After Alfred: Anglo-Saxon Chronicles and Chroniclers, 900-1150

Description

The vernacular Anglo-Saxon Chronicles cover the centuries which saw the making of England and its conquest by Scandinavians and Normans. After Alfred traces their development from their genesis at the court of King Alfred to the last surviving chronicle produced at the Fenland monastery of Peterborough. These texts have long been part of the English national story. Pauline Stafford considers the impact of this on their study and editing since the sixteenth century, addressing all surviving manuscript chronicles, identifying key lost ones, and reconsidering these annalistic texts in the light of wider European scholarship on medieval historiography. The study stresses the plural 'chronicles', whilst also identifying a tradition of writing vernacular history which links them. It argues that that tradition was 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. 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 and continuation of these chronicles. In particular, After Alfred connects many chronicles to bishops and especially to the Archbishops of York and Canterbury. The disappearance of the English-speaking elite after the Norman Conquest had profound impacts on these texts. It repositioned their authors in relation to the court and royal power, and ultimately resulted in the end of this tradition of vernacular chronicling. Cover After Alfred Copyright Dedication Preface Acknowledgements Contents List of Illustrations List of Abbreviations 1 Introduction The Chronicles Annals and the Writing of History in the Earlier Middle Ages Annals Writing about the Writing of History in the Earlier Middle Ages 2 The Study and Editing of the Vernacular Chronicles 3 Alfred’s Chronicle and the First Continuations Alfred’s Chronicle and its Story An Evolving Chronicle: 1. The Evidence of Language An Evolving Chronicle: 2. The Evidence of Asser Annals for the Mid 890s 4 Chronicle A and the Early Tenth Century The Making and Early Development of Chronicle A Palaeography, Layout, and Content Lost Chronicles from the Early Tenth Century i) A Chronicle Ancestor of B, C, and D Linked to but Not Identical with Chronicle A ii) The ‘Annals of Æthelflæd’, or ‘Mercian Register’ Historiography and Politics: Succession and the Survival and Rule of Angelcynn 5 BC, B, and the Mid Tenth Century Chronicle B and BC Chronicle B BC and /BC The Content of BC In Pursuit of /BC i) Chronicle A and the Mid-Century Annals ii) Annals 934–946 Historiography and Politics: The Middle Decades of the Tenth Century The Last Annals of BC, and Chronicle B 6 The ‘Northern Recension’ In Search of the Northern Recension i) The Annals to 731 ii) Annals c.730–c.807 iii) Annals c.807–c.890/2 iv) Annals beyond 890/2 How Northern is the Northern Recension? i) Northern Sources? ii) A New—Northern—Story? The Northern Recension and the Politics of History-Writing: Archbishops of York and the Politics of ‘England’ i) The Archbishops ii) Patrons, Authors, and Reception 7 The Lost Worcester Chronicle Byrhtferth of Ramsey, John of Worcester, and the Lost Worcester Chronicle John of Worcester’s Annals for the Tenth Century Was there a Worcester Chronicle? Historiography and Politics 8 Vernacular Chronicles c.1000 Chronicle A Annals 971–975 Historiography and Politics c. AD 1000 Chronicles D, E, the Northern Recension, and Archbishop Wulfstan II Chronicle D’s Women, its Mid-Tenth-Century Annals and the Shape of Chronicle /D c. AD 1000 The Making of Chronicle G 9 The Annals of Æthelred and the Early Years of Cnut Annals c. 983 to c. 1022/1023 The Transmission of the Annals Archbishops 10 The Making of Chronicle C and Mid-Eleventh-Century Chronicling Chronicle C in its Manuscript Context The Making of Chronicle C: Scribe 2 and the 1040s Annals The Making of Chronicle C, Annals to 1042 Historiography and Politics: Chronicle C and the Accession of Edward 11 The Continuations of Chronicle C and the Development of Chronicles in the Mid Eleventh Century The Continuations of Chronicle C: Palaeography, Layout, and Dating The Annals for the 1040s in C, D, and E i) C and E ii) C, D, and the Mercian/West Midlands Chronicle Annals 1049–1052, C, D, and E i) Chronicle C ii) C, D and E, and the Mercian/West Midlands Chronicle iii) 1049–1052: Dialogue and Argument? Annals 1053–1065 in C and D 12 Chronicle D: Crossing Conquest The Manuscript of Chronicle D i) Scribes ii) Folios and Quiring iii) Rubrication, Dating Dislocation, and Ink Changes iv) Interim Conclusions The Content and Palaeography of Chronicle D Annals in D numbered 1054 –1065: Pre- or Post-1066? i) Ægelric and Ægelwine, Bishops of Durham in Chronicle D ii) D’s Annals on the Family of Edmund ‘Ironside’ D’s Annals, Late 1050s to 1079, and Chronicle /E Where was Chronicle D Written? Chronicle D, York Archbishops, and Ealdred 13 Chronicle F and Canterbury Post-1066 Chronicles B and A i) Chronicle B ii) Additions and Changes to A iii) The Work of the F Scribe on A Chronicle I Chronicle F i) Palaeography and Layout ii) F—Sources and Working Methods iii) New Chronicle, New Story, New Audience? 14 Chronicles E, /E, and H: The End of the Tradition? Palaeography Chronicle E and Peterborough c.1121 Chronicle /E i) /E and Canterbury: Christ Church or St Augustine’s? ii) Content of Annals from the 1060s Chronicle H, /E, and the Latin Chroniclers i) Chronicle H and /E ii) H, /E, E, and Latin Chroniclers The Peterborough Continuations 15 Conclusion APPENDIX 1: Weblinks and Definitions APPENDIX 2: Annals 983–1017: Agreements DE:C and CD:E 1. D and E agree against C Major Minor (selective) 2. C and D agree against E Major Minor (selective) APPENDIX 3: The Cult of St Olaf and the Dating of Chronicle C, Annal 1030 Select Bibliography Primary Sources Secondary Sources Unpublished Theses Index