In an extended foreword, specially prepared for this new impression, J.C. Holt asserts categorically "that Domesday Book and Beyond remains the greatest single book on English medieval history." Its lucidity, subtlety, compass, and (remarkably) statistical facility stand quite unsurpassed and, as Professor Holt demonstrates, many of the arguments that have dominated English medieval scholarship during the ensuing ninety years stem directly from Maitland's own hypotheses and conclusions.

Many of the earliest books, particularly those dating back to the 1900s and before, are now extremely scarce and increasingly expensive. We are republishing these classic works in affordable, high quality, modern editions, using the original text and artwork.

'Constitutional history should, to my mind, be a history not of parties but of institutions, not of struggles but of results ...' F. W. Maitland's remarkable course of lectures provides the basic framework of English constitutional history in a brief, but original, scholarly and very readable form. His method is to take five crucial periods and to present in each a panoramic view of the processes of law and government; his attention is always fixed on the constitution as a growing fabric, as something devised and employed by live human beings. And in this work, as in all he subsequently...

This selection of historical essays by F. W. Maitland is designed to render more accessible shorter writings of Maitland's.

In 1875, at only 25 years of age, historian F.W. Maitland, in pursuit of a fellowship at the University of Cambridge, submitted a remarkable work entitled A Historical Sketch of Liberty and Equality as Ideals of English Political Philosophy From the Time of Hobbes to the Time of Coleridge. This edition of the work includes a note on Maitland by Charles Haskins, and a general account of Maitland's life and work, The Historical Spirit Incarnate: Frederic William Maitland by Robert Schuyler.

In 1875, at only 25 years of age, historian F.W. Maitland, in pursuit of a fellowship at the University of Cambridge, submitted a remarkable work entitled A Historical Sketch of Liberty and Equality as Ideals of English Political Philosophy From the Time of Hobbes to the Time of Coleridge. This edition of the work includes a note on Maitland by Charles Haskins, and a general account of Maitland's life and work, The Historical Spirit Incarnate: Frederic William Maitland by Robert Schuyler.

This book was recognised at once as a masterpiece and has since been accepted as one of the great histories in the English language.

This book was recognised at once as a masterpiece and has since been accepted as one of the great histories in the English language.

Many of the earliest books, particularly those dating back to the 1900s and before, are now extremely scarce and increasingly expensive. We are republishing these classic works in affordable, high quality, modern editions, using the original text and artwork.

Frederick William Maitland (1850 1906) is generally regarded as the modern father of English legal history. In this volume, which was originally published in 1898, Maitland discusses the development of English towns, and the concurrent transition from rural to urban habits which occurred amongst the townspeople. The text was produced as the companion volume to The Ford Lectures, which were given by Maitland during 1897. Consummately researched, it is distinguished by the thorough and sensitive use of primary sources which is characteristic of Maitland's work, a sensitivity that is combined...