Chronicle of Mann

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

The Chronicle of the Kings of Mann and the Isles is a mediaeval Latin manuscript relating the early history of the Isle of Man.

The main part of the manuscript is believed to have been composed and written at Rushen Abbey on the island around 1257, as a look back, year by year, over significant events in Manx history. Written in Latin, it records the island's role as the centre of the Norse Kingdom of Mann and the Isles, and the influence of its kings and religious leaders, as well as the role of Rushen Abbey itself – which was founded at the invitation of Olaf, one of the Norse kings.

Several notes taking the Chronicles up to 1316 were later added by the abbey's Cistercian monks. After the abbey was dissolved in 1540 the manuscript is thought to have passed through a number of private hands until becoming the property of Sir Robert Cotton, whose collection of medieval works was one of the founding collections of the British Museum and are now cared for by the British Library in London.

There have been campaigns to move the Chronicle permanently to the Isle of Man.

[edit] External links

• Text of the Chronicle of Mann – Latin with English translation