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HALLAM, ROBERT (d. 1417)

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Originally appearing in Volume V12, Page 853 of the 1911 Encyclopedia Britannica.
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HALLAM, See also:ROBERT (d. 1417) , See also:bishop of See also:Salisbury and See also:English representative at the See also:council of See also:Constance, was educated at See also:Oxford, and was See also:chancellor of the university from 1403 to 1405. In the latter See also:year the See also:pope nominated him to be See also:arch-bishop of See also:York, but the See also:king objected. However, in 1407 he was consecrated by See also:Gregory XII. at See also:Siena as bishop of Salisbury. At the council of See also:Pisa in 1409 he was one of the English established institutions of the See also:country." No See also:accusation made by a critic ever See also:fell so wide of the See also:mark. See also:Absolute See also:justice is the See also:standard which Hallam set himself and maintained. His view of constitutional See also:history was that it should contain only so much of the See also:political and See also:general history of the See also:time as bears directly on specific changes in the organization of the See also:state, including therein judicial as well as ecclesiastical institutions. But while abstaining from irrelevant See also:historical discussions, Hallam dealt with statesmen and policies with the See also:calm and fearless impartiality of a See also:judge. It was his cool treatment of such sanctified names as See also:Charles, See also:Cranmer and See also:Laud that provoked the indignation of See also:Southey and the Quarterly, who forgot that the same impartial measure was extended to statesmen on the other See also:side. If Hallam can ever be said to have deviated from perfect fairness, it was in the tacit See also:assumption that the 19th-See also:century theory of the constitution was the right theory in previous centuries, and that those who departed from it on one side or the other were in the wrong. He did unconsciously antedate' the constitution, and it is clear from incidental allusions in his last See also:work that he did not regard with favour the democratic changes which he thought to be impending. Hallam, like See also:Macaulay, ultimately referred all political questions to the standard of Whig constitutionalism.

But though his work is thus, like that of many historians, coloured by his opinions, this was not the outcome of a conscious purpose, and he was scrupulously conscientious in See also:

collecting and weighing his materials. In this he was helped by his legal training, and it was doubtless this fact which made the Constitutional History one of the See also:text-books of English politics, to which men of all parties appealed, and which, in spite of all the work of later writers, still leaves it a standard authority. Like the Constitutional History,the Introduction to the Literature of See also:Europe continues one of the branches of inquiry which had been opened in the -View of the See also:Middle Ages. In the first See also:chapter of the Literature, which is to a See also:great extent supplementary to the last chapter of the Middle Ages, Hallam sketches the state of literature in Europe down to the end of the 14th century: the extinction of See also:ancient learning which followed the fall of the See also:Roman See also:empire and the rise of See also:Christianity; the preservation of the Latin See also:language in the services of the See also:church; and the slow revival of letters, which began to show itself soon after the 7th century—" the See also:nadir of the human mind "—had been passed. For the first century and a See also:half of his See also:special See also:period he is mainly occupied with a See also:review of classical learning, and he adopts the See also:plan of taking See also:short decennial periods and noticing the most remarkable See also:works which they produced. The rapid growth of literature in the 16th century compels him to resort to a See also:classification of subjects. Thus in the period 1520-1550 we have See also:separate chapters on ancient literature, See also:theology, speculative See also:philosophy and See also:jurisprudence, the literature of See also:taste, and scientific and See also:miscellaneous literature; and the subdivisions of subjects is carried further of course in the later periods. Thus See also:poetry, the See also:drama and polite literature See also:form the subjects of separate chapters. One inconvenient result of this arrangement is that the same author is scattered over many chapters, according as his works fall within this See also:category or that period of time. Names like See also:Shakespeare, See also:Grotius, See also:Bacon, See also:Hobbes appear in half a dozen different places. The individuality of great authors is thus dissipated except when it has been preserved by an occasional See also:sacrifice of the arrangement—and this defect, if it is to be esteemed a defect, is increased by the very sparing references to See also:personal history and See also:character with which Hallam was obliged to content himself. His plan excluded See also:biographical history, nor is the work, he tells us, to be regarded as one of reference.

It is rigidly an See also:

account of the books which would make a See also:complete library of the period.,' arranged according to the date of their publication and the nature of their subjects. The history of institutions like See also:universities and See also:academies, and that of great popular movements like the See also:Reformation, are of course 1 Technical subjects like See also:painting or English See also:law have been excluded by Hallam, and history and theology only partially treated. representatives. On the 6th of See also:June 1411 Pope See also:John See also:XXIII. made Hallam a See also:cardinal, but there was some irregularity, and his See also:title was not recognized. At the council of Constance (q.v.), which met in See also:November 1414, Hallam was the See also:chief English See also:envoy. There he at once took a prominent position, as an See also:advocate of the cause of Church reform, and of the superiority of the council to the pope. In the discussions which led up to the deposition of John XXIII. on the 29th of May 1415 he had a leading See also:share. With the trials of John Hus and See also:Jerome of See also:Prague he had less concern. The See also:emperor See also:Sigismund, through whose See also:influence the council had been assembled, was absent during the whole of 1416 on a See also:diplomatic See also:mission in See also:France and See also:England; but when he returned to Constance in See also:January 1417, as the open ally of the English king, Hallam as See also:Henry's trusted representative obtained increased importance. Hallam contrived skilfully to emphasize English See also:prestige by delivering the address of welcome to Sigismund on his formal reception. Afterwards, under his See also:master's direction, he gave the emperor vigorous support in the endeavour to secure a reform of the Church, before the council proceeded to the See also:election of a new pope. This See also:matter was still undecided when Hallam died suddenly, on the 4th of See also:September 1417.

After his See also:

death the direction of the English nation fell into less skilful hands, with the result that the cardinals were able to secure the immediate election of a new pope (See also:Martin V., elected on the 1 rth of November): It has been supposed that the See also:abandonment of the reformers by the English was due entirely to Hallam's death; but it is more likely that Henry V., foreseeing the possible need for a See also:change of front, had given Hallam discretionary See also:powers which the bishop's successors used with too little See also:judgment. Hallam himself, who had the confidence of Sigismund and was generally respected for his straightforward See also:independence, might have achieved a better result. Hallam was buried in the See also:cathedral at Constance, where his See also:tomb near the high See also:altar is marked by a See also:brass of English workmanship. For the acts of the council of Constance see H. von der See also:Hardt's Cora-ilium Constantiense, and H. Finke's Acta concilii Constanciensis. For a See also:modern account see-Mandell See also:Creighton's History of the Papacy (6 vols., See also:London, 1897). (C. L.

End of Article: HALLAM, ROBERT (d. 1417)

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