Page:Dictionary of National Biography volume 59.djvu/249

 by a monk of St. Albans, but had escaped attention by being erroneously catalogued as Walsingham's ‘Ypodigma Neustriæ.’ The ‘Chronicon’ ranges from 1328 to 1388. The actions and motives of John of Gaunt are bitterly assailed in the ‘Chronicon,’ and it is evident that on the accession of Henry IV the ‘scandalous chronicle,’ as its editor calls the ‘Chronicon,’ was suppressed by the monks of St. Albans, fearful of the consequences of publishing these attacks upon the king's father, and its place was taken by the ‘Chronicle of St. Albans,’ No. 4 infra. Very few manuscripts of it have therefore survived. Two shorter forms of this ‘Chronicon’ exist in a Bodleian manuscript (316) written soon after 1388, and in the Cottonian MS. Faustina B. ix. In these a passage occurs referring the reader for further particulars of Wat Tyler's rebellion to the (lost) ‘Chronica Majora’ of Thomas Walsingham at St. Albans.

(3) Between 1390 and 1394, when he left St. Albans, Walsingham compiled the ‘Gesta Abbatum,’ a history of the abbots of St. Albans from its foundation by Offa. As in his other works, Walsingham took the early part of the history from the writings of previous chroniclers, particularly of Matthew Paris, the great St. Albans chronicler. The portion beginning with 1308 is his original composition. It is only brought down to 1390, probably because of Walsingham's promotion to Wymundham, though he intimates his intention of bringing it down to the death of Abbot Thomas de la Mare in 1396. This was done by a continuator. The ‘Gesta Abbatum’ was edited for the Rolls Series in 1867–9 in 2 vols.

(4) A chronicle extant in Brit. Mus. Royal MS. 13 E ix. ff. 177–326, which has no title, but from the fact that it was written and preserved at St. Albans is commonly called ‘The St. Albans MS.’ or ‘Chronicle.’ It was compiled in or soon after 1394, its last date being 1393. It covers the period 1272 to 1393, incorporating successively the chronicles of Matthew of Westminster, Adam Murimuth, the continuation of Trivet's ‘Annales,’ John Trokelowe, and others. Its text agrees with the ‘Chronicon Angliæ’ (No. 2 supra) to 1369. From this point it varies frequently from the ‘Chronicon,’ and at almost all points it tones down the ‘Chronicon's’ unfavourable comments on the action and character of John of Gaunt. The ‘Historia Vitæ et Regni Ricardi Secundi’ published by Hearne in 1729 was largely borrowed from this ‘St. Albans MS.’

Upon the basis of this chronicle is founded the (5) ‘Historia Anglicana,’ also designated by early writers ‘Historia Brevis,’ which comprises the years 1272 to 1422. After a critical examination of the ‘Historia Anglicana,’ Mr. Riley comes to the conclusion that only of the portion extending from 1377 to 1392 is Walsingham the author. The grounds for this conclusion are, in short, (1) that the last period into which the work may be divided (1393–1422) contains a far larger number of petty inaccuracies than the fifteen years 1377–92; (2) that for some time after 1392 the history is ‘less full and satisfactory;’ and (3) differences of style. With this conclusion Sir E. M. Thompson agrees. On the other hand, Mr. Gairdner suggests that an explanation of the defects of the later portion may be found in the circumstance that in 1394–1400 Walsingham was absent from St. Albans as prior of Wymundham. The ‘Ypodigma Neustriæ,’ which is admitted on all hands to be by Walsingham, also contains a considerable number of inaccuracies, and these may possibly have crept both into this work and the latter part of the ‘Historia Anglicana’ owing to the approach of old age. Lastly, as far as 1419 the ‘Historia Anglicana’ is frequently word for word the same as the ‘Ypodigma Neustriæ.’ Walsingham's ‘Historia Anglicana’ was first printed as ‘Historia brevis Angliæ ab Eduardo I ad Henricum V’ (London, 1594, fol.); another edition, by W. Camden, Frankfort, 1603, 4to. It was edited by Mr. Riley for the Rolls Series in 1863 (2 vols.).

A chronicle which is chiefly an abridgment of the ‘Historia Anglicana,’ and is also attributed to Walsingham, exists in the Bodleian Library (Rawl. MS. B. 152), and at Trinity College, Dublin (E. 5, 8). It begins in 1342 and ends at 1417, and contains a note referring to the ‘Polychronicon,’ the name by which the ‘Historia Anglicana’ is sometimes known. This abridgment of the ‘Historia Anglicana’ is doubtless the work by Walsingham which Bale entitles the ‘Auctuarium Polychronici’ (1342 to 1417).

(6) The ‘Ypodigma Neustriæ,’ like the ‘Historia Anglicana,’ is a compilation. Its object was to provide Henry V with an instructive summary of the history of his predecessors, the dukes of Normandy, and to furnish an historical justification of his invasion of France. Its dedication was written after the conquest of Normandy, completed by the surrender of Rouen in January 1419. But the portion allotted to Normandy (‘Neustria’) in the volume is comparatively small. From the time of Duke Rollo to the Norman conquest of England Walsingham borrows from the ‘Historia Normannorum’ of William of Jumièges. His other authorities are Ralph de Diceto [q. v.], William of Malmes-