The Cambridge Medieval History

[1] In the preface to the first volume, the editors expressed the wish that the work would be an interesting read for the general user as well as "a summary of ascertained facts, with indications (not discussions) of disputed points".

They claimed, "there is nothing in the English language resembling the present work" and wrote, optimistically, that they "hoped to publish two volumes yearly in regular succession".

In particular in relation to volume 2 (The Rise of the Saracens and the Foundation of the Western Empire) the editors complained that "students of history in this country [England] seldom turn their attention to any part of it" and thus "very little has ever been written in English, [on subjects] such as the Visigoths in Spain, the organisation of Imperial Italy and Africa, the Saracen invasions of Sicily and Italy, and the early history and expansion of the Slavs".

A collection was organised for the great German Latinist Max Manitius which raised £10 after he wrote that the war had left him in poverty.

The volume was criticised in review for duplication in its coverage of events and definitions, and a failure to cross-reference material,[5] but later commentators saw this as the inevitable consequence of the structure of the work as a collection of scholarly essays drawn from a range of international contributors over 25 years, disrupted by war and changes of editor, rather than an organic synthesis prepared by a small group over a short time-frame.