Page:The Anglo-Saxon Chronicle according to the Several Original Authorities Vol 1 (Original Texts).djvu/35

 speaks of "monimenta literarum;" also Malmesbury: "Sunt sane quædam vetustatis indicia, chronico more et patrio sermone, per annos Domini ordinata." In thus assuming Ælfred and his coadjutors as the originators of the Saxon Chronicle, the question arises: Is the Chronicle, in succeeding ages, to be regarded as a contemporaneous narrative of events? Generally speaking, I am inclined to answer in the affirmative, although it certainly is not free from interpolations of later date. Such interpolations are, however, chiefly prevalent in manuscript Domitian A. VIII., and the Laudian manuscript. As an instance of such interpolation, may be noticed the entry A.D. 876, in the manuscript first mentioned, where it is said, that Rodla (Rolf, Rollo) penetrated into Normandy, and reigned