Ebook Matthew Paris's English History

The name of Matthew Paris is too well known to the public to render any apology necessary for publishing an English translation of his valuable "English History," - a work wherein its author has condensed all that former writers had said about the times that preceded, and to which all succeeding writers must have recourse for the history of the period in which its author lived.

Of the life of this laborious writer, very little is known. He was a monk of St. Alban's Abbey, and was probably called Parisiensis, the "Parisian," which we generally interpret "Paris," from having been born or educated in the capital of France. Unlike most of the monks of the Middle Ages, who seldom were content to pass through life without bequeathing to posterity a weighty load of theological works, and commentaries on the Bible, Matthew Paris seems to have confined his attention wholly to the study of history, and, with a laudable patriotism, to the history of his own country. To this circumstance may be ascribed the pains which he took, even after his great work was completed, to improve it in every way, and to gather fresh stores from every available source.