Pauline Stafford
- Published in print:
- 2020
- Published Online:
- July 2020
- ISBN:
- 9780198859642
- eISBN:
- 9780191891991
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/oso/9780198859642.003.0005
- Subject:
- History, British and Irish Medieval History, Political History
This chapter considers the chronicles and annals, surviving and lost, dating from the mid to later tenth century and represented now especially by Chronicles B and C. It provides a detailed ...
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This chapter considers the chronicles and annals, surviving and lost, dating from the mid to later tenth century and represented now especially by Chronicles B and C. It provides a detailed examination of Chronicle B and its manuscript. Lost chronicles lying behind B are considered: BC and perhaps /BC. These are dated to the middle decades of the tenth century. These chronicling developments are seen as linked to the politics of the mid century, which was concerned with the problems of making a wider England ruled from the south and threats to that England from Scandinavian rulers at York. It is argued that these developments are linked to bishops—those of Lichfield, Worcester, and Dorchester are in the frame—though in all cases they were prominent at the southern court and involved in its political project.Less
This chapter considers the chronicles and annals, surviving and lost, dating from the mid to later tenth century and represented now especially by Chronicles B and C. It provides a detailed examination of Chronicle B and its manuscript. Lost chronicles lying behind B are considered: BC and perhaps /BC. These are dated to the middle decades of the tenth century. These chronicling developments are seen as linked to the politics of the mid century, which was concerned with the problems of making a wider England ruled from the south and threats to that England from Scandinavian rulers at York. It is argued that these developments are linked to bishops—those of Lichfield, Worcester, and Dorchester are in the frame—though in all cases they were prominent at the southern court and involved in its political project.
Pauline Stafford
- Published in print:
- 2020
- Published Online:
- July 2020
- ISBN:
- 9780198859642
- eISBN:
- 9780191891991
- Item type:
- book
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/oso/9780198859642.001.0001
- Subject:
- History, British and Irish Medieval History, Political History
This book traces the development of a group of anonymous, vernacular, annalistic chronicles—‘the Anglo-Saxon chronicles’—from their genesis at the court of King Alfred to their end at the Fenland ...
More
This book traces the development of a group of anonymous, vernacular, annalistic chronicles—‘the Anglo-Saxon chronicles’—from their genesis at the court of King Alfred to their end at the Fenland monastery of Peterborough. It reconsiders them in the light of wider European scholarship on the politics of history-writing. It covers all surviving manuscript chronicles, with detailed attention being paid to palaeography, layout, and content, and identifies key lost texts. It is concerned with production, scribe-authors, patrons, and audiences. The centuries these chronicles cover were critical to the making of England and saw its conquest by Scandinavians and Normans. They have long been part of the English national story. The book considers the impact of this on their study and editing. It stresses their multiplicity, whilst identifying a tradition of writing vernacular history. It sees that tradition as an expression of the ideology of a southern elite engaged in the conquest and assimilation of old kingdoms north of the Thames, Trent, and Humber. The book connects many chronicles to bishops and especially to archbishops of York and Canterbury. Vernacular chronicling is seen, not as propaganda, but as engaged history-writing closely connected to the court, whose networks and personnel were central to the production of chronicles and their continuation. The disappearance of the English-speaking elite after the Norman Conquest had profound impacts on them, repositioning their authors in relation to the court and royal power, and ultimately resulting in the end of the tradition of vernacular chronicling.Less
This book traces the development of a group of anonymous, vernacular, annalistic chronicles—‘the Anglo-Saxon chronicles’—from their genesis at the court of King Alfred to their end at the Fenland monastery of Peterborough. It reconsiders them in the light of wider European scholarship on the politics of history-writing. It covers all surviving manuscript chronicles, with detailed attention being paid to palaeography, layout, and content, and identifies key lost texts. It is concerned with production, scribe-authors, patrons, and audiences. The centuries these chronicles cover were critical to the making of England and saw its conquest by Scandinavians and Normans. They have long been part of the English national story. The book considers the impact of this on their study and editing. It stresses their multiplicity, whilst identifying a tradition of writing vernacular history. It sees that tradition as an expression of the ideology of a southern elite engaged in the conquest and assimilation of old kingdoms north of the Thames, Trent, and Humber. The book connects many chronicles to bishops and especially to archbishops of York and Canterbury. Vernacular chronicling is seen, not as propaganda, but as engaged history-writing closely connected to the court, whose networks and personnel were central to the production of chronicles and their continuation. The disappearance of the English-speaking elite after the Norman Conquest had profound impacts on them, repositioning their authors in relation to the court and royal power, and ultimately resulting in the end of the tradition of vernacular chronicling.
