A History of England

Meticulously detailed and thoroughly comprehensive, this six-volume history of seventeenth-century England was first published in English in 1875.

Originally written in German, this staggeringly comprehensive six-volume history of seventeenth-century England was first published in English in 1875. This fifth volume focuses on William III, ending with the reigns of Anne, George I, and George II. It also includes an appendix giving source material from contemporary documents.German historian Leopold von Ranke (1795–1886) is well known for pioneering the modern historical method which advocates empiricism, rather than a focus on the philosophy of history. Emphasizing the importance of presenting history exactly as it happened, Ranke asserted that different eras need to be understood in their own contexts rather than in relation to each other: history should not be regarded as one long, teleological narrative. These principles of writing history, established in earlier publications, are all evident here. Originally published in eight volumes between 1859 and 1869, Ranke's history, 'principally in the seventeenth century', was first published as a six-volume history in English by the Clarendon Press in 1875, the mammoth task of its translation distributed among eight Oxford dons. Volume 5 focuses on William III, ending with the reigns of Anne, George I, and George II; an appendix gives source material from contemporary documents.