it is scarcely an exaggeration to say that, in the popular delineations of the subject, the lights and shadows seem almost to have changed places within the memory of living men. In such a state of things, it is not easy to believe that the last word has yet been spoken, and it becomes interesting to inquire which of these diverse presentations accords best with the facts.
The relations of Church and State form one very important and interesting branch of Church history, and it is to the purpose of illustrating this single portion of the subject that the following pages are devoted; where I may seem to have strayed into others, it has been with the purpose of throwing light upon this. For the ordinary facts of the history I have had recourse to recent and accredited historians—to Hallam, Bishop Stubbs, Mr. Froude, Mr. Green, and others. The Introductory Sketch is taken mainly from Bishop Stubbs and Dr. Hook. But for the main portion of the work I have gone, wherever possible, to original sources; by which I mean, not necessarily matter never published before, but the speeches, letters, and deeds of the actors in the events narrated, or of their coadjutors and contemporaries.
The Notes in Appendix I. consist mainly of extracts from contemporary documents in support or illustration of statements made in the text; and I have added also an Appendix of some of the more important Statutes of the period, in order that my readers may be able to judge to some extent, by the veritable Acts of the State, how far it did or did not occupy the position which I have ventured to assign to it. This I have
