Description
Book SynopsisJohn of Worcester is celebrated for his work on the Worcester Chronica Chronicarum, which was put together in stages in the first half of the twelfth century, and which became one of the most important historical texts to have survived from Britain of that period. A great deal of our understanding of early medieval British history, from before and after the Norman Conquest, depends upon it. At a late stage in the production of the Chronica Chronicarum, John turned his hand to the writing of an abbreviated chronicle, which he called his Chronicula, and which survives in a single, autograph manuscript in Trinity College, Dublin. The Chronicula interacts with its parent text, the Chronica Chronicarum, in interesting ways: it reassembles the Chronica according to the reigns of the emperors, it splices together information from different annals and sometimes redrafts the Chronica''s entries, thus providing an altered emphasis. The Chronicula also contains unique details (notably a set of po