"The first edition was published as early as 1805; and though for the edition of 1807 the work was carefully revised, it can hardly be considered a standard authority at the present day. The investigations of Kemble, Palgrave, and others have deprived it of a value it once possessed. It will be found, however, that the volumes contain many minute details of considerable interest. The author was a special student of this period; but, though he accumulated a vast number of interesting facts, his methods were much less philosophical than those of his more distinguished successors in the same field. The literary style is not such as to give additional value to the volumes. Aside from its intrinsic merits, the work is entitled to some respect; for, when it was first published, it was a genuine revelation to the English people. Until that time, no one had taken the trouble to collect the accessible evidence and bring it into a single book. Turner, therefore, performed a very useful work in calling attention to a field which has since been very successfully cultivated."
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Charles Kendall Adams, A Manual of Historical Literature Comprising Brief Descriptions of the Most Important Histories in English, French, and German Together with Practical Suggestions as to Methods and Courses of Historical Study For the Use of Students, General Readers, and Collectors of Books (1882), pp. 443-444
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Sharon Turner
Sharon Turner (24 September 1768 – 13 February 1847) was an English historian of the Anglo-Saxons.
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