Robert of Gloucester (historian)
Robert of Gloucester (fl. c.1260–c.1300)[1] wrote a chronicle of British, English, and Norman history sometime in the mid- or late-thirteenth century. The Chronicle survives in some 16 manuscripts, ranging in date from the early fourteenth to mid-fifteenth centuries, and was of considerable interest to contemporaries and antiquarian scholars. Although an early generation of antiquarians including Thomas Hearne found the chronicle interesting, its reputation later faded. Somewhat perversely, it was not until after the text was edited by William Aldis Wright that its neglect - "worthless as history" and "verse without one spark of poetry" according to its editor - became widespread.
Historically, the text is of interest primarily for materials relating to the Second Barons' War, to which the author (or an author of a portion of the text) seems to have been a witness. The first part of the Chronicle translates materials from Geoffrey of Monmouth's Historia regum Britanniae, narrating fabulous British history. The majority of English/Anglo-Saxon history is compiled from the works of Henry of Huntingdon and William of Malmesbury, and the post-Conquest portions are translated from numerous sources densely interwoven with original text.
Bibliography
- Anonymous. "Robert of Gloucester's Chronicle." Gentleman's Magazine (Nov. 1834): 470-77.
- Edward Donald Kennedy, ‘Gloucester, Robert of (fl. c.1260–c.1300)’, Oxford Dictionary of National Biography, Oxford University Press, 2004, accessed 4 Aug 2008
- Wright, William Aldis ed., The Metrical Chronicle of Robert of Gloucester. 2 vols. Rolls Series 86 (London, 1887).
References
- ↑ Oxford Dictionary of National Biography http://www.oxforddnb.com.ep.fjernadgang.kb.dk/view/article/23736
External links
- Robert of Gloucester at The Columbia Encyclopedia.
- Works by or about Robert of Gloucester in libraries (WorldCat catalog)
- Thomas Hearne edition of Chronicle at Google Books
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