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Historical Selections, a Series of Readings on English and European History, Selected and Arranged by E.m. Sewell and C.m. Yonge
Historical Selections a Series of Readings on English and European History Selected and Arranged by Em Sewell and Cm Yonge Author:Elizabeth Missing Sewell General Books publication date: 2009 Original publication date: 1868 Notes: This is a black and white OCR reprint of the original. It has no illustrations and there may be typos or missing text. When you buy the General Books edition of this book you get free trial access to Million-Books.com where you can select from more than a million book... more »s for free. Excerpt: HISTORICAL SELECTIONS. ENGLAND BEFORE THE CONQUEST. (From "History of 'the Norman Conquest," by Edward A. Freeman, M. A.) The Norman Conquest is the great turning-point in the history of the English nation. Since the first settlement of the English in Britain, the introduction of Christianity is the only event which can compare with it in importance. And there is this wide difference between the two. The introduction of Christianity was an event which could hardly fail to happen sooner or later; in accepting the Gospel the English only followed the same law which, sooner or later, affected all the Teutonic nations. But the Norman Conquest is something which stands without a parallel in any other Teutonic land. If that Conquest be only looked on in its true light, it is impossible to exaggerate its importance. And yet there is no event whose true nature has been more commonly and more utterly mistaken. No event is less fitted to be taken, as it too often has been taken, for the beginning of our national history. For its whole importance is not the importance which belongs to a beginning, but the importance which belongs to a turning-point. The Norman Conquest brought with it a most extensive foreign infusion, which affected our blood, our language, our laws, our arts : still it was only an infusion ; the older and stronger elements still survived, and in the long run they again made good their supremacy. So far from being the beginning of our national history, theNorman Conquest was the temporary overthrow of our national being. But it was only a temporary overthrow. To a superficial observer, the En...« less