''The History of Britain, that Part especially now called England; from the first traditional Beginning, continued to the Norman Conquest. Collected out of the antientest and best Authours thereof'', an unfinished prose work by the English poet
John Milton
John Milton (9 December 1608 – 8 November 1674) was an English poet and intellectual. His 1667 epic poem ''Paradise Lost'', written in blank verse and including over ten chapters, was written in a time of immense religious flux and politica ...
, was published in 1670. Milton, who had supported the revolutionary cause during the
English Civil War
The English Civil War (1642–1651) was a series of civil wars and political machinations between Parliamentarians (" Roundheads") and Royalists led by Charles I (" Cavaliers"), mainly over the manner of England's governance and issues of r ...
, mixed history based on a wide range of sources with comments on the
restored monarchy of his time. He admitted the unreliability of many of his sources, but justified his use of popular fables "be it for nothing else but in favour of our English poets and rhetoricians, who by their art will know how to use them judiciously".
Milton began work on the ''History'' around 1649, completing four books in the first phase, then continued in the 1650s with a further two books. The ''History'' was first printed at the Rose and Crown in
St. Paul's Church-yard.
Contents
''The six books are untitled in the free on-line version of the text. The titles below have been added to give an idea of the content.''
:Book I -
Antiquity
Antiquity or Antiquities may refer to:
Historical objects or periods Artifacts
*Antiquities, objects or artifacts surviving from ancient cultures
Eras
Any period before the European Middle Ages (5th to 15th centuries) but still within the histo ...
::"
e Caesarean invasions are told with remarkable spirit; and the use of the historic present in the account of the war between Brutus and the Greeks is excellently vivid."
:Book II -
The Roman era
:Book III - Rise of the
Saxons
The Saxons ( la, Saxones, german: Sachsen, ang, Seaxan, osx, Sahson, nds, Sassen, nl, Saksen) were a group of Germanic
*
*
*
*
peoples whose name was given in the early Middle Ages to a large country (Old Saxony, la, Saxonia) near the Nor ...
::Includes a digression, that was suppressed in early editions, on the relationship between Parliament and the Crown.
:Book IV - The seven
Saxon kingdoms
::''Such bickerings to recount, met often in these our writers, what more worth is it than to chronicle the wars of kites or crows flocking and fighting in the air?''
:Book V - The unification of England:
Ecbert to
Edgar
Edgar is a commonly used English given name, from an Anglo-Saxon name ''Eadgar'' (composed of '' ead'' "rich, prosperous" and '' gar'' "spear").
Like most Anglo-Saxon names, it fell out of use by the later medieval period; it was, however, r ...
:Book VI -
Edward the Younger to
Harold
Harold may refer to:
People
* Harold (given name), including a list of persons and fictional characters with the name
* Harold (surname), surname in the English language
* András Arató, known in meme culture as "Hide the Pain Harold"
Arts ...
Editions
* First edition 1670
* Second edition 1677 or 1678
[Glicksman H, ''The Editions of Milton's History of Britain'', PMLA, Vol. 35, No. 1 (1920), pp. 116-12]
(JSTOR entry)
* Third edition 1695
* Fourth edition 1818
References
External links
''The History of Britain''scanned text at
Internet Archive
The Internet Archive is an American digital library with the stated mission of "universal access to all knowledge". It provides free public access to collections of digitized materials, including websites, software applications/games, music, ...
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{{DEFAULTSORT:History of Britain
1670 books
Books by John Milton
History books about the United Kingdom
17th-century history books
Unfinished books