Records

It is fortunately unnecessary in the present day to demonstrate the value of the legal Records as materials for the making of History. The fact is one that has been frequently enlarged upon and its importance is a commonplace to every modern student. Indeed it is not obvious from what other source the history of the latter part of the Middle Ages could be satisfactorily compiled. For the earlier period we have, in default of Records, the familiar chronicles and treatises of which the best examples actually embody the evidence of Records and State Papers which have long since perished. But with the systematic preservation of State Archives the mediaeval chronicler falls into the background, whilst from the middle of the 14th century his very art undergoes a rapid deterioration. Probably this great change in the nature of our historical evidence mattered little so long as the conception of History itself was confined to the patriotic legends and past politics which formed the staple of the historian's craft in the later Georgian and early Victorian periods. All this was changed when the value of Economic and Local History was clearly recognized, and especially when archaeology and kindred studies could give a learned distinction to historical science.

For the use to which these Records may be put is plain enough. They are contemporary legal and impartial evidence, and moreover they possess the charm of rarity and literary quaintness in addition to their unimpeachable authority.