Irish Historical Studies Publications Ltd

An Introduction to the History of England by Douglas JerroldReview by: G. O. SaylesIrish Historical Studies, Vol. 7, No. 26 (Sep., 1950), pp. 140-141Published by: Irish Historical Studies Publications LtdStable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/30005335 .

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140 Reviews

the expansion to go farther and collapse more catastrophically. But eighteenth century political autocracy following seventeenth century devastation is not peculiar to Ireland, and the population-sustaining virtues of the potato were within the reach of other depressed populations, yet they do not repeat the Irish case. The difference appears to lie in causes of population growth outside Dr Salaman's schema.

These remarks have necessarily been confined largely to the Irish case, with which your reviewer has some familiarity, and have been critical in the sense that they suggest points on which one should not like to accept Dr Salaman's judgment as final. They should not be allowed to obscure the admiration due to a work of monumental erudition on its main theme, and full of curious and interesting information on ancillary aspects. G. A. DUNCAN

AN INTRODUCTION TO THE HISTORY OF ENGLAND. By Douglas Jerrold. Pp. 614. London: Collins. 1949. 21s.

DEPLORING the fact that historians of the middle ages are hesitant in making interim reports on the results of historical research for the infor- mation of the general reading public, Mr Jerrold has been determined to fill the gap. He has, therefore, provided a descriptive narrative of developments in England up to the loss of Normandy in 1204. The book makes pleasant reading because Mr Jerrold writes with lucidity, vigour and enthusiasm, though at times with a greater assurance and confidence than many historians would permit themselves, and, within those periods and those subjects which have attracted him, he fulfils his purpose of making readily available the conclusions of specialised investi- gations. He makes only incidental allusions to the history of Ireland: a single page suffices to indicate the achievements of the early Celtic church and scarcely more to tell the story of the Norman conquests and settlements. We may, therefore, be permitted here to comment simply upon his conception of history as a matter of general interest.

Mr Jerrold has 'devoted 193 pages (nearly a third of the entire book) to proto-history and pre-history between 500,000 B.c. and the time of the Anglo-Saxon infiltrations, including 50 pages on Roman Britain. But 99 pages are considered enough to cover the all-important twelfth century between Rufus and John, and at least a third of these are taken up with a narrative of continental warfare. It can scarcely be denied that the proportions are wrong: absorbing as the account of the geological ages undoubtedly is, the reader expects to find the history of the inhabitants of England rather than the history of man. The question at issue, how- ever, goes further than that. History in the modern sense is based upon the study of written documents, and their analysis, criticism and inter- pretation require a hard training and a special technique. Archaeology and other kindred subjects demand a similarly specialised, but quite different technique which the historian qua historian does not profess, and he must therefore accept the conclusions of the experts without being able to test those conclusions for himself. It is for him to unearth a

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Reviews 14 I new chronicle, but he cannot unearth a Minoan civilisation or discuss with authority the pros and cons of the existence of a 'megalithic culture.' The historian must stick to his last and leave the undocumented years to the geologists, palaeontologists and archaeologists.

Mr Jerrold is determined to resurrect the writing of history in the idiom of a bygone age. He affirms as his creed that history is 'the record, not of what has happened, but of what has mattered'. This proposition has its dangers. It is not only that we cannot know the second before we know the first, but there is an inevitable temptation to assume that we know the second before we attempt the first. It was, for example, because historians believed that it was popular representation that 'mattered' in the history of the mediaeval parliament that they brushed aside as irrelevant what 'happened' when a mediaeval parliament met. Furthermore, though the historian would be wasting his life if he did not believe that his labours would in the fulness of time 'serve the common good ', he does not set out with this idea as a mission: his allegiance is first, foremost and all the time simply to the service of truth. Mr Jerrold makes no secret of what he considers to be what matters. It is the power and influence of the mediaeval church. If it is thought that this approach is the proper approach to history, then Mr Jerrold's book will be read deservedly with sympathetic interest, but he must not complain if other historians prefer greater objectivity and refuse to argue to foregone conclusions.

It is, indeed, inevitable that Mr Jerrold should involve himself in inconsistencies. For example, we are starkly informed that 'had Harold not lost his throne England would have become an outpost of the barbarous north ', though two sentences earlier we learn that 'it was a people rich in intellectual achievement, firm in faith, and very closely assimilated to the Latin Christian culture of western Europe which came under Norman rule at the battle of Hastings '. Again, 'the wish for peace which pervaded the Church' must be considered in relation to the Crusades. And if 'lay control were the root cause of all the disorder', how is it possible to assert that 'nothing vital to the Church was withheld by William', when it is obvious that the Conqueror, of all rulers, resolutely imposed such lay control. And is it true, in fact, that after Becket's death 'the Canon Law was finally and wholly accepted'? Finally, among the 'things that matter', surely the 'plaint' in the dispensation of justice should not be totally ignored, for few developments carry so much significance for the rights of individuals in mediaeval society.

G. U. SAYLES

HISTORY OF THE O'BRIENS: FROM BRIAN BOROIMHE A.D. I000 TO 1945. By Hon. Donough O'Brien. Pp. 302. London: Batsford. I949. 30os.

THE title page of this 'History ' informs us that the author is a Fellow of the Irish Genealogical Society and M.A. of Christ Church, Oxford.

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