HOME

TheInfoList



OR:

''The Cambridge Modern History'' is a comprehensive
modern history The term modern period or modern era (sometimes also called modern history or modern times) is the period of history that succeeds the Middle Ages (which ended approximately 1500 AD). This terminology is a historical periodization that is appli ...
of the
world In its most general sense, the term "world" refers to the totality of entities, to the whole of reality or to everything that is. The nature of the world has been conceptualized differently in different fields. Some conceptions see the worl ...
, beginning with the 15th century
Age of Discovery The Age of Discovery (or the Age of Exploration), also known as the early modern period, was a period largely overlapping with the Age of Sail, approximately from the 15th century to the 17th century in European history, during which seafa ...
, published by the
Cambridge University Press Cambridge University Press is the university press of the University of Cambridge. Granted letters patent by King Henry VIII in 1534, it is the oldest university press in the world. It is also the King's Printer. Cambridge University Pr ...
in England and also in the United States. The first series, planned by
Lord Acton John Emerich Edward Dalberg-Acton, 1st Baron Acton, 13th Marquess of Groppoli, (10 January 1834 – 19 June 1902), better known as Lord Acton, was an English Catholic historian, politician, and writer. He is best remembered for the remark he w ...
and edited by him with
Stanley Mordaunt Leathes Sir Stanley Mordaunt Leathes (7 May 1861 – 25 July 1938) was a British poet, economist, historian and senior Civil Service administrator, being the First Civil Service Commissioner from 1910 to 1927. Early life Leathes was born in London, the ...
, Sir Adolphus William Ward and
G. W. Prothero Sir George Walter Prothero (14 October 1848 – 10 July 1922) was an English historian, writer, and academic who served as president of the Royal Historical Society from 1901 to 1905. Life and writings Prothero was born in Wiltshire to Georg ...
, was launched in 1902 and totalled fourteen volumes, the last of them being an historical atlas which appeared in 1912. The period covered was from 1450 to 1910. Each volume includes an extensive bibliography. A second series, with entirely new editors and contributors, ''
The New Cambridge Modern History ''The New Cambridge Modern History'' replaced the original ''Cambridge Modern History'' in an entirely new project with all new editors and contributors. It was published by Cambridge University Press in fourteen volumes between the 1950s and the ...
'', appeared in fourteen volumes between 1957 and 1979, again concluding with an atlas. It covered the world from 1450 to 1945.


Planning and publishing

The original ''Cambridge Modern History'' was planned by
Lord Acton John Emerich Edward Dalberg-Acton, 1st Baron Acton, 13th Marquess of Groppoli, (10 January 1834 – 19 June 1902), better known as Lord Acton, was an English Catholic historian, politician, and writer. He is best remembered for the remark he w ...
, who during 1899 and 1900 gave much of his time to coordinating the project, intended to be a monument of objective, detailed, and collaborative scholarship. Acton was Regius professor of modern history at
Cambridge Cambridge ( ) is a university city and the county town in Cambridgeshire, England. It is located on the River Cam approximately north of London. As of the 2021 United Kingdom census, the population of Cambridge was 145,700. Cambridge bec ...
, and a
fellow A fellow is a concept whose exact meaning depends on context. In learned or professional societies, it refers to a privileged member who is specially elected in recognition of their work and achievements. Within the context of higher education ...
of All Souls,
Oxford Oxford () is a city in England. It is the county town and only city of Oxfordshire. In 2020, its population was estimated at 151,584. It is north-west of London, south-east of Birmingham and north-east of Bristol. The city is home to the ...
. He had previously established the ''
English Historical Review ''The English Historical Review'' is a bimonthly peer-reviewed academic journal that was established in 1886 and published by Oxford University Press (formerly Longman). It publishes articles on all aspects of history – British, European, and ...
'' in 1886 and had an exalted reputation.
The new work was published in fourteen volumes between 1902 and 1912, in the
British Isles The British Isles are a group of islands in the North Atlantic Ocean off the north-western coast of continental Europe, consisting of the islands of Great Britain, Ireland, the Isle of Man, the Inner and Outer Hebrides, the Northern Isl ...
by the
Cambridge University Press Cambridge University Press is the university press of the University of Cambridge. Granted letters patent by King Henry VIII in 1534, it is the oldest university press in the world. It is also the King's Printer. Cambridge University Pr ...
and in the United States by Macmillan & Co. of
New York City New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the List of United States cities by population, most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the L ...
. Written mostly by English scholars, the first twelve volumes dealt with the history of the world from 1450 up to 1870. The final volume, numbered 12, was ''The Latest Age'' and appeared in 1910. There then followed two supplemental volumes. The history was later followed by similar multi-volume works for the earlier ages, namely the '' Cambridge Ancient History'' and the ''
Cambridge Medieval History ''The Cambridge Medieval History'' is a history of medieval Europe in eight volumes published by Cambridge University Press and Macmillan between 1911 and 1936. Publication was delayed by the First World War and changes in the editorial team. ...
''.Leslie Bethell, ''The Cambridge history of Latin America: Latin America since 1930'' (vol. 6)
p. 11
/ref> As the first of such histories, it later came to be seen as establishing a tradition of collaborative scholarship.Roberto González Echevarría, Enrique Pupo-Walker, 'Introduction', in ''The Cambridge History of Latin American Literature'' vol. 2 (1996), p. xvii: "The Cambridge history of Latin American literature draws upon a long tradition of collaborative scholarship that began with the Cambridge modern history (1902- 1912)..." A second edition of the atlas (volume XIV) was published in 1924.William Robert Shepherd, ''Historical Atlas'' (1964), p. iv


Volumes published


I. The Renaissance (1902)


II. The Reformation: The end of the Middle Ages (1903)


III. The Wars of Religion (1904)


IV. The Thirty Years War (1906)


V. The Age of Louis XIV (1908)


VI. The Eighteenth Century (1909)


VII. The United States (1903)

Scanned full tex
here
( Archive.org)


VIII. The French Revolution (1904)


IX. Napoleon (1906)


X. The Restoration (1907)


XI. The Growth of Nationalities (1909)


XII. The Latest Age (1910)


XIII. Tables and General Index (1911)

This volume includes *A four-page addendum, written by Ernest Alfred Benians, to Chapter 9 of Volume 6: Naval Operations in the Period of the Seven Years' War *Genealogical Tables and Lists **1. Genealogical Tables of Ruling and Noble Houses (112 tables) **2. Lists of Spiritual Princes, Elected Sovereigns, Etc. (28 lists) **3. Lists of Parliaments, General Councils, Etc. (6 lists) *General Index to all volumes


XIV. Atlas (1912, 2nd ed. 1924)

This volume begins with an extensive introduction to the maps, written by
Ernest Alfred Benians Ernest Alfred Benians (23 October 1880, Goudhurst, Kent – February 1952) was a British academic and historian.Janus notes He was born in Goudhurst, Kent Goudhurst is a village and civil parish in the borough of Tunbridge Wells in Kent, Engl ...
. It is divided into several sections: *I. Europe in the Fifteenth Century *II. The Age of Habsburg Power and of the Reformation *III. The Rise of France and Sweden *IV. The Formation of the Great Powers of the Eighteenth Century *V. The Age of the Revolution and of Napoleon *VI. Since 1815 Except for the first, each is in turn subsectioned for Europe and "Greater Europe", with the latter term referring mostly to the colonial empires. A separate index is provided for the introduction. There are 141 maps in this volume. Two-page maps are bound in such a way as to prevent information from being lost in the gutter between pages. The concluding index gives the latitude and longitude of the places named.


Notes


References

* G. N. Clark, 'The Origins of the Cambridge Modern History', in ''Cambridge Historical Journal'', VIII, 2 (1945), pp. 57–64


External links


''Cambridge Modern History''
* {{DEFAULTSORT:Cambridge Modern History, The History books about the late modern period Cambridge University Press books 1902 non-fiction books Series of history books