The Chronicle: With the Two Continuations: Comprising Annals of English History, from the Departure of the Romans to the Reign of Edward I

530 Pages·2010·40.035 MB·English

by  Florence of Worcester,  Florentius Wigorniensis, Thomas Forester (transl.)

The Chronicle
Gorgias Historical Texts
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Gorgias Historical Texts makes available rare publications of
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The Chronicle
With the two Continuations: Comprising Annals
of English History, from the Departure of the
Romans to the Reign of Edward I
By
Florence of Worcester
Translation and Introduction by
Thomas Forester
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gorgias press
2010
Gorgias Press IXC, 954 River Road, Piscataway, NJ, 08854, USA
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Copyright © 2010 by Gorgias Press IXC
Originally published in 1854
All rights reserved under International and Pan-American Copyright
Conventions. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a
retrieval system or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic,
mechanical, photocopying, recording, scanning or otherwise without the
prior written permission of Gorgias Press LLC.
2010
ISBN 978-1-61719-424-5 ISSN 1935-6919
Reprinted from the 1854 London edition.
Printed in the United States of America
PREFACE.
THE Chronicle of Florence of Worcester, so far as It relates
to English history, with its two Continuations, embraces the
period from the departure of the Romans in the year 446, to
the twenty-third year of the reign of Edward I. in 1295. It
is founded on an earlier Chronicle, compiled by Marianus
Scotus, one of the many learned Irishmen sent forth from the
" Island of Saints," between the sixth and eleventh centuries.
Marianus entered the Irish monastery of St. Martin at
Cologne about the year 1050 ; two years afterwards he with-
drew into complete seclusion at Fulda, and removed in 1059,
still as a recluse, to Mentz, where he ended his days ; his
death being variously assigned to the years 1083 or 1086.
This long seclusion atforded him leisure for composing a
Chronicle, extending from the creation of the world to the
close of his own life; but which is of comparatively little
interest to ourselves, as even the latter portion of it relates
almost entirely to the German empire or the Popedom, and
contains only a few short references to events connected with
this island.
Florence has preserved these, in making the work of
Marianus the basis of his own Chronicle. The rest of his
materials for the earlier period of English history are chiefly
supplied by Bede, the Saxon Chronicle, the Lives of Saints,
and Asser's Life of Alfred j1 of the latter of which he gives
1 Florence copied Asser so literally that he has twice adopted
expressions employed by the former, which might lead us to sup-
pose that the chronicler had personally examined the positions on
which two of the battles he describes were fought. See pp. 63 and 70
of the present volume.
vi PREFACE.
almost an exact transcript, carrying the series of events
down to the year 888. He then reverts to the Saxon
Chronicle, which continues to be his main resource until he
approaches his own times; not, however, exclusively, for
during one period he has scarcely extracted anything from
it, and in treating of events of later times, especially those
of the reign of Edward the Confessor, his narrative is
much more circumstantial than any to be found in the
existing manuscripts of that record. Florence has also
largely collected from other sources, and selected his materials
with great fidelity, industry, and judgment. He is therefore
justly ranked next to Bede, and the compilers of the Saxon
Chronicle, among the authorities for early English history, and,
even on the ground which they travel together, his work, far
from being superseded, forms a valuable supplement to
them.
" On the nones [the 7th] of July, 1118, died Florence,
the monk of Worcester, whose acute observation and inde-
fatigable industry have rendered this Chronicle of Chronicles
preeminent." Such is the brief record, inserted by John,
who was also a monk of Worcester, in his continuation of
the Chronicle, which supplies nearly all the information we
possess respecting our eminent annalist. Ordericus Yitalis,
indeed, who flourished about the same period, notices the
Chronicle, but in terms which have occasioned some per-
plexity to the editors of Florence. The passage, certainly,
contains no less than two grave errors; but, allowing
for these, there appears less difficulty than has been
supposed in reconciling it with the probable state of the
facts.
Ordericus informs us that during his visit to England, he
met with a work at Worcester, of which he gives the follow-
ing account:—" John of Worcester, a native of England, and
a monk of Worcester, a man of venerable character and great
learning, in the additions which he has made to the chronicles
of Marianus Scotus, has gathered faithful accounts of king
William, and of the events which occurred in his reign, and
in those of his sons, William Rufus and king Henry, to the
present day." Then, after a very exact account of the chro-
nicle of Marianus, he says:—" John of Worcester, who fol-
lowed, recorded the events of nearly a century, and, by order
PREFACE. vii
of the venerable Wulfstan, bishop and monk, appended his
continuation to the chronicle of Marianus, succinctly relating
many things worthy of observation in the histories of the
Romans [the popedom], the French, Germans, and other
nations."1
In this passage, Ordericus incorrectly describes the " con-
tinuation of the chronicle of Marianus," which he saw at Wor-
cester, as recording the events of nearly a century, while, as
it will presently appear, it could only have embraced a period
of about thirty-four years. He has also committed the more
serious error of attributing the work to a person whose
share, if any, in it was very small, suffering the name of Flo-
rence, the real author, to escape his observation. This has
led Mr. Thorpe to suggest, " that during Wulfstan's lifetime,
and while Florence was engaged on his work, the labours
of John were bestowed on the original Chronicle of Marianus,
and that the manuscript containing those labours is no longer
known to exist."2 But the theory of bishop Wulfstan's
distribution of the task between the two monks of
Worcester, and of John's being employed on the original
chronicle of Marianus, is, it should seem, sufficiently refuted
by John's express statement already quoted, that it was
"Florence's knowledge and industry which raised the Chro-
nicle of Chronicles," meaning- clearly the whole work, to
its pitch of pre-eminence; and it would still leave us
in the same dilemma as to Ordericus's omission of any
reference to the labours of Florence, whatever they may
have been.
The learned editor proceeds to inquire, " Can any part
of any copy of the Chronicle of Marianus Scotus, embodying
Florence of Worcester, be pointed out as answering the de-
scription given by Orderic of the labours of the monk John?"
The reply is, that the Chronicle of Florence of Worcester,
in the existing manuscripts, embodying Marianus Scotus, to
reverse the phrase, does precisely answer the description
given by Ordericus, as far as regards its general character,
with the exception of the two errors into which he has fallen.
1 Ordericus Vitalis, b. iii. c. 15 ; pp. 493, 494, in Bohti's edition.
2 Preface to the English Historical Society's edition of Florence,
p. iv.
vili PREFACE.
There is sufficient ground for inferring that Florence
commenced his work at the instance of bishop Wulfstan,
and we find his additions to, and "continuation" of,
Marianus, comprising events, both domestic and foreign, in
the specific periods corresponding with the description of
Ordericus, namely, the reign of William and his two
sons ; although the Norman historian has unaccountably repre-
sented that period as extending in round numbers to a
hundred years.
The misapprehension of the passage of Ordericus appears
to have arisen from connecting two paragraphs which have no
such connection in the pages of the Norman monk. In the
fifteenth Chapter of his third Book, Ordericus gives a short
account of some authors who had written of the times of king
William and his two sons ; and he mentions first, William of
Poitiers, and Guv, bishop of Amiens. He then proceeds, in
the next paragraph, to describe the labours of Marianus, and
the monk of Worcester, whom he calls John ; but without
any further reference to those of William of Poitiers and
Guy of Amiens. Mr. Thorpe, however, reads the passage of
Ordericus differently. He says : "After due praise bestowed
on those works he then goes on to say, that a monk
of Worcester, named John, faithfully extracted from William
of Poitiers, ancl Guy of Amiens, that which he added to the
Chronicles of Marianus Scotus concerning William the Con-
queror and his sons,"' &c. It may be doubted whether either
of the two monks of Worcester ever saw the works of the
French authors here referred to, and, probably, there are no
parts of the Chronicle which can be traced to them ; but
the words here printed in Italics are not contained in Orde-
ricus, and we venture to think that the passage will not bear
the turn they give it.1 If this view be correct, the grounds
on which the genuineness of Florence's work is questioned
will be so far narrowed.
A little attention to dates will put the matter in a clear
light. It appears from internal evidence that Ordericus, a
monk of St. Evroult, in Normandy, commenced his own great
work some time before the year 1123, perhaps about 1120.
He seems to have made no great progress when he undertook
1 The words of Ordericus, of which a translation has just been
given, p. vii, are these-.—"Joannes Wigornensis in his quae