History of the English People, Volume II: The Charter, 1216-1307; The Parliament, 1307-1400Green, John Richard
History
History of the English People, Volume II: The Charter, 1216-1307; The Parliament, 1307-1400
Green, John Richard
Great Britain -- History
Important as it is, the reign of Edward the Third is by no means fortunate
in its annalists. The concluding part of the Chronicle of Walter of
Hemingford or Heminburgh seems to have been jotted down as news of the
passing events reached its author: it ends at the battle of Crecy. Hearne
has published another contemporary account, that of Robert of Avesbury,
which closes in 1356. A third account by Knyghton, a canon of Leicester,
will be found in the collection of Twysden. At the end of this century and
the beginning of the next the annals which had been carried on in the Abbey
of St. Albans were thrown together by Walsingham in the "Historia
Anglicana" which bears his name, a compilation whose history may be found
in the prefaces to the "Chronica Monasterii S. Albani" issued in the Rolls
Series. An anonymous chronicler whose work is printed in the 22nd volume of
the "Archaeologia" has given us the story of the Good Parliament, another
account is preserved in the "Chronica Angliae from 1328 to 1388," published
in the Rolls Series, and fresh light has been recently thrown on the time
by the publication of a Chronicle by Adam of Usk which extends from 1377 to
1404. Fortunately the scantiness of historical narrative is compensated by
the growing fulness and abundance of our State papers. Rymer's Foedera is
rich in diplomatic and other documents for this period, and from this time
we have a storehouse of political and social information in the
Parliamentary Rolls.
For the French war itself our primary authority is the Chronicle of Jehan
le Bel, a canon of the church of St. Lambert of Liege, who himself served
in Edward's campaign against the Scots and spent the rest of his life at
the court of John of Hainault. Up to the Treaty of Bretigny, where it
closes, Froissart has done little more than copy this work, making however
large additions from his own enquiries, especially in the Flemish and
Breton campaigns and in the account of Crecy. Froissart was himself a
Hainaulter of Valenciennes; he held a post in Queen Philippa's household
from 1361 to 1369, and under this influence produced in 1373 the first
edition of his well-known Chronicle. A later edition is far less English in
tone, and a third version, begun by him in his old age after long absence
from England, is distinctly French in its sympathies. Froissart's vivacity
and picturesqueness blind us to the inaccuracy of his details; as an
historical authority he is of little value. The "Fasciculi Zizaniorum" in
the Rolls Series with the documents appended to it is a work of primary
authority for the history of Wyclif and his followers: a selection from his
English tracts has been made by Mr. T. Arnold for the University of Oxford,
which has also published his "Trias." The version of the Bible that bears
his name has been edited with a valuable preface by the Rev. J. Forshall
and Sir F. Madden. William Langland's poem, "The Complaint of Piers the
Ploughman" (edited by Mr.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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