ISABELLA OF ENGLAND ENTERING PARIS TO VISIT HER BROTHER, CHARLES IV OF FRANCE (Page 237) From a 15th Century MS. of Froissart's Chronicles. An example of the art of the medieval miniaturist Based upon the author's "Essentials in Medieval and Modern ALBERT BUSHNELL HART, LL.D. PROFESSOR OF GOVERNMENT, HARVARD UNIVERSITY EDUCATION DEPT. IIC ESSENTIALS IN HISTORY A SERIES PREPARED UNDER THE SUPERVISION OF ESSENTIALS IN ANCIENT HISTORY ESSENTIALS IN MEDIEVAL AND MODERN BY SAMUEL BANNISTER HARDING, Pн D. ESSENTIALS IN ENGLISH HISTORY ESSENTIALS IN AMERICAN HISTORY NEW MEDIEVAL AND MODERN HISTORY COPYRIGHT, 1913, BY SAMUEL BANNISTER HARDING. COPYRIGHT, 1913, IN GREAT BRITAIN. NEW MED. & MOD. HIST. W. P. 3 PREFACE THIS book is something more than a revision of the author's Essentials in Medieval and Modern History. As the task of revision progressed, its scope was so enlarged that, by reorganization, extension, and rewriting, the result became practically a new work. It has been deemed best, therefore, to give to the book a distinctive name, and at the same time to continue the publication of the old volume. In general the aim in this book has been to decrease the amount of space devoted to political and military details, and to increase the emphasis on social, industrial, and cultural topics. Full treatment also is given to the important events which have occurred since the Essentials in Medieval and Modern History was first published. Instead of treating these in a supplementary chapter, they have been woven, so far as practical, into their logical places in the narrative. In conformity with what is now the established tendency, greater emphasis has been put on the events of our own time than on those of former ages. It is now generally recognized that a leading aim of the study of history is to enable one to understand the world of to-day. Profuse and adequate illustrations and maps are inserted in proper relation to the text. It is believed that the breaking up of the chapters into lettered subdivisions will facilitate the assignment of lessons, and it is hoped that the new teaching apparatus will prove especially useful. A table of rulers is inserted at the beginning of the volume for convenience of reference; lists of important dates follow the several chapters; and in connection with each search topic a few carefully selected references are printed to guide the pupil in his collateral reading. No pains have been spared to adapt the book to the needs of the schools and to the powers of the pupils. The success |