A Discussion on the Modern Methods for the Study of Medieval History and their Requirements

Abstract

If our discussion this afternoon is to be helpful, the scope of our subject must be clearly defined. I take it that, by “Modern Methods in Medieval Historical Research,” we mean especially the various kinds of co-operative study which have grown so rapidly in recent years. If this be so, let me say at once, on behalf, I am sure, of my fellow medievalists no less than myself, that we do not imply, by the limitation of our subject, any lack of faith in the supreme value of private and individual investigation. The best and finest work must always be done in solitude. It may not be the most useful work, if by this we mean the work whose every-day value as an aid to study is most apparent, but it must always be the finest work, the most satisfying and the most stimulating. “Have salt in yourselves and be at peace one with another” is a golden rule in scholarship as well as in life; and in the world of scholarship I am not sure that it is not better to have salt in oneself, to have something clear and definite to do with the intention and ability to do it, than to be at peace one with another.