THIS book, which is the outcome of many years of close research and careful study, was practically complete at the time of the author’s death, and he had intended its early publication. Some portions of the manuscript had been revised for printing, some of the chapters had received numerous additions and alterations in arrangement even until within a few days of his death, and others still needed their final revision. From time to time portions of the subject-matter of this work had formed the text for papers read before various archæological societies, notably the series of three papers on Anglo-Saxon London and its neighbourhood, published by the London and Middlesex Archæological Society. The editors’ task has been that of revising and editing the manuscript, and seeing the work through the press. The order of the chapters and the general scope and plan of the book are as the author left them. In discharging their task, the editors have made as few alterations as possible, and only such as they felt sure the author would have himself carried out; but the work necessarily suffers ​from the lack of that final revision which the author alone could have given it. Every endeavour has been made to see that the information is as exact as possible, and most of the references have been verified. The index of place-names and the general index have been made by Blanche Shore, the author’s daughter.