The Chronicle of John of Worcester

The first edition, translation, introduction, and commentary to the Chronicula, written by one of the most important British historians of the twelfth century, John of Worcester. It provides crucial access to twelfth-century historiographical material and unprecedented detail of the working methods of a twelfth-century monastic historian.

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John of Worcester is celebrated for his work on the Worcester Chronica Chronicarum, which was put together in stages in the first half of the twelfth century, and which became one of the most important historical texts to have survived from Britain of that period. A great deal of our understanding of early medieval British history, from before and after the Norman Conquest, depends upon it. At a late stage in the production of the Chronica Chronicarum, John turned his hand to the writing of an abbreviated chronicle, which he called his Chronicula, and which survives in a single, autograph manuscript in Trinity College, Dublin. The Chronicula interacts with its parent text, the Chronica Chronicarum, in interesting ways: it reassembles the Chronica according to the reigns of the emperors, it splices together information from different annals and sometimes redrafts the Chronica's entries, thus providing an altered emphasis. The Chronicula also contains unique details (notably a set of poems and two long miracle episodes) and makes use of sources in ways that are not seen in the Chronica. In editing, translating, and providing a full introduction and commentary to the Chronicula for the first time, the volume provides both crucial access to twelfth-century historiographical material and unprecedented detail concerning the working methods of a twelfth-century monastic historian.