Bücher der Reihe Cambridge Library Collection - Rolls

Despite a frustrated ecclesiastical career, Giraldus Cambrensis (Gerald of Wales, c.1146-1220/3) composed many literary works, including in volume 2 his handbook on sacraments and morals. Published in 1862 in the Rolls Series, this Latin text, with an editorial preface in English, gives a vivid picture of the medieval ecclesiastical world.

Little is known about Walter of Coventry (fl.1293) beyond the fact that this substantive historical compilation was prepared either by him or under his direction. Published in two volumes in 1872-3 as part of the Rolls Series, it covers the kings of Britain from Brutus to Edward I.

Published in two volumes for the Rolls Series between 1888 and 1889, this is the oldest surviving metrical chronicle in vernacular French. It was written by the Anglo-Norman poet and historian Geoffrei Gaimar (fl.1136-7), who lived in England at a time when French was still used among the aristocracy. The text is largely based on the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle and also draws on various French, English and Latin sources. Gaimar's unique perspective breaks with the tradition of religious chronicles by offering the first secular account of the history of England. Edited by archivist and antiquary Sir Thomas Duffus Hardy (1804-78) and Charles Trice Martin (1842-1914), Volume 2 is a translation of the original text into modern English. It covers the period from the arrival of Cerdic in 495 to the death of Henry I and includes the story of Havelok the Dane.

These two Latin chronicles are principally concerned with the events of the mid-fourteenth century, and are particularly interesting for their accounts of the French campaigns of Edward III in the 1340s and 1350s. The chronicle of Adam Murimuth (c.1275-1347), which the writer designed to be a continuation of earlier works, begins in 1303 and extends to 1347. Although it is meagre at first, its latter parts are much fuller as Murimuth was able to draw on contemporary accounts. The chronicle of the deeds of Edward III by Robert of Avesbury (d.1359) is a military history of his reign up to the year 1356. It makes use of important documents that are not reproduced elsewhere. Published in 1889, this edition by Edward Maunde Thompson (1840-1929) includes an introduction providing historical background and relating what little is known of each chronicler. The Latin texts are accompanied by English side-notes.

A monk of Christ Church, Canterbury, and the closest companion of St Anselm, Eadmer (c.1060-c.1126) witnessed the archbishop's disputes with William II and Henry I and accompanied him twice into exile. This edition of Anselm's biography, which Eadmer began to write during those years of exile, was published by the Rolls Series in 1884. With English side-notes to the main Latin text, it includes the Historia novorum, remarkable for its use of direct speech in relating the life of Anselm and his controversial relations with the monarchy. The Vita is a record of his private conversations, to which Eadmer attached a series of posthumous miracles. Eadmer was ordered to destroy the manuscripts by Anselm around 1100, but fortunately he retained his notes. The work is the best contemporary life of the saint, but also offers a history of Canterbury and a zealous defence of Anglo-Saxon tradition.

Henry of Huntingdon (c.1088-c.1157) wrote his comprehensive Latin chronicle of English history at the behest of the bishop of Lincoln, who asked him to provide a narrative from the earliest English kings right up to their own day. Henry's fondness for anecdotes - including the story of King Cnut attempting to hold back the tide - adds charm to his account. Although the work was originally completed by 1130, Henry continued to add to his magnum opus for many years, producing a version that concluded with the death of King Stephen and the accession of Henry II in 1154. This is the version edited for the Rolls Series in 1879 by Thomas Arnold (1823-1900), whose scholarly introduction describes the various different versions of the text, lists the extant manuscripts, and surveys Henry's sources. The text is accompanied by side-notes in English as well as appendices, a glossary and an index.

Roger of Hoveden's Chronica was begun around 1192 and covers English history from 732 to 1201, when it is assumed he died. The work is largely an annotated compilation of various other chronicles, including the Gesta Regis Henrici Secundi Benedicti Abbatis (also reissued in this series). This was formerly attributed to Benedict of Peterborough, which was the view taken by William Stubbs (1825-1901) when he edited this work for the Rolls Series in 1868-71. Since the twentieth century, however, Hoveden has been recognised as the author. As a clerk to Henry II until 1189, and later as a diplomat during the Third Crusade, he was ideally placed to gain first-hand knowledge and also documents, which he provides here in full. Volume 4 (1192-1201) comprises public documents and original work by Hoveden, particularly relating to the north of England, where he was based.

Published as part of the Rolls Series, this genealogy is attributed to Peter of Ickham (d.1295), a chronicler and Benedictine monk better known for his Latin chronicle of the Kings of England. It is mainly an Anglo-Norman version of extracts by well-known historians such as Geoffrey of Monmouth, Florence of Worcester, and Ralph de Diceto. The editor, vicar and librarian John Glover (c.1823-84), published the original text in 1865 together with his own facing-page translation into contemporary English. Glover's scholarship, as well as instances of semi-Saxonised French, will interest philologists and history students alike. The genealogy begins with Britain's colonisation by the legendary Brutus and covers the history of Saxon and Norman kings. It ends with a portrait of the life and reign of Edward II.

Thomas Wright (1810-77) was a highly prolific scholar of Old and Middle English and archaeology, although some of his work, particularly that on prehistory, was contentious. The present work, which he edited and published in 1863, comprises two texts by Alexander Neckam (1157-1217). The son of Richard I's foster mother, Neckam was a respected teacher and prolific scholar who became abbot of Cirencester. The larger of these texts, De naturis rerum, consists of a scientific manual followed by a theological treatise, a commentary on Ecclesiastes. Neckam later produced an abbreviated verse form of this, the second text found here. The first part of each text is a compendium of all the scientific knowledge of western Europe and England in the twelfth century, which Neckam aimed to treat morally as well as factually. In producing this edition, Wright has included the Latin marginal annotations, possibly by Neckam himself, found in his manuscript exemplars.

Bartholomaeus de Cotton, the Cellarer of Norwich Cathedral Priory, died in 1321/2. His most important work is the Historia Anglicana, written in 1292, with a few later additions. Book I, the history of Britain, taken from Geoffrey of Monmouth, was omitted by H. R. Luard from this 1859 edition. Book II, the history of England, is divided into two sections, from 455 to 1066, and from 1066 to the end of the thirteenth century. The work is most valuable for the period after 1264, as one of Cotton's sources, an anonymous Norwich chronicle, contains material not found elsewhere, and he also quotes from ecclesiastical and royal documents. Book III gives the history of the bishops and archbishops of England, mostly taken from other sources but with some useful material relating to the Diocese of Norwich. A glossary is provided.

Published as part of the Rolls Series in 1861, these collected letters date mainly from 1235-53, when, as bishop of Lincoln, their author presided over the largest diocese in England. Both a scientist and a theologian, Robert Grosseteste (c.1170-1253) boasts what the medieval historian R. W. Southern describes as 'a rarely paralleled breadth of intellectual interests'. His letters are invaluably illustrative of the social conditions of the time. He writes heatedly and earnestly on such topics as the laws concerning illegitimacy, the condition of the Jews and the liberties of the Church, with a violence of opinion that was 'balanced, indeed prompted, by a deep concern for the souls of ordinary people'. Henry Richards Luard (1825-91) puts Grosseteste's writing into context in his preface, while useful summaries of each letter in the contents list, and commentary provided in the side-notes, make the Latin text accessible to modern readers.

John Capgrave (1393-1464) was the Prior of Bishop's Lynn, and the most learned Augustinian friar of his time. Although he was the author of forty-one scholarly works, only twelve survive. This work was dedicated to King Henry VI and chronicles the lives of other great Henries, including six emperors of Germany and six kings of England (including the dedicatee himself). Largely compilations of other sources, his extensive accounts demonstrate the breadth of the scholarship for which he was known. This annotated edition was commissioned as part of the Rolls Series, a project designed, in an early campaign for ease of access to scholarly material, to put more historical sources into print. Edited by F. C. Hingeston and first published in 1858, it includes Capgrave's full Latin text and a glossary, thorough biographical notes, and chapter-by-chapter summaries, offering a useful resource for students of medieval history.

Thomas of Elmham (1364-1427?) was treasurer of St Augustine's Abbey, Canterbury, when he compiled this work, which he called the Speculum Augustinianum, around 1414. He planned to give a complete history of the Abbey, and the chronological table covers the period from 597 to 1414, but the main text ends in 806, with a collection of documentary sources from the period 1066 to 1191 appended. His failure to complete the work was probably due to his appointment as Prior of the Cluniac House at Lenton in Nottinghamshire. Elmham made great use of documentary sources in the Abbey's famous library, reproducing and editing original charters, as well as using the work of earlier historians of the House, though, unfortunately, many of the sources he uses were forgeries or corrupt transcripts, produced to support the Abbey's claims to royal and ecclesiastical privileges. This edition by Charles Hardwick was published in 1858.

Written c.1290, this chronicle follows the pattern of similar texts in recording historical events through using earlier sources; but, by adapting and editing what he chose to include, the author produced a unique work. He is able to provide greater depth and detail to the descriptions of events closer to his own time, yet the text finishes abruptly in a passage concerning the contemporary theologian Robert of Winchelsea. Published in the Rolls Series in 1859, the work was edited by Henry Ellis (1777-1869), the librarian of the British Museum. Topics covered in the chronicle include Henry II's crowning of his eldest son as 'Henry III', and their joint rule until the latter rebelled against his father; the 'extreme cruelty with which the Jews were treated in England'; and 'an occurrence which continued ... to our own time, namely, the inundation of Westminster Hall by the River Thames'.

The Franciscan Roger Bacon (c.1214-92?) was one of the most significant intellectuals of the thirteenth century. His most important work was the Opus Majus of 1267 (also available in this series). The works included in this volume, edited by J. S. Brewer, had not previously been published, and only one volume of the unpublished works ever appeared, because of Brewer's other commitments. The Opus Minus was a precis of the larger work, written at the same time. The Opus Tertium, written the following year, was Bacon's attempt to cover topics which he felt had been omitted, or inadequately explained, in the previous versions; it also includes autobiographical information. Neither the Opus Minus or Opus Tertium survive in their entirety, but Brewer includes all the parts known in 1859. The Compendium Philosophiae deals with Bacon's wide-ranging intellectual interests in all aspects of medieval scholarship.

Edited by William Stubbs (1825-1901) and published in 1887, volume one of this two-volume set devoted to the Latin historical works of William of Malmesbury (c.1090-c.1142), one of the most important of all the medieval historians, presents the first two books of his 'Deeds of the English Kings'.

This is a Latin history of England from the Norman Conquest until the late fourteenth century, with introductory material providing background to the events of 1066. Henry Knighton, canon of Leicester Abbey, draws heavily on his sources, particularly Ranulf Higden. This two-volume work was originally published between 1889 and 1895.

The first part of this Middle English verse chronicle by the Gilbertine monk Robert Manning (died c.1338), was published in two volumes with an introduction and English side-notes in 1887. Volume 1 takes the narrative up to Arthur's time and his battles with the Romans.

Roger of Wendover (d.1236), former prior of Belvoir, was a chronicler at St Albans and a key influence on his historiographical successor, Matthew Paris. Originally published between 1886 and 1889, this three-volume Latin chronicle covers English history from 1154 to 1235.

This six-volume edition and translation of the important thirteenth-century legal treatise known as Bracton was published between 1878 and 1883. It was largely a reprint of the first printed edition of 1569, rather than being based on a collation of the many surviving manuscripts.

The register of Archbishop John Peckham of Canterbury (c.1230-92) is an important source for thirteenth-century history. Published in three volumes between 1882 and 1885, it contains much information on the conquest of Wales by Edward I and on the history of Oxford University, as well as purely ecclesiastical matters.

Ralph de Diceto (d.1199/1200), dean of St Paul's, was both a painstaking compiler of information and an intellectual historian of remarkably wide vision. This two-volume collection of his writings, published in 1876, covers the history of the world from the Creation to 1202 (it was continued posthumously).

This two-volume work, published in 1872, presents an edited collection of letters and documents, originally compiled by Thomas Beckington, who was hugely influential in fifteenth-century Church affairs and government. In the original Latin and with valuable commentary, it offers insight into foreign, diplomatic and domestic affairs of the time.

Matthew Paris compiled and illustrated this chronicle of English history from the Creation to his death in 1259. This seven-volume edition of the Latin text was published between 1872 and 1883. Volume 1 covers the Creation to the Norman Conquest, and is derived mainly from Roger of Wendover's Flores historiarum.

Composed by chronicler Pierre de Langtoft (died c.1305), this history of England in Anglo-Norman verse was popular at the beginning of the fourteenth century. This volume, published in 1866, begins with the legendary Brutus and covers the history of Saxon and Norman kings, until the death of King Stephen.

Matthew Paris, a monk at St Albans, wrote and illustrated this history of England from the Norman Conquest to 1253. This three-volume edition of the Latin text was first published in 1866-9. Volume 1, covering 1067 to 1189, derives mainly from the work of Paris' predecessor, Roger of Wendover.

Published 1866-8, this three-volume work, focusing on the abbey of Meaux, Yorkshire, is one of the most important Cistercian chronicles. Thomas de Burton (d.1437) was abbot from 1396 to 1399, and his is a valuable and detailed account of the history and internal economy of a Cistercian abbey.

This influential chronicle by Ranulf Higden (d.1364) reveals how fourteenth-century scholars understood world history and geography. It is particularly important as a source for contemporary English history. This nine-volume work was published between 1865 and 1886.