Anglo-Saxon Chronicle

Anglo-Saxon Chronicle

The Anglo-Saxon Chronicle is the name given to a number of earlier documents, originally compiled on the orders of King Alfred the Great, approximately A.D. 890, and subsequently maintained and added to by generations of anonymous scribes until the middle of the 12th Century. The original language is Anglo-Saxon (Old English), but later entries are essentially Middle English in tone. The Chronicle presents a timeline of history from 1 to 1154AD.

At present there are nine known versions or fragments of the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle in existence, which vary (sometimes greatly) in content and quality.

A-Prime
The Parker Chronicle (Corpus Christi College, Cambridge, MS. 173)
A
Cottonian Fragment (British Museum, Cotton MS. Otho B xi, 2)
B
The Abingdon Chronicle I (British Museum, Cotton MS. Tiberius A vi.)
C
The Abingdon Chronicle II (British Museum, Cotton MS. Tiberius B i.)
D
The Worcester Chronicle (British Museum, Cotton MS. Tiberius B iv.)
E
The Laud (or "Peterborough") Chronicle (Bodleian, MS. Laud 636)
F
The Bilingual Canterbury Epitome (British Museum, Cotton MS. Domitian A viii.), so called because it has entries in both English and Latin.
H
Cottonian Fragment (British Museum, Cotton MS. Domitian A ix.)
I
An Easter Table Chronicle (British Museum, Cotton MS. Caligula A xv.)

Several Online versions are available, using the text published by Everyman Press in 1912, based on the translation by Rev. James Ingram (first published 1823). A more modern collation is used in these webpages.


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