The History of the Middle Ages PDF
Preview The History of the Middle Ages
--J-KV^;KA.v, ^^ ^: r~~i> THE HISTORY OF THE MIDDLE AGES BY VICTOR DURUY OftheFrenchAcademy TRANSLATEDFROMTHETWELFTHEDITIONBY AND WHITNEY E. H. M. D. WITHNOTESANDREVISIONSBY GEORGE BURTON ADAMS ProfessorofHistoryin Yaie University NEW YORK HENRY HOLT AND COMPANY 1891 D87 Copyright,1891, By HENRY HOLT & CO. EDITOR'S PREFACE. It is generally considered that the most successful text- book on mediseval history in any language is M. Victor Duruy's Histoire dii Moyen Age. Its great merit consists in the fact that while it gives a very clear conception of the general currents of the period, it also gives a sufficient number of the facts and details of the history to furnish a solid basis for such general views. Text-books on general history almost invariably fall into one or the other of two faults Some of them deal in general views and afford no : sufficient groundwork of fact, so that, however clear these general views may be, they are left hanging in the air in the student's mind, and though he may have learned a great many plausible explanations of history, he has learned very little history. Others crowd together such a mass of detail that the student cannot find his way and the work leaves in his mind only a jumble of unorganized facts. The author has followed the middle course between these two extremes with very great success. The reader can hardly fail to gain a clear conception of the general life and growth of the race during this time, and of the relation of the several lines of progress to one another, and yet these general views are continually anchored to the facts and given fixed and defin- ite place. This translation is published in the confident belief that it will prove as valuable a book for school use and general reading among us as it has proved itself in France. Numerous slight revisions have been made of the author's text, which it has not been found possible to dis- tinguish in any way from the statements of the original. Many of these are mere corrections of dates and of mani- fest typographical errors. Others are such modifications of statement as the author himself would no doubt have made in another edition. Some few omissions have also been made from both text and notes, chiefly for the pur- IV EDITOR'S PREFACE. pose of simplifying the narrative. Notes of the author's which are retained are left unsigned, while those of the editor are signed. In general, the intention has been to confine changes and notes to points of sufficient import- ance to justify notice, but in a book of this kind it is hardly possible that every statement in need of revision has been detected, or that no new errors have been made, and I am conscious to myself of unequal knowledge of the different subjects dealt with. I wish toacknowledge my especial obligation toProfessor E. T. McLaughlin, of Yale University, for valuable assist- ance rendered me in the portions of the book relating to literary history. GEORGE ADAMS. B. New Haven, February 14, 1891.
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