Stuart Piggott, Ancient Europe from the Beginnings of Agriculture to Classical Antiquity (1965, reprinted 1980), a survey of the pre-Roman period; and Timothy Darvill, Prehistoric Britain (1987), a systematic account of the same five centuries, are both based on modern archaeological research. Peter Salway, Roman Britain (1981), from the above-mentioned Oxford series; and Sheppard Frere, Britannia: A History of Roman Britain, 3rd rev. ed. (1987), provide detailed analyses. A.L.F. Rivet (ed.), The Roman Villa in Britain (1969), describes various aspects of the Roman villas of Britain and the agricultural system and way of life they represent; Anthony Birley, Life in Roman Britain, new ed. (1981), studies the government, institutions, life, and religions of Roman Britain as they are reflected in archaeological finds and works of the ancient historians; and Eric Birley, Roman Britain and the Roman Army (1953, reprinted 1976), explores the organization of the Roman army through the evidence of inscriptions. The Anglo-Saxon period
A valuable translation of and commentary on essential records and narrative material preserved in primary sources is provided in Dorothy Whitelock (ed.), English Historical Documents, c. 500–1042, 2nd ed. (1979), the first volume of a new edition of the noted multivolume series of sources. Modern general histories include Frank Stenton, Anglo-Saxon England, 3rd ed. (1971, reprinted 1989); Peter Hunter Blair, An Introduction to Anglo-Saxon England, 3rd ed. (2003); D.J.V. Fisher, The Anglo-Saxon Age, c. 400–1042 (1973); Dorothy Whitelock, The Beginning of English Society, 2nd ed. (1954, reprinted 1982); and R.I. Page, Life in Anglo-Saxon England (1970). Special topics are covered in J.N.L. Myres, The English Settlements (1986); Martyn J. Whittock, The Origins of England, 410–600 (1986); J.M. Wallace-Hadrill, Early Germanic Kinship in England and on the Continent (1971, reprinted 1980); William A. Chaney, The Cult of Kingship in Anglo-Saxon England: The Transition from Paganism to Christianity (1970); Henry Mayr-Harting, The Coming of Christianity to Anglo-Saxon England, 3rd ed. (1991); John Godfrey, The Church in Anglo-Saxon England (1962); Frank Barlow, The English Church, 1000–1066: A History of the Later Anglo-Saxon Church, 2nd ed. (1979); H.R. Loyn, The Governance of Anglo-Saxon England, 500–1087 (1984), and The Vikings in Britain (1977); Frank Barlow, Edward the Confessor (1970, reprinted 1984); James Tait, The Medieval English Borough: Studies on Its Origins and Constitutional History (1936, reprinted 1968); Charles S. Orwin and Christabel S. Orwin, The Open Fields, 3rd ed. (1967); Christine Fell, Cecily Clark, and Elizabeth Williams, Women in Anglo-Saxon England and the Impact of 1066 (1984); and James Campbell, Essays in Anglo-Saxon History (1986). England from 1066 to 1485
Translation of a wide range of sources, with commentary, can be found in David C. Douglas and George W. Greenaway (eds.), English Historical Documents, 1042–1189 (1953); Harry Rothwell (ed.), English Historical Documents, 1189–1327 (1975); and A.R. Myers (ed.), English Historical Documents, 1327–1485 (1969), all from the above-mentioned series. Other good anthologies are R. Allen Brown, The Norman Conquest (1984); Bertie Wilkinson, The Constitutional History of England, 1216–1399, 3 vol. (1948–58, reprinted as The Constitutional History of Medieval England, 1216–1399, 1965–67), and Constitutional History of England in the Fifteenth Century, 1399–1485 (1964). General works recommended include Helen M. Cam, England Before Elizabeth, 3rd ed. (1967); Austin Lane Poole, From Domesday Book to Magna Carta, 1087–1216, 2nd ed. (1955, reprinted 1998); Maurice Powicke, The Thirteenth Century, 1216–1307, 2nd ed. (1962); M.T. Clanchy, England and Its Rulers, 1066–1272: Foreign Lordship and National Identity (1983); May McKisack, The Fourteenth Century, 1307–1399 (1959, reprinted 1992); Anthony Tuck, Crown and Nobility 1272–1461: Political Conflict in Late Medieval England (1985); Michael Prestwich, The Three Edwards: War and State in England, 1272–1377 (1980); E.F. Jacob, The Fifteenth Century, 1399–1485 (1961, reprinted 1993); and M.H. Keen, England in the Later Middle Ages: A Political History (1973). Among studies of individual reigns are David C. Douglas, William the Conqueror: The Norman Impact upon England, new ed. (1999); Frank Barlow, William Rufus (1983); R.H.C. Davis, King Stephen, 1135–1154 (1967, reissued 1977); W.L. Warren, Henry II (1973); Michael Prestwich, Edward I (1988); G.L. Harriss (ed.), Henry V: The Practice of Kingship (1985); Bertram Wolffe, Henry VI (1973); Charles Ross, Edward IV (1974, reprinted 1999), and Richard III (1981, reprinted 1988). The history of government and administration are considered in W.L. Warren, The Governance of Norman and Angevin England, 1086–1272 (1987); S.B. Chrimes, An Introduction to the Administrative History of Mediaeval England, 3rd ed. (1966); and T.F. Tout, Chapters in the Administrative History of Mediaeval England: The Wardrobe, the Chamber, and the Small Seals, 6 vol. (1920–33, reprinted 1967).
Recommended works on special topics include R. Allen Brown, The Normans and the Norman Conquest, 2nd ed. (1985); V.H. Galbraith, The Making of Domesday Book (1961), superseded in many ways, but a classic; and Peter Sawyer (ed.), Domesday Book: A Reassessment (1985). Feudal society is the subject of Frank Stenton, The First Century of English Feudalism, 1066–1166, 2nd ed. (1961, reprinted 1979); Austin Lane Poole, Obligations of Society in the XII and XIII Centuries (1946, reprinted 1984); and J.C. Holt, Magna Carta (1965), the best account of the Great Charter. Also useful is J.C. Holt, Magna Carta and Medieval Government (1985). Studies of the nobility include K.B. McFarlane, The Nobility of Later Medieval England (1973, reprinted 1997), a most influential book; and Chris Given-Wilson, The English Nobility in the Late Middle Ages: The Fourteenth-Century Political Community (1987). Parliament is studied in G.O. Sayles, The King’s Parliament of England (1974); G.L. Harriss, King, Parliament, and Public Finance in Medieval England to 1369 (1975); E.B. Fryde and Edward Miller (ed.), Historical Studies of the English Parliament, 2 vol. (1970); and R.G. Davies and J.H. Denton (eds.), The English Parliament in the Middle Ages (1981). The economy of the period is characterized in J.L. Bolton, The Medieval English Economy, 1150–1500 (1980); Edward Miller and John Hatcher, Medieval England: Rural Society and Economic Change, 1086–1348 (1978); M.M. Postan, The Medieval Economy and Society: An Economic History of Britain in the Middle Ages (1972); Reginald Lennard, Rural England: 1086–1135: A Study of Social and Agrarian Conditions (1959, reprinted 1966); and John Hatcher, Plague, Population, and the English Economy, 1348–1530 (1977). England’s major trade is discussed in Eileen Power, The Wool Trade in English Medieval History (1941, reprinted 1987); and T.H. Lloyd, The English Wool Trade in the Middle Ages (1977). Also informative are Susan Reynolds, An Introduction to the History of English Medieval Towns (1977, reprinted 1982); and Maurice Beresford, New Towns of the Middle Ages: Town Plantation in England, Wales and Gascony (1967, reprinted 1988). Studies of the church include Frank Barlow, The English Church, 1066–1154: A History of the Anglo-Norman Church (1979); David Knowles, The Monastic Order in England: A History of Its Development from the Times of St. Dunstan to the Fourth Lateran Council, 940–1216, 2nd ed. (1963), and The Religious Orders in England, 3 vol. (1948–59, reprinted 1979); W.A. Pantin, The English Church in the Fourteenth Century (1955, reprinted 1980); and C.H. Lawrence (ed.), The English Church and the Papacy in the Middle Ages (1965, reprinted 1984). Studies of the law of the period include Frederick Pollock and Frederic William Maitland, The History of English Law Before the Time of Edward I, 2nd ed., 2 vol. (1898, reissued 1982), still fundamental; Doris M. Stenton, English Justice Between the Norman Conquest and the Great Charter, 1066–1215 (1964); Alan Harding, The Law Courts of Medieval England (1973); S.F.C. Milsom, The Legal Framework of English Feudalism (1976, reprinted 1986); and John Bellamy, Crime and Public Order in England in the Later Middle Ages (1973). England in the 16th century