Page:Dictionary of National Biography volume 60.djvu/257

 received a complaint against the prior that he had wasted the goods of his church. Wendover was rebuked, and promised amendment; but the prior, though appearing satisfied, was determined to remove him, and some time later did so, and Wendover must then have returned to St. Albans (Gesta Abbatum, i. 270–1, 274; the date of this visitation is conjectural; it was after the death of John and the close of the war for the charter, and took place in a time of civil war, which would suit 1220–1, and it must have been fairly early in Trumpington's abbacy, for the abbot is described as being then 'floridus ætate;' in his Historia Anglorum, vol. i. pref. xiv, places it in 1219; but, laying too much stress on the order in which events are noted in the Gesta Abbatum, puts Wendover's removal as late as 'about 1231,' Cat. of Materials, iii. 79). It has been supposed that about 1231 he succeeded as historiographer of St. Albans (, u.s. pref. xxxvi, followed by Hewlett) a monk named Walter, who, according to Pits (De Angliæ Scriptoribus, p. 845), wrote a chronicle of England after 1180, but Walter's chronicle and position in the abbey cannot be accepted on such testimony, and all that can safely be asserted is that Wendover, after returning to St. Albans, devoted himself to historical work, and that he doubtless became the head of the scriptorium and historiographer of the convent. He died on 6 May 1236 (Chronica Majora, vol. vi. Addit. p. 274).

His work as a writer of history is commemorated by Walsingham, who says that the chroniclers of England owe nearly everything to him, and that his work extended to the reign of Henry II (, ii. 303); 'secundi' in this passage has been explained as merely a slip for 'tertii' (, Flores Hist. vol. i. pref. viii), but it seems probable that Walsingham was misled by the division of the 'Chronica Majora' into two volumes [see under ], the second beginning at 1189 with a rubrical note referring to Paris (Chronica Majora, ii. 336 nn.). Wendover's book is entitled 'Flores Historiarum,' and the first part of it answers to the name, the contents being largely culled from other historians. It begins, after a prologue chiefly taken from Robert de Monte [q. v.], with the creation, and ends somewhat abruptly at 1135 with the genealogy of the Empress Isabella, sister of the Emperor Henry III, after which in both manuscripts of his book is inserted 'Huc usque scripsit dominus Rogerus de Wendovre' (ib. iii. 327 n.), followed by a rhyming hexameter couplet. It is extant in two manuscripts, Douce MS. 207 in the Bodleian Library, Oxford, of the thirteenth century, and Cottonian MS. Otho, B. v, independent, of the fourteenth century, described in 1696 as beginning with the birth of Christ, but, though beginning there, it has as heading, 'Incipit liber secundus,' &c., with a second prologue (printed by ), as though an earlier part had been removed; it was much damaged by the fire at Ashburnham House in 1731, and has been wonderfully restored by Sir F. Madden. The 'Flores' has been printed from 4471447 [sic] onwards in four volumes by the English Historical Society, 1841–2, under the editorship of Henry Octavius Coxe [q. v.], and from 1154 onwards in three volumes in the Rolls Series, 1886–9, under the editorship of H. S. Hewlett.

In the 'Flores' Wendover appears as an editor, a copyist, a compiler, and an original chronicler. He seems to have found an historical compilation written in the abbey extending from the creation to 1188, represented and revised by Paris, in C.C.C. MS. Cambr. 26, and to have written a revision of it to the year 231, from which date he copies from it down to 1012, making one long insertion under 621 from William of Tyre; he then omits and inserts passages until 1065, when he again copies (, Chron. Majora, vol. i. pref. xiii). The C.C.C. MS. 26 ends with 1188, and at that point the Douce manuscript of the 'Flores' has a marginal note, 'Huc usque in lib. cronic. Johannis abbatis,' but the Cottonian manuscript of the 'Flores' goes on without a break. Luard accordingly points out the probability that the early St. Albans compilation ended at that date, and that Wendover took up the work of compilation at 1189 (ib. ii. 336). Sir T. D. Hardy (u. s.), writing at an earlier date, somewhat arbitrarily fixed 1154 as the point at which 'Wendover may be said to assume the character of an original writer,' though it is obvious that from 1154 to 1202 the 'Flores' is a compilation. Mr. Hewlett in his edition of the 'Flores' has simply copied and approved Hardy's remark, and, in spite of Luard's acute and scholarly criticism, has acted upon it by beginning his edition at 1154. From 1188 to 1202 Wendover's work is similar in character to the earlier St. Albans compilation, but from 1202, that is after the end of the chronicle of Roger of Hoveden [q. v.], he may be considered as a first-hand authority (ib. vol. ii. pref. xix), for thenceforward he does not appear to use the work of any earlier historian for English affairs, except in a few places the chronicle of Ralph of Coggeshall [q. v.], though for affairs in the Holy Land he copies under 1217–18 from Oliverius Scholasticus