In bringing out the causes of the controversy over the Constitutions of Clarendon, it is appropriate to quote William the Conqueror’s Edict (Cheyney, pp. 109-110) in support of Becket’s contention, as well as to read from the Constitutions themselves (Cheyney, pp. 146-150). If one has time for a little touch of humor and human nature in the class-room, not strictly important in itself, the account of the bishop’s speeches before the pope, in connection with the quarrel with Becket, is most amusing (Cheyney, pp. 151-154). For a very full and interesting account of feudalism, see Beard’s “Introduction to English Historians,” pp. 73-96. Shorter quotations giving some interesting detail have already been referred to (Cheyney, pp. 131-136.) A clear account of the Government of England as established under the Normans is contained in Chapter XVII of “The Normans in Europe,” in the Epochs of History series, pp. 234-248. “The Early Plantagenets” in the same series, is concise and useful for “side-lights” on John’s and Henry III’s reigns.