Bradshaw

Life
BRADSHAW, HENRY (d. 1513), Benedictine monk and poet, was a native of Chester. Being from childhood "much addicted to religion and learning", he was, while young, received among the monks of St. Werburgh's (now Chester Cathedral). At some point, possibly well into his adult life, he was sent to Gloucester Hall, Oxford, and there passed his course in theology. He then returned to his monastery.

Works
He is said to have written a history of Chester: "De Antiquitate et magnificentia Urbis Cestriæ" of which, unfortunately, no copy survives. His best known work is: "Chronicon and a Life of St. Werburgh", in English verse, including the "Foundation of the City of Chester", the "Chronicle of the Kings", &c. The date of his death is fixed at 1513, by 'A Balade to the Auctour,' printed with this poem.

The Life of St Werburgh draws on a wide range of historical sources including Bede, William of Malmesbury, Gerald of Wales and Henry of Huntingdon, as well as Ranulph Higden, a former alumnus of Bradshaw’s own abbey of St Werburgh’s (died around 1363) and author of the Polychronicon. Book II also makes particular use of a source described by Bradshaw as the ‘third passionarye’ (Book II, l. 1690), which seems to have been a compilation of various different hagiographic and miracle texts relating to Werburgh and her association with Chester. The Vita included in this collection was almost certainly the twelfth-century Latin text attributed to Goscelin of Saint-Bertin. Whilst the ‘third passionarye’ is no longer extant, several plausible identifications and assessments of the available evidence have been made.

Sources and Links

 * Henry Bradshaw at Medieval Chester;