Encyclopedia of the Medieval Chronicle
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Subject: History
Edited by: Edited by Graeme Dunphy and Cristian Bratu
The Encyclopedia of the Medieval Chronicle brings together the latest research in chronicle studies from a variety of disciplines and scholarly traditions. Chronicles are the history books written and read in educated circles throughout Europe and the Middle East in the Middle Ages. For the modern reader, they are important as sources for the history they tell, but equally they open windows on the preoccupations and self-perceptions of those who tell it. Interest in chronicles has grown steadily in recent decades, and the foundation of a Medieval Chronicle Society in 1999 is indicative of this. Indeed, in many ways the Encyclopedia has been inspired by the emergence of this Society as a focus of the interdisciplinary chronicle community.
The online version was updated in 2014, 2016 and 2021.
Subscriptions: See Brill.com
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The Encyclopedia of the Medieval Chronicle brings together the latest research in chronicle studies from a variety of disciplines and scholarly traditions. Chronicles are the history books written and read in educated circles throughout Europe and the Middle East in the Middle Ages. For the modern reader, they are important as sources for the history they tell, but equally they open windows on the preoccupations and self-perceptions of those who tell it. Interest in chronicles has grown steadily in recent decades, and the foundation of a Medieval Chronicle Society in 1999 is indicative of this. Indeed, in many ways the Encyclopedia has been inspired by the emergence of this Society as a focus of the interdisciplinary chronicle community.
The online version was updated in 2014, 2016 and 2021.
Subscriptions: See Brill.com
Wace
(716 words)
ca 1105-ca 1175. France (Normandy).
Clerc
lisant at Caen, then canon of Bayeux cathedral; personally acquainted with kings Henry I, Henry II and Henry the Young King. Author of three hagiographical poems (
La Vie de sainte Marguerite,
La Vie de saint Nicolas, and
La Conception Nostre Dame), and two major chronicles, the
Roman de Brut and the
Roman de Rou, all in Anglo-Norman verse.The
Roman de Brut, completed in 1155, is a translation/adaptation of Geoffrey of Monmouth's
Historia regum Britannie in 14866 octosyllabic lines, rhyming in couplets. It was based on the Variant version of the
His…
Date:
2021-04-15
Wahb ibn Munabbih
(169 words)
[Abū ʿAbd Allāh] 34-109 ah (654/55-728 ad). Yemen. A native of Dhimar in Yemen, but of Persian extraction, he is one of the earliest historians of Islam. A series of works is ascribed to him which can be divided into three different sections: first the biblical narrations and commentaries, second the Pre-Islamic period and third works with Islamic content.His
K
isas al-anbiyāʾ (Story of the Prophets) comprises the history from the creation until the arrival of the Prophet and is cited in authors like Ibn Qutāyba, al-Tabarī and others. Parts of his work are preserved in a papyrus …
Date:
2021-04-15
Wahraus, Erhard
(238 words)
1375/80 - 1454/55. Germany. Author of a chronicle of the years 1126-1445 (continued anonymously to 1462). Wahraus was a member of the town council of Augsburg from 1442 (probably earlier) and belonged to the guild of the salt-traders. His chronicle is prefaced by a calculation of the chronology of biblical events and persons, which is missing in the edition. For the period before the 14th century, Wahraus seems to use the
Chronik aus Kaiser Sigmunds Zeit (or their common source), but sometimes presents more details. These records are listed very briefly and not always …
Date:
2021-04-15
Waldau, Hieronymus
(235 words)
ca 1427-95. Prussia (now Poland). Scribe and clergyman, author of historical notes written in Latin. Waldau served the Teutonic Order as a scribe to the commander of Christburg (Dzierzgoń). In 1454 he became a scribe to the governor of Baysen (Bażyny), and held this position until 1462, when he became a minister in Neuteich (Nowy Staw) near Marienburg (Malbork). In 1466 he accepted a position at the Hauptkirche in Thorn (Toruń); he was later also an official of the dioceses of Ermland (Warmia) and Kulm (Chełmno), and worked for the bishop of Kulm. From 1476 to 1484 he was also a…
Date:
2021-04-15
Walden Annals
(106 words)
15th century. England. These Latin annals begin with a brief 6-folio chronicle from the beginning of the world, after which they present an abbreviated account of the foundation of the Benedictine monastery of Walden (Essex), probably based on the early part of the
Liber de fundatione cenobii de Waledena, and then tell of local and national events to 1462, the beginning of Edward IV's reign. The text is preserved on fols. 68r-91v of London, BL, Cotton Titus ms. D.xx (15th century). There is no edition. Edward Donald KennedyBibliography Literature D. Greenway & L. Watkiss,
The Book of the…
Date:
2021-04-15
Walsingham, Thomas
(775 words)
ca 1340-1422. England. Benedictine monk of St. Albans and for a time a prior of Wymondham Abbey in Norfolk. Walsingham saw himself as a successor to historians who had gone before him, primarily Matthew Paris and Ranulf Higden. In St. Albans and Wymondham he was ideally placed both to research history and to observe current events. His writings are wide-ranging and well-documented. His popularity and the fact that no two surviving manuscripts are identical has led to misattribution of works to him; various 20th and 21st-century scholars have worked to clear up the confusion of p…
Date:
2021-04-15
Walter of Coventry
(174 words)
fl. 1293. England. Possibly a Benedictine monk of St. Mary's Abbey in York. Said to be the compiler of the Latin chronicle found in Cambridge, Corpus Christi, ms. 175, which bears the heading
Memoriale Fratris Walteri de Coventri. The text displays a clear Northern connection. It is derivative of Geoffrey of Monmouth, Henry of Huntingdon, Marianus Scotus, John of Worcester, and Roger of Howden. Part 1 is a brief summary from Brutus to Edward I and is closely linked to the
Short Latin Chronicle of Durham Abbey; Part 2 is fuller, from 1002 to 1225. It is similar to the
Barnwell Chronicle, but Kay h…
Date:
2021-04-15
Walter of Guisborough
(266 words)
[of Hemingford, of Hemingburgh] fl. 1290-1305. England. Augustinian canon of St. Mary of Guisborough. His early 14th-century Latin prose chronicle begins with the Norman Conquest and, depending on the manuscript consulted, ends at 1297, 1300, 1307, 1312 or 1346 (although the latter represents a continuation). The text is mainly a compilation, relying most heavily on William of Newburgh's
Historia Rerum Anglicarum. Other possible sources include the
Historia Saxonum sive Anglorum post obitum Bedae, itself a compilation of the chronicles of Symeon of Durham, Henry of Huntingdon, M…
Date:
2021-04-15
Walter of Whittlesey
(255 words)
d. after 1329. England. Benedictine monk in the abbey of Peterborough. His date of birth cannot be determined with certainty, but he was born in the town of Whittlesey. Walter never held a major office. His Latin
Historia Coenobii Burgensis covers the period 1246-1321 and survives in one autograph manuscript, BL, add. 39758. It is chronologically preceded by the accounts of Hugh Candidus from the founding of the abbey (656) to 1175-77 and that of Robert Swaffham for 1177-1245, and it is followed by an anonymous continuation until 1338/39. Walter's chronicle incorporates…
Date:
2021-04-15
Walter the Chancellor
(141 words)
[Galterius cancellarius] fl. 1114-22. Palestine. Chancellor of Antioch. Wrote the Latin
Bella Antiochena (Antiochene Wars). Walter is known only through the the text of this work. He apparently had a close relationship with Roger of Salerno, ruler of Antioch (1113-19), and was eyewitness to the two wars against the Selçuk Turks, 1114-15 and 1119-22. His narrative account is the most detailed source for the region of Antioch for the early Latin settlement period. There are seven extant manuscripts; the oldest and best is in the Grassegals codex, Paris, BnF, lat. 14378, from which t…
Date:
2021-04-15
Waltham Annals
(179 words)
[Brevis historia regum Anglia a rege Gulielmi I . . . ad annum 1447] 15th century. England. Latin annals for 1066-1447 produced at the Augustinian abbey of Waltham in Essex, with the last annal telling of the death of Humphrey, Duke of Gloucester. Preserved in BL, Cotton Titus D.xv, it is not to be confused with the earlier
Waltham Chronicle. Much of it is derived from the English Prose Brut and possibly one of the London chronicles and the
Croyland Chronicle. Although Kingsford finds some of the material for the reign of Henry VI of value, he describes the chronicle as "a specimen of …
Date:
2021-04-15
Waltham Chronicle
(217 words)
[De inventione sanctae crucis Walthamensis (Foundation of Waltham Abbey)] late-12th century. England. Latin foundation chronicle of the secular college at Waltham Abbey (Abbey Church of Waltham Holy Cross) in Essex by an anonymous canon who entered the church there aged five. It was written after the college was replaced by the Augustinian abbey in 1177. It begins in Cnut's reign and ends in 1144. It survives in the 13th-century London, BL, Cotton Julius D.vi and the 14th-century BL, Harley 3776. The mansucript title
De inventione sanctae crucis nostrae (on the discovery of our sa…
Date:
2021-04-15
Warenne Chronicle
(620 words)
[Hyde Chronicle; Chronicon monasterii de Hida iuxta Winton ab anno 1035 ad 1121]Mid-12th century. England? A Latin chronicle concerning the history of Normandy and England around the time of the Norman Conquest, probably written in England and surviving in a 13th-century fragment. Bound in the 17th century with charters and other documents from Hyde abbey, it appears on fols. 4r-21v of what is now MS London, BL, MS Cotton Domitian A. xiv. Formerly known as the
Hyde Chronicle, its most recent editors renamed it the
Warenne Chronicle since it seems to have been written for William of Blois, 4t…
Date:
2021-04-15
Warkworth Chronicle
(331 words)
ca 1425-1500. England (North and East Midlands). A continuation of the English
Prose Brut once thought to have been written, ca 1484, by John Warkworth. The continuation covers English history, particularly affairs in the North of England, from 1461-74. It survives in two manuscripts (Cambridge, Peterhouse 190 and University of Glasgow, Hunter 83), which also contain copies of the
Brut to 1419 and continuations from 1419-61 based on Caxton's
Chronicles of England (1480 or 1482) and
Polychronicon (1482) (s.v. Higden, Ranulf). The previous attribution to Warkworth, master of Peterhou…
Date:
2021-04-15
Wassenberch, Johann
(233 words)
1454-1517? Germany. The tin-founder's son sometimes called Johann Tynenmecher (tin-maker), but who referred to himself as
ick broeder Johann Wassenberch, was a chaplain in the house of the Order of St John of Jerusalem in Duisburg. His chronicle, begun in 1507 in Low Rhenish German, covers local town history between 1474 and 1517 in annalistic form.
In den vurschreven jar ("in the year just mentioned", viz. 1474, the starting point of his account) Johann entered the monastery. In 1517, the last year of the chronicle, an epidemic hit Duisburg, to which he possibly fell victim. Alo…
Date:
2021-04-15
Wauquelin, Jean
(330 words)
15th century. France. Translator of a series of Latin chronicles and pseudo-historical works. The Picardy-born Wauquelin established an important bookshop in Mons (Bergen, modern Belgium) around 1441. In 1444-5 he produced for Antoine de Croÿ a French prose translation of the
Historia regum Britanniae and
Prophetiae Merlini of Geoffrey of Monmouth. Also in 1445, for Philip the Good of Burgundy, he recast the epic Girart de Roussillon as a prose chronicle legitimizing the duke’s expansionist ambitions. The next year Philip, through the offices of Simon Nockar…
Date:
2021-04-15
Waverley Annals
(326 words)
[Annales de Waverleia] late 12th - late 13th century. England. The Latin annals of the Cistercian abbey of Waverley, near Farnham, in Surrey, run from the Incarnation to 1291 (in BL, Cotton Vespasian ms. A.xvi). They form part of a group of works descended from a lost Winchester chronicle (s.v.
Winchester Annals) including the
Hyde Annals (Oxford, Bodleian Library, ms. Bodley 91, to 1277) and the version found in BL, Cotton Vespasian ms. E.iv (to 1285, a text with Waverley material but several annotations pertaining to Reading Abbey (s.v.
Reading Annals). With brief entries through the 10t…
Date:
2021-04-15
Weichard von Polheim
(250 words)
1263-1315. Austria. Possible author of a continuation of the
Annales Sancti Rudberti Salisburgenses. Attested at the cathedral of Salzburg as canon (1292) and dean (1307); elected archbishop there in 1312. According to a brief note of the
Annales, Weichard continued this work from the death of Ottokar II of Bohemia (1278):
qui (Weichhardus) supplevit ea que neglecta fuerant in presenti cronica, a tempore interfectionis regis Boemie Otokkari. This leaves some doubt whether he himself was the author as Pez believed, or only commissioned the continuation. However, there are also 16th-c…
Date:
2021-04-15
Weichbildchronik
(332 words)
(Town law chronicle) pre-1250/61. Germany. Anonymous world chronicle in German prose. The prevalent version covers the history of the world from Noah to the reigns of King William of Holland (d. 1256) and the Magdeburgian bishop Ruprecht of Querfurt (1260-66). The
Weichbildchronik is usually transmitted in combination with Saxonian legal books. (
Weichbild derives from
wic 'town' +
bilede 'law'.) At first it seems to have served as an introduction to the
Magdeburger Schöffenrecht but it can be found at a very early point of transmission in combination with the
Weichbildrecht of Magde…
Date:
2021-04-15
Weihenstephaner Chronik
(338 words)
1430s. Germany. This Bavarian prose chronicle in Early Modern German combines a world-history to 1433 with an extensive fantastic life of Charles the Great. The historical account starts with the beginnings of Rome and initially deals with episodes which can be found partly in the world-chronicle of Jans der Enikel, but also in the
Gesta Romanorum and the
Legenda aurea of Jacob of Voragine. From the times of Christ the
Chronik follows closely the
Flores temporum, adopting their division into papal and imperial history, which are alternately presented in sections of a h…
Date:
2021-04-15
Weinreich, Caspar
(266 words)
fl. 1461-96. Pomerania. Citizen of Gdańsk and author of a German-language
Danziger Chronik (Gdańsk city chronicle). Caspar names himself as the author of this chronicle which is primarily concerned with the affairs of the Hanseatic League. Although not a member of the Gdańsk patriciate, he was clearly involved in civic life, prompting Hirsch to identify him as a member of a well-documented merchant family. The chronicle covers a vast array of local and international events of the years 1461-96 with an emphasis on those which had a direct bearing on the shipping trade such as the War of the…
Date:
2021-04-15
Wenceslas of Jihlava
(236 words)
[Wenzel von Iglau] 1398/9-1455/77. Moravia (Czechia). Town scribe in Olomouc, author of several historical texts in German prose. He was born in Jihlava in a burgher family. In 1416 he enrolled at the university of Vienna, from about 1423 he was active as a city scribe in Olomouc, where he simultaneously lived as a wealthy merchant. In 1442 he moved to Brno where he held the same positions.During his stay in Olomouc he composed several narratives about the past and contemporary events in Northern Moravia. They deal with single events and are neither linked toge…
Date:
2021-04-15
Wendisches Cronicon
(564 words)
15th century. Germany. This chronicle in Low German covers the history of those Hanseatic cities that are located in Mecklenburg, Pommerania, and Holstein, focussing, above all, on Hamburg, Lübeck, and Lüneburg. The text was apparently culled from various earlier chronicles and takes us in the original version from the time of Charlemagne to ca 1470. Later writers extended the account until 1535. The
Wendisches Cronikon covers local urban history (including church history), larger political events, astronomical accounts (comets), reports about special crafts…
Date:
2021-04-15
Werler Reimchronik der Soester Fehde
(235 words)
(Werl rhymed chronicle of the Soest feud) before 1463 (death of Archbishop Dietrich of Cologne). Germany. Author and patron unknown. Written in Soest in Westphalia, Germany (there is also a Soest in the Netherlands), this High German chronicle is an important source for the Soest feud, and is based on official documents, letters and oral information. It describes the events of 1433-49. Werl was involved in the Soest Feud as an ally of Archbishop Dietrich, and the participation of Werl is particularly highlighted. The chronicle sides against Soest in explic…
Date:
2021-04-15
Werner, Thomas
(198 words)
ca 1430-1498. Germany. Born in East Prussian Braunsberg (Braniewo). Theologian at the university of Leipzig (1463
baccalaureus and
sententiarius, later
professor theologiae), who also held a number of other positions including Domherr in Zeitz. He died 23rd December 1498 and was buried in the Paulinian (University) Church of the Dominicans.Werner owned a private copy of Dietrich Engelhus'
Chronica nova as well as its continuation by Matthias Döring, and this he further continued for 1301-1497. One of the smaller historical works from the Meissen area, Werner's continuation go…
Date:
2021-04-15
Wessington, John
(485 words)
[John Washington] ca 1371-1451. England. A Benedictine monk and, from 1416-46, prior of Durham Cathedral priory, whose voluminous writings include much that is historical in content, but few works of true history. Of those in the latter category, the most ambitious is his history of the see of St. Cuthbert, entitled
De primordio et progressu sedis episcopalis et monachicae conuersationis ecclesiarum Lindisfarnensis et Dunelmensis, sometimes referred to as the
Libellus de exordio et statu ecclesiae cathedralis quondam Lindesfarnensis post ... Dunelmensis. It narrates the his…
Date:
2021-04-15
Westminster Chronicle
(201 words)
[Chronicon Westmonasteriense] ca 1386-97. England. An anonymous Latin chronicle covering the years 1381-94, the late 14th-century chronicle composed at Westminster is a principal source for the reign of Richard II. It appears to have been written by two anonymous Benedictine monks, whom Harvey tentatively identifies as Richard of Cirencester (d. 1400) and Richard Exeter (d. 1396/97). The first (Cirencester?) covered events from 1381-83, whilst the second (Exeter?), wrote the remainder of the work from 1383-94. Whoever the chroniclers were, they had privileged access to parliame…
Date:
2021-04-15
Wettziger, Johannes
(178 words)
15th century (d. after 1497). Silesia (Poland). A regular canon of St. Augustine in monasteries in Kłodzko, Wrocław, and Żagań, and graduate of Kraków University. He wrote a Latin history of Poland from its origins up to the 15th century, compiled from the
Annales S. Crucis Polonici, the
Tractatus contra Cruciferos of Eric Rozpierski of Bąkowa Góra, and other sources, and expanded by Wettziger himself. The use of Rozpierski means that the relations between Poland and the Teutonic Order dominated the picture of Polish history from the first half of the 13th century onwards. Wettziger a…
Date:
2021-04-15
Weverslaicht
(212 words)
(The battle of the weavers) late 14th century. Germany. An anonymous rhymed text in German about the rebellion of the Cologne guilds against the patriciate in 1369–71, which was headed by the weavers. The poem was written before 1396, but the oldest surviving manuscript is from 1440 (Frankfurt am Main, StB & UB, ms. germ. oct. 26), where it follows the
Reimchronik der Stadt Köln by Gottfried Hagen. The 480 lines of text are only a fragment, but the continuation is related in prose in the
Cronica van der hilliger Stat van Coellen of 1499, which also contains 40 lines of verse, probably …
Date:
2016-10-17