The background to English lies in the forms of Germanic taken from the North Sea rim to the island of Britain in the fifth century. In this introduction the chapters of this volume dealing with the roots of this input, both in earlier Germanic and in more distant Indo-European are discussed. Contact with Latin, Celtic, Scandinavian and northern medieval French in the several centuries after settlement in England by the Germanic tribes is a major focus among the chapters of the present volume as is the nature of the contact situation, which is regarded as responsible for the transfer effects which can be observed. The typological reorientation which English experienced is a further focus in the volume as is the later development of the history of English as a subject of academic research. In addition, there are several ‘long view’ chapters which present overviews of linguistic areas and levels for the entire history of English.

Chapter 2 provides a word history of politique throughout the sixteenth-century, considering late-medieval and Italian influences, the context of vernacularisation and the status of language under François I, and the impact of the Reformation and of Calvin’s thought in particular. This is followed by in-depth analysis of Guillaume Budé’s Institution du prince, Rabelais’s Gargantua, Etienne Pasquier’s Pourparler du prince, and Louis Le Caron’s Courtesan dialogues. It also considers the political career of Michel de L’Hospital and his connection with understandings of politique. These case studies are also a pre-history for uses of politique that emerge during the civil war. The chapter concludes with an analysis of François de la Noue’s Essais politiques et militaires and Montaigne’s Essais.