G. R. Elton

Though the first edition of this book (1960) rapidly established itself as a sound collection of source material and a comprehensive analysis of the government of England in the sixteenth century, the astonishing amount of work done, by many hands including the author's, in the last twenty years has rendered a revision very necessary. The scope of these changes is indicated by the fact that in the list of books cited some 180 make a first appearance while some 70 have been discarded. In the upshot, no single section has remained unaltered and several (especially on the Church, on Parliament and on the Law) have had to be entirely rewritten. While there was room for the addition of only a few documents, they have been chosen with an eye to topics especially alive in the researches of the present day. One such issue - patronage and faction - while not amenable to documentation in a book of this kind has not been forgotten in the commentary.

Documents and Commentary

The Tudor Constitution

In this inaugural lecture as Regius Professor, G. R. Elton enters a plea for the study of continuous history, through long stretches of time, especially for university students, on the grounds that a course consisting only of a large number of highly specialised bits of history fails to give the student the necessary sense of a past extending far back and providing important points for an understanding of development and relationship. More particularly, it calls for the study of English history at English universities. It calls in doubt current views which regard the history of England as no longer worthy of careful attention because the British Empire has gone, and emphasises the special virtue of studying the history of a country which has always b6en different and frequently successful.

Inaugural Lecture, Delivered 26th January 1984

The History of England

Geoffrey Rudolph Elton

This volume continues the publication of Professor Elton's collected papers on topics in the history of Tudor and Stuart England. All appeared between 1973 and 1981. As before, they are reprinted exactly as originally published, with corrections and additions in footnotes. They include the author's four presidential addresses to the Royal Historical Society and bring together his preliminary findings in the history of Parliament and its records. Several of them, which appeared in various collections and Festschriften, have been difficult to find, and some are taken from locations in Germany and the United States unfamiliar to English readers. The eight lengthy reviews here republished examine some of the major questions in the history of the age and throw light on the principles of investigation which underlie the author's own research.

Studies in Tudor and Stuart Politics and Government: Volume 3, Papers and Reviews 1973-1981

This second edition describes the open conflicts of the Reformation from Luther's first challenge to the uneasy peace of the 1560's.

The New Cambridge Modern History: Volume 2, The Reformation, 1520-1559

Features a collection of Sir Geoffrey Elton's articles and reviews including a group of pieces on sixteenth-century government.

Studies in Tudor and Stuart Politics and Government: Volume 4, Papers and Reviews 1982-1990

G. R. Elton's Policy and Police, first published in 1972, has since acquired classic status in the literature on the government of sixteenth-century England. The book examines what actually happened during Henry VIII's break with Rome, the widespread resistance which necessitated constant vigilance on the part of the government, and the role of Thomas Cromwell, whose surviving correspondence permits a detailed insight both into the purposes of government and the manner in which it was experienced by the people.

G. R. Elton

Books

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