IN ENGLAND, FROM THE EARLIEST TIMES TO THE PERIOD OF THE REFORMATION. BY THE REV. ARTHUR MARTINEAU, M.A. VICAR OF WHITKIRK, YORKSHIRE, AND RURAL DEAN, PUBLISHED UNDER THE DIRECTION OF THE COMMITTEE OF GENERAL LITERATURE AND EDUCATION, LONDON: SOCIETY FOR PROMOTING CHRISTIAN KNOWLEDGE; SOLD AT THE DEPOSITORIES: 77, GREAT QUEEN STREET, LINCOLN'S INN FIELDS; PREFACE. As a work such as the following may appear to some to require apology, the Author thinks it right to state briefly the circumstances which have led to its publication. He was informed by those whose position gave them the best means of judging of the fact, that a want was generally felt of an Ecclesiastical History of England that might be accessible to all classes of readers and students. A further acquaintance with the subject convinced him of the truth of this observation; and though the present attempt derives its origin rather from the encouragement given to the undertaking by others, than from any hope entertained by himself that he could supply the want, the fact of its existence may be sufficient to justify his intrusion upon the public attention. There is scarcely a single branch of knowledge an accurate acquaintance with which is of more importance to a well-educated Englishman (whatever his religious opinions may be), than that of which the following pages treat. And yet, unhappily, it is a subject which has been too often misrepresented for the purposes of controversial polemics and religious party warfare. The consequence of this is that a complete ecclesiastical history of England, of the same |