John of Worcester

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King Henry I's Dream in the Chronicle of John of Worcester. Corpus Christi College, Oxford.

John of Worcester (died c. 1140) was an English

chronicler who worked at Worcester Priory
. He is usually held to be the author of the Chronicon ex chronicis.

Chronicon ex chronicis

The Chronicon ex chronicis is a world wide history which begins with the creation and ends in 1140. The chronological framework of the Chronicon was presented by the chronicle of Marianus Scotus (d. 1082). A great deal of additional material, particularly relating to English history, was grafted onto it.

Authorship

The greater part of the work, up to 1117 or 1118, was formerly attributed to the man

Eadmer of Canterbury, which was completed sometime in 1121 – 1124.[2]

The prevalent view today is that John of Worcester was the principal author and compiler. He is explicitly named as the author of two entries for 1128 and 1138, and two manuscripts (CCC MS 157 and the chronicula) were written in his hand. He was seen working on it at the behest of

Wulfstan, bishop of Worcester, when the Anglo-Norman chronicler Orderic Vitalis
visited Worcester:

Ioannes Wigornensis a puero monachus, natione Anglicus, moribus et eruditione uenerandus, in his quæ Mariani Scotti cronicis adiecit, de rege Guillelmo et de rebus quæ sub eo uel sub filiis eius Guillelmo Rufo et Henrico usque hodie contigerunt honeste deprompsit. [...] Quem prosecutus Iohannes acta fere centum annorum contexuit, iussuque uenerabilis Wlfstani pontificis et monachi supradictis cronicis inseruit in quibus multa de Romanis et Francis et Alemannis aliisque gentibus quæ agnouit [...]. "John, an Englishman by birth who entered the monastery of Worcester as a boy and won great repute for his learning and piety, continued the chronicle of
Wulfstan bishop and monk [d. 1095], added to these chronicles [i.e. of Marianus Scotus] events of about a hundred years, by inserting a brief and valuable summary of many deeds of the Romans and Franks, Germans and other peoples whom he knew [...]."[3]

Manuscripts

The Chronicon survives in five manuscripts (and a fragment on a single leaf):

Sunspot drawing in 1128, by John of Worcester. This is the earliest known drawing of a sunspot from anywhere in the world.[4]

In addition, there is the chronicula, a minor chronicle based on the Chronicon proper: MS 503 (Dublin, Trinity College), written by John up to 1123.

Sources for English history

For the body of material dealing with early English history, John is believed to have used a number of sources, some of which are now lost:

  • unknown version(s) of the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle, possibly in Latin translation. John may have shared a lost source with William of Malmesbury, whose Gesta regum anglorum includes similar material not found in other works.
  • Bede, Historia Ecclesiastica (up to 731)
  • Asser, Vita Ælfredi
  • Hagiographical works on tenth/eleventh-century saints
  • Eadmer of Canterbury, Historia novorum (1066–1122)
  • accounts by contemporaries and local knowledge.

Chronicon ex chronicis: editions and translations

  • Darlington, Reginald R. and P. McGurk (eds.), P. McGurk and Jennifer Bray (trs.). The Chronicle of John of Worcester: The Annals from 450–1066. Vol 2. Oxford Medieval Texts. Oxford: 1995.
  • McGurk, P. (ed. and tr.). The Chronicle of John of Worcester: The Annals from 1067 to 1140 with The Gloucester Interpolations and The Continuation to 1141. Vol 3. OMT. Oxford, 1998.
  • Thorpe, Benjamin (ed.). Florentii Wigorniensis monachi chronicon ex chronicis. 2 vols. London, 1848-9. Download available from Google Books
  • Stevenson, J. (tr.). Church Historians of England. 8 vols: vol. 2.1. London, 1855. 171–372.
  • Forester, Thomas (tr.). The Chronicle of Florence of Worcester. London: Henry G. Bohn, 1854. Available from Google Books.
  • Weaver, J. R. H., ed. (1908) The Chronicle of John of Worcester, 1118–1140: being the continuation of the 'Chronicon ex chronicis' of Florence of Worcester. Oxford: Clarendon Press Edition on Archive.org

References

  1. ^ [...] huius subtili scienta et studiosi laboris industria, preeminet cunctis haec chronicarum chronica.
  2. ^ Gransden, Historical Writing, p. 144.
  3. ^ Orderic Vitalis, Historia Ecclesiastica, Book III, ed. and tr. Chibnall, p. 186-9.
  4. ^ John of Worcester (1128). The Chronicle of John of Worcester (MS 157 ed.). Corpus Christi College, Oxford: John of Worcester. p. 380.

Further reading