Chester Chronicle
This article is about the Medieval document known as the "Chester Chronicle" and not the newspaper of the same name (for that see Newspapers in Chester). Much of what is written about the history of Chester derives from the Chronicle, either directly or indirectly. A copy of the Latin text of the Chronicle, together with a translation into English on opposed pages can be found here. It consists of a rather short entry on a year-by-year basis and makes no attempt at any narrative "explanation" of history. It is, in modern parlance, a "timeline" of Chester's history.
Early writers of many of the popular histories of Chester, including the series of Georgian/Victorian guidebooks starting with Broster and proceeding through the likes of Pigot, Hanshall, Ormerod, Hemingway and Hughes (amongst others), often have one of the original sources for their "facts" in the Chester Chronicle. These guidebooks in turn influenced the writers of later guides to the city, and the creators of art such as Stained Glass or the works of sculpture at the Town Hall.
This is not a complete guide to the Chester Chronicle and the historical events mentioned therein, but rather a "rough guide" to it and its relation to other writings on Chester, with pointers to some specific items of interest. Much more detail can be found in the Chronicle itself and the Chartulary, but a comprehensive study of the Chronicle and the Charters and Deeds associated with the abbey is far beyond the scope of this article as presently intended.
Introduction
The best-known Medieval Chronicle in Britain is the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle a collection of annals in Old English, chronicling the history of the Anglo-Saxons. The original manuscript of the Chronicle was created late in the ninth century, probably in Wessex, during the reign of Alfred the Great (r. 871–899).
The intellectual revival sparked in Wessex by Alfred entailed the recruitment of "foreign" clerical scholars from Mercia, Wales and abroad to enhance the tenor of the court and of the episcopacy; the establishment of a court school to educate his own children, the sons of his nobles, and intellectually promising boys of lesser birth; an attempt to require literacy in those who held offices of authority; and a series of translations into the vernacular of Latin works the king deemed "most necessary for all men to know". Alfred recruited scholars from the Continent and from elsewhere in Britain to aid in the revival of Christian learning in Wessex and to provide the king with personal instruction. Grimbald and John the Saxon came from Francia; Plegmund possibly from Chester, Bishop Werferth of Worcester, Æthelstan, and the royal chaplains Werwulf, from Mercia; and Asser, from St David's in southwestern Wales.
The work also included the compilation of a chronicle detailing the rise of Alfred's kingdom and house, with a genealogy that stretched back to Adam, thus giving the West Saxon kings a biblical ancestry. The content of the original ASC, which incorporated sources now otherwise lost dating from as early as the seventh century, is known as the "Common Stock" of the Chronicle. Multiple copies were made of that one original and then distributed to monasteries across England, where they were updated, partly independently, and copied further as the originals wore out. The process of manual copying introduced accidental errors in dates; such errors were sometimes compounded in the chain of transmission. The whole of the Common Stock has a chronological dislocation of two years for the period 756–845 due to two years being missed out in the archetype. It is not known for certain what part Plegmund played in the writing of the Chronicle, but he is unlikely (as is sometimes stated) to be the sole author.
The narrative’s first section begins with accounts pertaining to the church as well as an overview of the history of the Roman Empire. One could argue that much of this material would have been inspired by Bede’s work on similar themes. In addition to these early entries in the Chronicle, the first manuscript draws heavily on oral traditions and the telling of legends in order to explain the foundations of the Angles and Saxons arriving in England and the development of various competing kingdoms alongside the advent of Christianity. Later on in the Chronicle, the focus remains on telling the story of the rise of the House of Wessex and its glory years which are vividly depicted in Anglo-Saxon prose, highlighting the tale of the West Saxons in their struggle to defeat the Danes and the kingship of Alfred the Great. Also contained with the manuscript are four poems, one of the most famous being about the Battle of Brunanburh, thought to be one of the finest examples of Anglo-Saxon battle poetry.
Nine manuscripts of the Chronicle, none of which is the original, survive in whole or in part. Seven are held in the British Library, one in the Bodleian Library at Oxford, and the oldest in the Parker Library of Corpus Christi College, Cambridge. The oldest seems to have been started towards the end of Alfred's reign, while the most recent was copied at Peterborough Abbey after a fire at that monastery in 1116. Both because much of the information given in the Chronicle is not recorded elsewhere and because of the relatively clear chronological framework it provides for understanding events, the Chronicle is among the most influential historical sources for England between the collapse of Roman authority and the decades following the Norman Conquest. The three main Anglo-Norman historians, John of Worcester, William of Malmesbury and Henry of Huntingdon, each had a copy of the Chronicle, which they adapted for their own purposes. Symeon of Durham also had a copy of the Chronicle. Some later medieval historians also used the Chronicle, and others took their material from those who had used it, and so the Chronicle became "central to the mainstream of English historical tradition".
However, the surviving manuscripts were produced in different places, and at times adaptations made to the Common Stock in the course of copying reflect the agendas of the copyists. These colour both the description of interactions between Wessex and other kingdoms, and the descriptions of the Vikings' depredations. This is particularly relevant for Chester given that was initially in Welsh territory and later part of Saxon Mercia. The following few examples illustrate this with reference to "local" events, and further information can be found on the related pages:
Chester events in the Anglo Saxon Chronicle
The following three examples are taken from the ASC. They are chosen not only because they are "local" to Chester and Cheshire, but because they do not feature in the local Chester Chronicle. One reason for this, as discussed further below, is that the Chester Chronicle is rather a "late" document and tends to focus on the later part of the reign of Henry III and that of Edward I.
Ecgbert:
Ecgbert of Wessex features in the sculpture at Chester Town Hall. In 829 Ecgbert defeated Wiglaf of Mercia and drove him out of his kingdom, temporarily ruling Mercia directly. It is not clear who started that particular conflict. Later that year Ecgbert received the submission of the Northumbrian king Eanred at Dore. Ecgbert was the grandfather of Alfred the Great.
The Common Stock's annal for 829 describes Ecgbert's invasion of Northumbria with the comment that the Northumbrians offered him "submission and peace" (or "obedience and subjection" depending on the translation). The entry for 829 in one version of the ASC reads:
- "This year was the moon eclipsed, on mid-winter's mass-night; and King Egbert, in the course of the same year, conquered the Mercian kingdom, and all that is south of the Humber, being the eighth king who was sovereign of all the British dominions. Ella, king of the South-Saxons, was the first who possessed so large a territory; the second was Ceawlin, king of the West-Saxons: the third was Ethelbert, King of Kent; the fourth was Redwald, king of the East-Angles; the fifth was Edwin, king of the Northumbrians; the sixth was Oswald, who succeeded him; the seventh was Oswy, the brother of Oswald; the eighth was Egbert, king of the West-Saxons. This same Egbert led an army against the Northumbrians as far as Dore, where they met him, and offered terms of obedience and subjection, on the acceptance of which they returned home."
This may be unashamed Wessex propaganda, with Ecgbert being added to a list provided by Bede and compared to a clutch of famous rulers who were each supposedly "bretwalda" for a number of years. Dore is a large village in the Sheffield district. it lies on a hill above the River Sheaf which gave Sheffield its name. The name Dore is most likely to derive from one of two possible origins. It could be the same Old English root as door, signifying a "gateway" or pass between two kingdoms. Alternatively, it could be associated with the Cymric (Welsh) 'dwr' (dur) for water. Assuming the former it implies that Ecgbert only went as far as the border, and negotiated there.
The Northumbrian chronicles incorporated into Roger of Wendover's thirteenth-century "Flowers of History" give a different picture:
- "When Ecgbert had obtained all the southern kingdoms, he led a large army into Northumbria, and laid waste that province with severe pillaging, and made King Eanred pay tribute."
Ecgbert didn't even keep Mercia for that long - in 830, Mercia regained its independence under Wiglaf — the Chronicle merely says that Wiglaf "obtained the kingdom of Mercia again".
Ælfgar:
Ælfgar, was sometime earl of East Anglia, and son of Leofric, the earl of Mercia by his famous wife Godgifu (Lady Godiva). He was exiled briefly in 1055. This was part of the long-running conflict between the House of Godwin, based in Wessex and the House of Leofric, based in Mercia.
The [C], [D] and [E] manuscripts of the ASC say the following:
- [C]: (composed at Abingdon) "Earl Ælfgar, son of Earl Leofric, was outlawed without any fault ..."
- [D]: (composed at Worcester) "Earl Ælfgar, son of Earl Leofric, was outlawed well-nigh without fault ..."
- [E]: (composed at Peterborough, but only surviving through a copy from Canterbury) "Earl Ælfgar was outlawed because it was thrown at him that he was traitor to the king and all the people of the land. And he admitted this before all the men who were gathered there, although the words shot out against his will."
Each of the versions of the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle is known to be slanted, with the "C" version (written at Abingdon) being royalist and the "E" version (written at Canterbury) being the most Godwinist. Scribes might also omit material, sometimes accidentally, but also for ideological reasons. Leofric died in 1057 at his estate at Kings Bromley in Staffordshire. Ælfgar was Earl of Mercia by 1058, and in that year was exiled again. This time only [D] has anything to say and even then with apparent reluctance:
- "Here Earl Ælfgar was expelled, but he soon came back again, with violence, through the help of Gruffydd. And here came a raiding ship-army from Norway; it is tedious to tell how it all happened."
Gruffydd as named here is King Gruffydd ap Llywelyn, originally from Powys, who displaced the Aberffraw line from Gwynedd making himself ruler there. After gaining power he surprised a Mercian army at Rhyd y Groes, near Welshpool. Defeating it, he killed Edwin, brother of Leofric, Cnut's Earl of Mercia. By 1055 Gruffydd was able to make himself king of most of Wales.
Æthelflæd:
Roman Chester was refortified around 907 by the Mercians. The event is recorded in the AS Chronicle (although versions vary) and a cryptic note from 907 that "Chester was restored" suggests more fighting (or rebuilding) in that year:
- A.D. 907. This year died Alfred, who was governor of Bath. The same year was concluded the peace at Hitchingford, as King Edward decreed, both with the Danes of East-Anglia, and those of Northumberland; and Chester was restored.
Raphael Holinshead (writing in the 1570's) also mentions the same, adding that this was when the walls were extended by Æthelflæd - daughter of Alfred and sister King Edward the Elder:
- Not without good reason did king Edward permit vnto his sister Elfleda the gouernment of Mercia, during hir life time: for by hir wise and politike order vsed in all hir dooings, he was greatlie furthered & assisted; but speciallie in reparing and building of townes & castels, wherein she shewed hir noble magnificence, in so much that during hir government, which continued about eight yéeres, it is recorded by writers, that she did build and repare these Tamwoorth was by hir repared, Eadsburie and Warwike towns, whose names here insue: Tamwoorth beside Lichfield, Stafford, Warwike, Shrewsburie, Watersburie or Weddesburie, Elilsburie or rather Eadsburie, in the forrest of De la mere besides Chester, Brimsburie bridge vpon Seuerne, Rouncorne at the mouth of the riuer Mercia with other. Moreouer, by hir helpe the citie of Chester, which by Danes had beene greatlie defaced, was newlie repared, fortified with walls and turrets, and greatlie inlarged. So that the castell which stood without the walls before that time, was now brought within compasse of the new wall.
Æthelflæd is almost completely ignored in the standard West Saxon version of the Chronicle, in what one historian (Frederick Threlfall Wainwright) described as a "conspiracy of silence". Brief details of her actions were preserved in a pro-Mercian version of the Chronicle known as the "Mercian Register" or the "Annals of Æthelflæd" which covers the years 902-924; although the original text of that work is now also lost, and all that remains are elements which were incorporated into several surviving versions of the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle derived later.
The insertion is rather crude, and the manuscript [B] of the Chronicle contains two completely different versions of events for the years 902–924. The first version is similar to that found in Anglo-Saxon Chronicle manuscript [A], and focuses on the deeds of the West Saxon King Edward the Elder (reigned 899–924) as he conquered lands controlled by the descendants of Viking raiders. Immediately after those annals, the scribe copied a group of annals for the same years from the "Mercian Register". These preserve details of the part played in campaigns against Scandinavian and Welsh forces by Ealdorman Æthelred of the Mercians, and his wife Æthelflæd. A comparison of the two texts shows the striking differences between these two accounts of the same period of history.
Other Chronicles
Alongside the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle, other chronicles sometimes mention events relating to Chester, but here a note of caution is needed.
A good example is the Croyland Chronicle. This claims to have been written by Abbot Ingulf in the 11th century and purports to be a source for the involement of Ælfgar and other Mercian nobles in the history of Crowland Abbey. In fact it appears that the supposed 11th century text is a 14th-century work with the author now named as "Pseudo-Ingulf". Those parts of the work written after Pseudo-Ingulf, that is in the 15th century, are still considered a valuable source. Pseudo-Ingulf himself is not; while he may have had access to genuine traditions or documents at Croyland, "he misunderstood or garbled these beyond any possibility of recognition". The Croyland Chronicle's authenticity and its authorship, began to be questioned by the nineteenth century and it was W. G. Searle who determined in 1894 that the text was a fourteenth- or fifteenth-century production. By this time supposed "facts" from the Croyland Chronicle had been incorporated into other works.
What we see from the above is that the purpose of Chronicles was not to record history, but to record a version of history. Unfortunately, they may be the only "version" available.
The other "Chronicle" associated with Chester is the "Polychronicon" written by Chester monk Ranulf Higden (c. 1280 - c. 1363). The Christ Church (Oxford) manuscript states that Higdon wrote it down to the year 1342; the manuscript at Christ's College, Cambridge, states that Higden wrote to the year 1344.
The Chronicle of Chester
The Abbey of Chester (now the Cathedral), founded in 1093 had its own chronicle sometimes known as the "Chronicle of St Werburgh" or the "Chester Chronicle". It was rediscovered in part by Francis Gastrell, in the 18th century and subsequent investigations uncovered a 48-leaf document in the collection held at Mostyn Hall. The Mostyn document appears to date from the end of the 15th or early part of the 16th century and therefore is presumably a copy of an earlier document. It was apparently copied by a number of Welsh scribes whose Latin was not particularly good. The Gastrell documents (from Chester) and the Mostyn documents are not quite identical, and both contain far less information than the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle, with many years for which no entry is given. The exact status of these two manuscripts and their dependence upon one another is unclear although it is believed that they were derived from a common thirteenth-century source. The Mostyn manuscript is at best a straightforward copy of this earlier original and of other lost material, but, most probably is an interpolated and therefore extended version of that source. However, there is much in the Chester/Mostyn documents which relates specifically to Chester: in particular, subject-matter which does not appear in the ASC.
One theory is that the edition from which the late fifteenth-century version was copied, and probably the common source too, was almost certainly compiled under the direction of Simon (of) Whitchurch (de Albo Monasterio), elected Abbott 1265, died 1291. He is sometimes known as "Simon de Blanchminster". The history of Chester at the time was that of a transition from the Norman Earldom to the personal fief of the king, held by the heir apparent. The Earls of Chester had become immensely wealthy and influential, and when John Canmore died in 1237 the earldom is often said to have reverted to the Crown. However it was only formally annexed to the Crown in 1246 when the rest of the honour of Chester (the land) was bought from Ranulf de Blondeville's sisters by Henry III. King Henry III passed the Lordship of Chester, but not the title of Earl, to his son "the Lord Edward" in 1254. Edward (later Edward I) and his father then faced the difficulty of the Second Baron's War (1264-1267). The Chester Chronicle writers appear to had some trouble with the proper title for Edward, mostly he is "Lord Edward" and not "Edward earl of Chester". For a while during the Baron's War the Earl of Chester was actually Simon de Montfort, 6th Earl of Leicester.
Simon the abbot's election was complicated. As the Chronicle states:
- "He was regularly elected by the entire convent xv. cal. May, 1265, in the 45th year of his age, and the 22nd after assuming the cowl, Simon de Montford being then usurper of the Earldom of Chester."
Simon's admission was opposed by Lucas de Taney, Justiciary of Chester, who:
- ".. kept the abbey open for three weeks, and taking the revenues into his own hands, wasted them by the most scandalous profligacy. ..."
Simon de Montfort, however, "much to his honour", on hearing the circumstances, admitted the abbot, and directed Lucas de Taney to make ample compensation to the abbey, after which Roger de Menland, then bishop of Coventry and Lichfield, confirmed his election at Tachebrook, on Whit-Monday, and Simon de Montford having invested him with the temporalities at Hereford the Monday following, the new abbot received the benediction from his before-mentioned diocesan at Tachebrooke, on Trinity Sunday."
We are told that on this same day the partizans of Prince Edward laid siege to Chester Castle, and a reverse of fortune speedily took place, the election of the abbot was declared void by the "lawful earl", as having been unratified by himself. The abbot, however, made his peace with Prince Edward at Beeston Castle, and compensation was made him at the instance of James de Audley, Justiciary, even replacing from the stores in the Castle two casks of wine which had been consumed by the Prince’s attendants, during the Abbot's deposition.
Simon of Whitchurch's reason for having the Chronicle compiled was possibly not purely for the benefit of historians. In the earlier 13th century there were setbacks during the period of baronial rebellion when the disgruntled heirs of benefactors and others took advantage of the lack of strong central authority to challenge and attack the privileges and property of the Abbey. Fortunes revived, however, under Simon and his successor, Thomas Birchills (1291-1323). Both were particilarly keen to recover property that had once belonged to the abbey. While Simon appears to have had the Chronicle made, Birchills seems to have had a roll produced, the purpose of which was to place on record the results of the most important legal cases that concerned the Abbey of St. Werburgh, any grants of land to it or by it, and any legal decisions that might again be called in question, and for which this Roll would form a handy place of reference.
However, the abbey also had its chartulary or register of the abbey of St. Werburgh, which survives as Harlean manuscript 2062 and Harlean manuscript 1965: see the reference in the links below.
Another early complication for Simon was that Edward was a great patron of what was to become Vale Royal. A Cistercian monastery initially at Darnhall in Cheshire. Negotiations for its foundation were possibly already under-way when Simon gained the abbacy at Chester. This was to be paid for with the manor house and estate of the Earls of Chester. However, it appears not to have become a significant issue as neither Darnhall nor Vale Royal is mentioned in the Chester Annals.
A link to the complete text in both Latin and English translation is given below and an alternative can be found here. One thing that it is important to note is that in some places the Gastrell document contains information which is not in the Mostyn document. Some writers fail to distinguish between these two sources, making it seem that information which is present in Gastrell was also present in the original text of the Chronicle.
The word "indiction" which appears frequently in the text refers to a 15 year cycle used to date documents.
The "Early" Part of the Chester Chronicle
The early entries in the Chester Chronicle are quite sparse and would have been written many years after the events mentioned. Despite being a chronicle from Mercia there is only a brief mention of Penda (655) and Wulfhere (675) before the birth of Werburgh. Offa gets no mention at all. Other Mercian kings are mentioned as are a few from Kent, many of whom are relatives of Werburgh.
The following selected entries (with links to the relevent pages) are of some interest to the history of Chester prior to the establishment of the Abbey, and illustrate some of the issues with the Chronicle. Many other references to the Chester Chronicle are included elsewhere on this site. These can be direct references, or indirect ones. All these need to be treated with some caution,
689
- "In the year of our lord six hundred and eighty-nine Ethelred, king of the Mercians, the uncle of S. Werburg, with the assistance of Wilfric, bishop of Chester, as Giraldus [Cambrensis] relates, founded a collegiate church in the suburbs of Chester in honour of S. John the Baptist."
This is the first mention of Chester in the Chronicle. "Giraldus" is Gerald of Wales (c.1146-c.1223), and the document in which he relates the history of St Johns has apparently been lost (if it ever existed). Ethelred, also known as Æthelred of Mercia (r.675–704) was the brother of Wulfhere (the previous King of Mercia), who was Werburgh's father. "Wilfric" is presumably sometime bishop Wilfrid. Æthelred befriended Bishop Wilfrid (of York) when Wilfrid was expelled from his see in Northumbria. Æthelred made Wilfrid Bishop of the Middle Angles during his exile, but the title "bishop of Chester" as used in the Chester Chronicle is obscure. None of these events are mentioned in the ASC, which discusses Wilfred in its entry for 675. This period is further discussed in the article on the arrival of the Saxons in Chester.
As this entry clearly shows by the mention of the much later Gerald of Wales, the Chester Chronicle was not a series of statements written down as they happened and thereafter simply copied.
778
- "The conversion of the Saxons."
This is not a reference to the Saxons in Britain, but to events in the Saxon Wars in which Charlemagne ultimately prevailed, organized Saxony as a Frankish province, massacred thousands of Saxon nobles, and ordered conversions of the pagan Saxons to Christianity. In 777, he called a national diet at Paderborn to integrate Saxony fully into the Frankish kingdom. Many Saxons were baptised. The Carmen de conversione Saxonum celebrates this event. The following year, however, the Saxons rebelled and the wars continued for several decades. The frequent mentions of French/Frankish events and especially the bishop of Rouen have been taken to suggest that the "early" parts of the Chester Chronicle are based on an older chronicle originating in France.
789
- "The first arrival in England of the Danes, who taught the English to drink too much."
Lord Coke (1 February 1552 – 3 September 1634) stated that "King Edgar [the Pacific (r.959 – 8 July 975)], in 'permitting' the Danes to inhabit England, first brought excessive drinking among us". The Anglo-Saxon Chronicle records the first appearance of Vikings in England for the year 787. The 789 Viking raid on Portland in Dorset is the first of its kind recorded in the British Isles, including Ireland. The ASC records that the reeve of Dorchester (a local high-ranking official) went to greet them after they landed, perhaps accustomed to welcoming Scandinavian merchants. He was killed, and there is no mention of drinking. There is no mention of excessive drinking in the Mostyn document either - this only appears in the Gastrell document into which it could have found its way from Edward Coke.
827
There is no mention in the Chester Annals of the "conquest" of Chester by Ecgbert as discussed above. A "severe famine" in listed for 822 and then events skip to 838, and the first collection of "St Peter's Pence". The next entry is another "severe famine" for 868.
875
- "Alfred, king of England, under the advice of Neot, Abbot [of Hamstoke (afterwards called S. Neot's), Cornwall], first established public schools of the several [liberal] arts at Oxford, and promoted its interests in many ways, permitting no illiterate person to rise to any ecclesiastical dignity. In the same year, when the Danes made their winter quarters at Repton after the flight of Burdred, king of the Mercians, the men of Hanbury, fearing for themselves, fled to Chester as to a place which was very safe from the butchery of the barbarians, taking with them in a litter the body of S. Werburg, which then for the first time was resolved into dust."
This entry (relating to schools and Werburgh) does not appear in the Mostyn documents, but is in the Gastrell document. The first part is related to the myth that University College, Oxford, was actually founded by King Alfred, to the point that it was formally admitted as fact after a court case in 1727. In fact the origins of that college lie in the bequest made by William of Durham in 1249 to create a College to support Masters of Arts studying theology. By 1384 they were claiming to have been founded by Alfred and produced a document which claimed:
- "nobles seintz Johan de Beverley, Bede et Richard Armachan et autres plusieurs famouses doctours et clerks estoit iadys escolers en mesme votre college." (“the noble saints John of Beverley, Bede and Richard of Armagh and several other famous doctors and clerks were once scholars in your same college.”) - this is pushing it a bit, Bede died 26 May 735 and Alfred was born in c.849.
Legend has it that Neot's remains were stolen from Cornwall, and brought to Eynesbury in Cambridgeshire (now also called St Neots). Over the years there were several arguments as to whether the relics were actually those of Neot. In 1078 or 1079 the Abbot of Bec came to St Neots to verify the matter. This was in fact Anselm, who had been appointed to the post of Abbot in 1078 who would go on to found the abbey at Chester. When he examined the relics and pronounced them Neot's he apparently kept the jawbone and took it back to Bec.
"Bundred" is Burgred of Mercia ruler from 852 to 874. In 865, the "Great Heathen Army" arrived in Britain. Following its successful campaigns against East Anglia and Northumbria it advanced through Mercia, arriving in Nottingham in 867. Burgred then appealed to his brothers-in-law King Æthelred of Wessex and Alfred for assistance against them. The armies of Wessex and Mercia did no serious fighting as Burgred paid the invaders off. In 874 the march of the Vikings from Lindsey to Repton drove Burgred from his kingdom. After Burgred left, the Vikings appointed a Mercian Ceolwulf II to replace him. He is described in the ASC as "an unwise king's thane". Burgred retired to Rome and died there. He was buried, according to the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle, "in the church of Sancta Maria, in the school of the English nation" (now Santo Spirito in Sassia) in Rome.
The ASC makes no mention of the translation of the relics of Werburgh. Her translation is also not mentioned in either the brief biography written by Florence of Worcester (died 1118) or by Goscelin, Werburgh's hagiographer (who was alive in 1106). In the 1970s and 1980s, investigations at Repton revealed evidence of a 9th-century Viking army camp, as well as a mass grave thought to contain their battle dead. Repton is mentioned in the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle as the site of the 873-874 Great Heathen Army winter camp, but the archaeology was problematic until work published in 2019.
Higden in his Polychronicon (book five) writes the following:
- "King Ethelred, uncle to Werburgh made her govenor in diverse places as at Threekingsham, Weedon and Hanbury, [she] dying at at first place and [was] buried at the third, as she commanded in her life, where she lay incorrupte as by three hundred years unto the coming of the Danes. The Danes tarrying in winter at Repton, [with] Burgered king of the Mercians chased away, the citizens of Hanbury, dreading them, went to Chester with the body of that blessed virgin, which reduced at that time to powder. In which city from the time of king Athelstan unto the coming of the Normans into England, secular cannons getting diverse posessions served in that church to the lawe of that virgin, and after that monks."
The similarity between this and the Gastrell text is obvious. Much the same story is told in Henry Bradshaw's life of St. Werburgh, of the early 16th century.
924
- "King Athelstane is crowned ; in whose time, and thenceforth until the arrival of the Normans, secular canons with possessions mutually conferred, and afterwards regular monks, served in this monastery in honour of S. Werburg."
Æðelstān was King of the Anglo-Saxons from 924 to 927 and "King of the English" from 927 to his death in 939. He was the son of King Edward the Elder and his first wife, Ecgwynn. Æthelstan's coronation actually took place on 4 September 925 at Kingston upon Thames, perhaps due to its symbolic location on the border between Wessex and Mercia. He was crowned by the Archbishop of Canterbury, Athelm, who probably designed or organised a new ordo (religious order of service) in which the king wore a crown for the first time instead of a helmet. Once again this whole section is only present in the Gastrell document and bears a strong semblance to the Polychronicon.
There is no mention in the Chester documents of the Battle of Brunanburh which is believed to have been fought in 937 near Chester between Æðelstān and a coalition of his enemies, or of the death of Edward the Elder at Farndon. There is also no mention of Æthelflæd (d.911). For more on the events around this period see: Chester in 900. Another notable event which is not mentioned in the Chester Chronicle is the river-trip of Edgar the Pacific from Edgar's Field in 972/3.
1057
- "Leofric, earl of Chester, in the time of S. Edward, king and confessor, repaired, and conferred privileges on the collegiate church of S. John the Baptist, and the church of S. Werburg situate within the city [of Chester] as William of Malmesbury relates in his Chronicle, De Gestis Anglorum, Book 2."
It is interesting that Leofric (who died in 1057) is called "Earl of Chester". He was actually the Earl of Mercia. There is no mention in the Chester Annals of Leofric's son Ælfgar, whose exile is mentioned in the ASC. Once again this passage is in the Gastrell document but not in the Mostyn text. As with the reference to Gerald of Wales, Malmesbury never actually wrote of St John or St Werburg at Chester. The reference intended is either to Florence of Worcester, Roger of Hoveden, or Roger of Wendover. Florence says:
- "Leonense etiam et Wenlocaniense cœnobium Sanctique Joannis Baptistæ ac Sanctæ Werburgæ virginis monasteria in Legeceastra sita .. pretiosis ditaverunt ornamentis" (They also enriched, with valuable ornaments, the monasteries of Leominster and Wenlock, and those at Chester dedicated to St. John the Baptist and St. Werburgh, the virgin)
The two Rogers use almost the same words. Interestingly they used in a section which mentions the death of Leofric in 1057 leaving open the possibility that the "enrichment" had taken place at some earlier time, whereas the Gastrell document reads as if the enrichment actually took place in 1057.
The Chronicle of Chester: After 1093
After 1093 the annals of the Abbey, founded that year, are much less sparse, but there was initially still not an entry for each year, although the gaps are not as large. It is not at all clear whether a chronicle was started with the founding of the abbey. It also isn't clear what the mechanism was for deciding on the entries to be included in the chronicle.
1093
- "In this year the lord Anselm, abbot of the church of Bec, came to England, who before this had frequently been in England. On his coming to England this last time, Anselm was acclaimed by many as archbishop, but, humbly desiring to escape the burden of so great an honour, on the invitation of the noble prince, earl Hugh, he came to Chester, and there founded the abbey in honour of S. Werburg, and, having assembled the monks together, he appointed Richard, a monk of Bec, the first abbot. Having done this, in the same year, upon his return from Chester, he was made archbishop of Canterbury."
In 1092, at Hugh of Avranches's third invitation Anselm of Bec came from France to England to found the Benedictine Abbey at Chester. Alselm had spent some time in Avranches in 1060 before entering the abbey of Bec as a novice - and it is possible that he met Hugh then. In reality the situation was rather more complex. When about to return to Bec, Anselm was refused permission by the then king (William Rufus) but the following year, when the king fell ill (and believed himself dying) Anselm was nominated to the then vacant see of Canterbury (after Lanfranc's death in 1089, the king delayed appointing a new archbishop for many years, appropriating ecclesiastical revenues in the interim). The reluctant Anselm was finally consecrated as Archbishop of Canterbury in 1093 (this was a disaster for William as the two did not get on). In exchange for retaining office, Anselm demanded certain conditions -- that King William return the possessions of the see, accept Anselm's spiritual counsel and acknowledge Urban II as pope, in opposition to Antipope Clement III. He only obtained partial consent to the first of these demands, and the last involved him in serious difficulty with the king. The Church's rule stated that metroplitans could not be consecrated without receiving the pallium from the hands of the pope. Anselm, accordingly, insisted that he must proceed to Rome to receive the pall, but King William would not permit it; he had not acknowledged Urban II as pope and maintained his right to prevent a pope's acknowledgment by an English subject without his permission. A council of churchmen and nobles was held to settle the matter, and advised Anselm to submit to the king, but he remained firm and the matter was postponed. During this time, William sent secret messengers to Rome. They acknowledged Urban II and prevailed on him to send a legate to the king bearing the archiepiscopal pall. Anselm and King William were partially reconciled, and the matter of the pall was finally decided.
It is also worth noting that Earl Hugh is described as a "noble prince", implying that Cheshire was a Palatinate at this stage. In fact, many historians believe that the palatinate institutions only appear to have emerged much later: in particular that they began to appear in the time of Ranulf de Blondeville and became fully formed at the time that Edward I was using Chester as a base for his Welsh campaigns. Many earlier writers assumed that Hugh of Avranches had full palatinate powers, but this was later questioned.
1101
- "The noble prince Hugh [Lupus, 1st], earl of Chester, being dead, Richard, a boy of seven years of age, inherited the earldom."
Notably, although it has been suggested that Hugh became a monk at St Werburgh in Chester, four days before he died (1101), the Chester Annales simply records his death. There is a "slight" problem with the foundational charter of Abbey, which like many such documents goes to great lengths to ensure that the grant is perpetual and cannot be reversed later, or have further terms added. The foundation charter is quite clear that all lands and tenements are held free:
- "from all customs and from everything, retaining [to myself] nothing but the prayers and benefits of the monks who serve in this place ; and we granted this for the salvation of the soul of King William and of all of us, so that no one can add anything to this liberty, and we have confirmed this charter and have retained no work, etc., but the prayers of the Church."
In the case of the Chester charter it is signed by earl Hugh himself; Richard of Avranches (his son); Hervey, bishop of Bangor ; Ranulf de Meschines (his nephew, who eventually inherited the earldom); Roger Bigod; Alan de Perci; William Constabular (William FitzNeil - Baron of Halton); Ranulph Dapifer; William Malbanc (Baron of Nantwich}; Robert FitzHugh (Baron of Malpas); Hugh FitzNorman; Hamo de Masci (Baron of Dunham-Massey); and Bigod de Loges. The little problem is that the charter cannot date from 1093 and be signed by Richard of Avranches (who was only seven years old in 1101). This problem is solved if the charter is dated later than 1093 and merely confirms the earlier grant - but then the problem arises that Robert FitzHugh may have been dead by then. However it should be remembered that mediaeval monks were known to fake charters at times.
Earl Richard, gave little to Chester's Benedictine abbey during his short earldom; apart from the grant of a mill on Flookersbrook at Bache, his gifts were restricted to the city and its suburbs. Ranulf's great charter of 1151 confirms in detail the gifts made to St Werburghs Abbey by his predecessors and their barons and other donors, followed by a statement of his own gifts and those of his barons. The original is at Eaton Hall MSS No 1.
- After the death of Earl Hugh, Earl Richard his son has given for his soul, the land which was Wulfrics against the Northgate, to the Abbot of St Werburgh and the mill of Bache, and three dwellings of free and quiet, two in the city and one outside. Witnessed by William the constable, Walter de Vernon and Rudolf the steward.
1110
- "King Henry, son of William the bastard, gave [Matilda] his daughter in marriage to Udescalcus [Henry V.], emperor of Germany, who now lies buried at Chester. "
The name of Godstall Lane at Chester is reputed to be from a tradition that a hermit lived thereabouts in the 12th Century. The hermit (see Hermitage) was identified by Gerald of Wales (Chapter XI), writing about 1200, as the Holy Roman Emperor Henry V, although it is extremely unlikely that this was in fact the case as Henry's death in Utrecht is well documented. A possible reason for this story to be made up lies with Henry V's wife, none other than the Empress Matilda, daughter of Henry I on England and one of the protagonists in the Civil War during the time of Earl of Chester Ranulph De Gernon. After the death of Holy Roman Emperor Henry V (in 1125), Matilda married Geoffrey of Anjou and, on the 5th March 1133, gave birth to the future Henry II of England. Obviously, if Emperor Henry was still alive and a hermit in Chester when Henry II was born, then Henry II was illegitimate and some doubt would be cast on the rightfulness of the Angevin succession. In fact Hugh de Kevelioc, the next Earl of Chester, would have a reasonable claim via Henry I's eldest illegitimate son Robert of Gloucester.
1116
- "Richard, first abbot of Chester, died; also Robert [of Limcsi], Bishop [of Chester, Coventry, and Lichfield]."
The words in square brackets were added by the Victorian translator, who also made many minor changes to the original latin and expanded on abbreviations.
Robert de Limesey (died 1117) became Bishop of Chester in 1085, then his title changed to Bishop of Coventry when the see was moved in 1102. The see was moved to Chester from Lichfield in 1075 when Peter of Lichfield moved to Chester and St Johns became the cathedral - this is not mentioned in the annals. Bishop Peter died in 1085 and is buried in Chester. After Robert died the see was vacant for four years, until 1121 when Robert Peche became bishop, little is known of him and he is not mentioned in the annals. The next bishop of Chester named in the annals is Walter Durdent whose death is recorded under 1160. From the 1220's there were prolonged disputes between the canons of Lichfield and the monks of Coventry, as to their respective rights in the election of the bishop of the united see. After this Hugh of Pateshull is mentioned under 1240 and 1241. The final mention of a Bishop of Chester is of the death of Roger de Meulan in 1295.
1120
- "On S. Catherine's Day [Nov. 25], the king's son [William] and Richard, earl of Chester, with his wife and many others, were drowned near Barfleur."
This is a mention of the death of Richard of Avranches who drowned in 1120. There was a tradition in the abbey that Richard quarrelled with the abbot over the manor at Saighton and that he 'intended to alter and change the foundation of the said abbey to another religion' and that this was only prevented by his providential death in the White Ship; there may be some substance to the story as the abbacy was left vacant during the last three years of Earl Richard's life. The arguments that at least one of the charters granted to the Abbey by Richard is a forgery hinge on the fact that there seems little reason for a young earl of 25, who in 1119 could not have known he was to drown the following year in the wreck of the "White Ship", to draw up such a convenient list of donations to the church made "in meo tempore ecclesie sancte Werburge Cestrie" ("in my time to the church of St Werburgh of Chester"). Also, Richard was in Normandy from October 1118 and for most of 1119 and into 1120. Richard did spend some time in England, but monks are sometimes notorious for faking grants of land.
1144
- A boy named William is crucified at Norwich, and there is a very great famine in the same year.
This curious reference is to William of Norwich. He suffered a violent death during Easter 1144. The city's French-speaking Jewish community was blamed for his death, but the crime was never solved. The main account of his death comes from Thomas of Monmouth, a Benedictine monk that lived in the Priory at Norwich Cathedral, having arrived in Norwich in around 1150. Encouraged by the bishop, he appears to have interviewed surviving witnesses of the event and claimed to have obtained inside information about Norwich's Jewish community. According to Thomas of Monmouth, William was born on 2 February 1132 to a local couple. He was apprenticed to a skinner and tanner creating a possible connection with Chester, however the case was widely known at the time.
1157
- "In this year [the abbey of] Basingwerk is founded."
The foundation of Cisterian Basingwerk Abbey was of special interest to the monks of S. Werburg at the time the Annales Cestrienses were composed, as the two abbeys were then in litigation, respecting the advowson of West Kirkby (St Bridget), which each claimed. The litigation was decided in 14 Edward I., 1286, in favour of the abbey of S. Werburg. The abbey was actually founded in 1132 by Ranulph De Gernon, 4th Earl of Chester, who had already brought Benedictine monks from Savigny Abbey in southern Normandy. Likely the first location of the abbey was not at the current location at Greenfields but at the nearby Hen Blas. The abbey became part of the Cistercian Order in 1147, when the Savignac Order merged with the Cistercians.
A curious tale is told of Richard by Bradshaw, a monkish writer who is often innaccurate. Richard, on his return in 1119, from Normandy, where he had been educated, undertook a pilgrimage to the well of St. Winifred, and that, either in going or returning, he was attacked by the Welsh, and compelled to seek refuge in Basingwerk Abbey. In this "insecure retreat", continues Bradshaw, Richard applied for relief to St. Werburgh, who miraculously raised certain sands in the estuary of the Dee, between Flintshire and the promontory of Wirral in Cheshire, which enabled Richard's constable (William fitzNigel) to pass over to his assistance; and the sands said to have been thus formed, have to this day borne the designation of "the Constable's Sands." The story is interesting because most sources claim, as mentioned above, that Basingwerk was only founded in 1132 by the later earl Ranulph De Gernon. However, the well may have been in existence much longer: the earliest reference to a church in Holywell (which also marks the first time that the town is referred to by that name) is in a document dated 1093, in which the wife of the 1st Earl of Chester grants "the churche of Haliwel" to the monks of St Werburgh's Abbey. It appears that the cult of St Winefride had at this time not achieved any great notoriety, since the medieval historian Gerald of Wales, who visited the area in 1188, does not mention Winefride or the well, and she is also not included in the 12th-century Calendar of Welsh Saints in Cotton Vespasian A.xiv. The grant of the church to St Werburgh's was confirmed by Richard d'Avranches, in 1119, but in 1135, the town and church of Holywell were given into the possession of Basingwerk Abbey The church was briefly transferred back to St Werbergh's between 1157 (hence the mention of this date) and 1196, but then reverted to Basingwerk.
1164
- "Justice was done on the Welsh hostages"
This is a reference to events leading-up to Henry II's summer 1165 campaign against an alliance of Welsh kingdoms led by King of Gwynedd, Owain Gwynedd. Anglo-Norman involvement in Wales was centred on a number of Marcher Lordships. These had considerable legal independence: Marcher barons could hold their own courts and had a licence to crenellate. The Crown sought to strengthen the position of the Marcher Lords against the native Welsh kings, and in July 1163 several of the kings were compelled to do homage to Henry II at Woodstock, giving guarantees for their peaceful conduct in the form of hostages. Henry II began planning a punitive campaign into Wales in 1164, ostensibly to take action against several Welsh kings, particularly Rhys ap Gruffudd of Deheubarth, who had been responsible for disturbances along the border in breach of the 1163 settlement. Welsh chronicles of the time argued that Henry's Marcher Lords, particularly Roger de Clare, 2nd Earl of Hertford, had themselves failed to keep to the terms of the agreement. In early 1165 Owain Gwynedd's son Dafydd ravaged the cantref of Tegeingl, threatening the Norman castles at Rhuddlan, Basingwerk and Prestatyn. Henry returned from Normandy in May. During the summer of 1165 he assembled a substantial force at Shrewsbury, including troops from England and mercenaries from the Continent: several contemporary chronicles emphasised the large size of the Angevin army. The campaign was a disaster and the army suffered heavy losses. Furious, Henry turned on his Welsh hostages. He mutilated by blinding, and possibly castration, Cadwallon and Cynwrig, sons of Owain, Maredudd, son of Rhys, and many of the sons of lesser Welsh princes. He cut the noses and ears from female hostages. He may even have had some of his hostages killed. A second attempt was made from a base at Chester and this was also a failure.
1170
- "In this year also Hugh, earl of Chester, slew a great multitude of Welshmen, near the bridge of Baldert, of whose heads one of the mounds at the hospital for the sick outside Chester is formed."
The said hospital for the sick stood close by the site of St Giles Cemetery. The 'bridge of Baldert' where Hugh de Kevelioc, (1141/1147 – June 30, 1181), did his slaying was possibly at Balderton (in Dodleston), south of Chester, with the mound actually having been built at Broughton, not Boughton. By this time the Chronicle contains an entry for almost every year.
1183
- "..In the same year, a certain monk of Chester, named William of Eccleshall, went into Ulster, to Down, and received the priory of the church of S. Patrick from Malachi, bishop of Down, and the lord John de Courcy [Earl of Ulster]."
There were most likely secular canons at Downpatrick, the traditional burial place of St. Patrick, prior to c.1183 when John de Courcy (the Norman conqueror of Ulster) threw them out and brought in Benedictine monks from Chester: he stipulated, however, that the new cathedral priory should be free of any dependency on Chester. It is claimed that de Courcy miraculously found the bones of St Patrick, St Brigid and St Colmcille at Downpatrick. In the presence of the Papal Legate, Vivian, the relics were reburied inside the cathedral on 9 June 1196. This story of their discovery is thought to have been crafted by de Courcy for political reasons. Lewis' Topographical Dictionary provides the following additional information:
- "De Courcy having espoused the claims of Prince Arthur, Duke of Brittany, assumed, in common with other English barons who had obtained extensive settlements in Ireland, an independent state, and renounced his allegiance to King John, who summoned him to appear and do homage. His mandate being treated with contempt, the provoked monarch, in 1203, invested De Lacy and his brother Walter with a commission to enter Ulster and reduce the revolted baron. De Lacy advanced with his troops to Down, where an engagement took place in which he was signally defeated and obliged to retreat with considerable loss of men. De Courcy, however, was ultimately obliged to acknowledge his submission and consent to do homage. A romantic description of the issue of this contest is related by several writers, according to whom De Courcy, after the termination of the battle, challenged De Lacy to single combat, which the latter declined on the plea that his commission, as the King's representative, forbade him to enter the lists against a rebellious subject, and subsequently proclaimed a reward for De Courcy's apprehension, which proving ineffectual, he then prevailed upon his servants by bribes and promises to betray their master. This act of perfidy was carried into execution whilst De Courcy was performing his devotions unarmed in the burial-ground of the cathedral: the assailants rushed upon him and slew some of his retinue; De Courcy seized a large wooden cross, with which, being a man of great prowess, he killed thirteen of them, but was overpowered by the rest and bound and led captive to De Lacy, who delivered him a prisoner to the king. In 1205, Hugh de Lacy was made Earl of Ulster, and for a while fixed his residence at the castle erected here by De Courcy."
Curiously the cult of St Werburgh was sufficiently strong in Chester for churches to be founded in her name elsewhere, not least in Dublin where the church of St Werburgh’s was established close to Dublin Castle around 1178 (Jonathan Swift was baptised there in 1667). The street name has been Gaelicised to "Sráid Bharbra": which actually sounds like "Werburgh", the Irish alphabet does not include 'w' and the 'gh' combination is not used. The Church of Ireland Primate – James Ussher was appointed to this church in 1607, and Edward Wetenhall, afterwards Bishop of Kilmore, author of the well-known Greek and Latin Grammars, was curate there.
1184
- "Also Robert the second, [fifth] abbot of Chester, died August 31, also many other abbots of England. Upon the death of the abbot of Chester the monastery of S. Werburg was seized into the hands of the king, and the custody of it committed to master Thomas of Husseburne."
The death of Robert II left the abbacy vacant. Other sources state that Henry II took the oportunity to seize the abbey and pass it on to Hugh de Nonant - bishop of Coventry. The vacancy was ended by the appointment in 1186 of Robert of Hastings, a monk of Christ Church, Canterbury and a partisan of Archbishop Baldwin - Archbishop of Canterbury between 1185 and 1190. William of Newburgh noted that Baldwin (a Cistercian) has sought to replace monks with secular canons at the great cathedrals - de Nonant had acted in a similar way. Nonant had a dispute with the monks of his cathedral chapter which led to Nonant replacing the monks with secular clergy. He was said to have commented that "I call my clerks gods and the monks demons." Nonant was very shrewd and eloquent, but he was also violent in his attempts to reform or expel his monastic clergy from Coventry. In October 1189 he attempted to persuade his fellow bishops who had monastic cathedral chapters to expel the monks and replace them with secular clergy. He also attempted to get all the bishops to prosecute a joint case at Rome to expel the monastic cathedral chapters, but gave up that idea after the Archbishop of Canterbury, (Baldwin) declined to go along. Nonant did, however, receive papal sanction for the replacement of monks at Coventry. After King Richard went off on the Third Crusade (1189–1192), Nonant supported the efforts of Prince John, King Richard's brother, to seize power in England. Nonant joined with John in trying to wrest control of the castles of Tickhill and Nottingham from William Longchamp, the Bishop of Ely, who had been named justiciar and chancellor during Richard's absence. It was probably Nonant that was responsible for the meeting at Loddon Bridge on 5 October 1191 that ended in the deposition of Longchamp from office. De Nonant supported John's side throughout the time that Richard was on Crusade and in captivity, and was tried with John after Richard's return to England in early 1194. Hastings' appointment was not popular with the monks of Chester; the general confirmation of possessions and privileges obtained from Clement III contained a provision for the orderly election of abbots, and in 1194, after protracted litigation, Robert of Hastings' rival, Geoffrey, obtained the abbacy with the help of the now adult Earl Ranulf and at the price of a pension of 20 marks a year for Hastings. The death of Archbishop Baldwin at Acre in November 1190 probably helped Geoffrey's case as it deprived Robert de Hastings of his protector.
1185
- "On the first day after Palm Sunday, that is on Monday, April 15, there was a great earthquake in very many places in England, and as some say particularly, in every region of the earth ; it happened at the sixth hour of the day."
The 1185 East Midlands earthquake is the first earthquake in England for which there are reliable reports indicating damage. The moment magnitude of the shock was estimated to be above 5.0 and its intensity was placed at VII (Damaging) on the European macroseismic scale. The historian Matthew Paris did not report it as being felt in London, but it was however one of the largest and most damaging earthquakes the British Isles had ever encountered. The epicentre has also been suggested to be in or around Lincolnshire. However, it could possibly be anywhere from Dogger Bank to the East Midlands. Some references talk of the earthquake happening somewhere offshore in the North Sea east of northern England; its effects may have been felt as far away as Norway.
1188
- "Our Lord Jesus Christ in the triumph of the Cross appeared visibly in the air, from the twelfth hour of the day even until night, and was seen by all in Dunstable, and by an infinite number of people for a hundred miles round. There was also a star of wonderful brightness beyond the cross gradually preceding it to the highest point of the heavens, followed by the cross and the image of the Lord in the air."
There are other references to a comet mentioned in the Annales Cambriae and elsewhere, as portending the approaching death of the king Henry II (5 March 1133 – 6 July 1189). At this stage the entries into the Chester Chronicle have become quite verbose. If the Chronicle of Chester was only started by Simon of Whitchurch then events around this time would have been outside of living memory. This possibly indicates that a Chronicle of some form existed at this time. The general view of historians is that up to c.1250 the Chronicle is largely but not entirely derivative, and that from 1250 onwards it contains some original material of local interest.
1194
- "The abbot Geoffry was confirmed in the abbey of Chester after much dispute and litigation with Robert de Hastings the former abbot, before Hubert, archbishop of Canterbury; at last, by the assistance of S. Werburg, and of the glorious earl Randle, of Chester, Geoffry obtained his dignity on the terms of paying an annual pension to the above-mentioned Robert de Hastings of 20 marks by two half- yearly payments; and so peace was made between them."
See the note on 1184 for more on this. Lucian the Monk was writing at about this time, but important matters such as the recent, and much disputed, election of Abbot Geoffry, revolts and wars on the continental lands of the Earl (and in Ireland), and the ruinous state of the Abbey are omitted from any mention, or only mentioned briefly by Lucian. While not going into detail about strife within the Church, Lucian certainly has a sub-text that secular canons (such as those of St Johns) and monks (such as those of the Abbey) should exist in harmony - adding a third member to his list in terms of the bishops and the papacy. Lucian is writing directly after a period of schism within his own monastery, possibly triggered by the minority of Earl Ranulf and the activities of the King's agents. By 1195, the star of Hugh de Nonant (who had sided with John against Richard I and wanted to replace monks with secular canons) had fallen and Lucian clearly wishes for harmony. It is likely that the opening of Lucian's text, with the un-named canon of St Johns having the attribution of making the key statement about "threefoldness" is intended to show the benefits of co-operation.
The Chronicle after 1265
There is no heading of the year 1265, but the death of the abbot Thomas, and the other events of this year still appear under 1264, nor, although spaces are marked for them, are the dates, 1266, 1268, 1272, 1274, 1276, 1278, 1279, 1280, 1282, 1283, 1284, 1286, or 1295 inserted. These dates have been added in a much later hand in the margin. The arrangement and entries of the whole of the latter part of the manuscript are in much confusion. The entries are sub-divided by headings starting with the year 1263.
The death of "the lord Simon, abbot of S. Werburg of Chester, of pious memory" is recorded for the year 1290/91, but only mentioned after the start of the entry for 1294. Other than that, and the mention of King Edward hearing mass in 1294 there is no mention of the Abbey after the entry for 1283. The last entry is for the year 1297.
Conclusions
As a history of what later became the Cathedral prior to the founding of the Norman abbey and more broadly the pre-Norman history of Chester, the Chester Chronicle is not a very useful document. Many important historical events and people relating to Chester are missed-out, despite being mentioned in the Anglo-Saxon chronicle and other documents which should have been available to the writers of the Chester Chronicle. These include the Battle of Chester (which involved monks as described in some detail by Bede), Ecgbert, Æthelflæd, Edward the Elder, the Battle of Brunanburh, and Edgar the Pacific. Those that are mentioned, including the founding of St Johns, the apparent support of Æðelstān for the church and the support of Leofric for Chester churches have problems with the sources mentioned (Gerald of Wales and William of Malmesbury are misquoted). The Chronicle does mention the translation of Werburgh to Chester, but this is only in the Gastrell document and not in the Mostyn version. One might assume that the Mostyn version is the earlier and note that the Gastrell document probably dates from after the Polychronicon and Bradshaw's "Lyfe of Saynt Werburge". Unpicking where and when events were first described can be problematic given that both Gastrell and Mostyn are copies of an original which has been lost. It is quite possible that the "additions" in the Gastrell document were made by the writer of it, possibly in the early part of the 18th century. A complete list of them is:
- (789) the Danes teaching the English to drink too much;
- (875) Alfred founding Oxford and Werburgh's translation;
- (924) St Werburgh's abbey existing in some form from the time of Æðelstān;
- (1057) Leofric giving gifts to St John and St Werburgh;
- (1120) The death of abbot Richard and bishop Robert;
- (1135) The death of Hugh Malbank;
- (1228) The death of abbot William;
- (1256) The succession of Roger de Meulan;
- (1258) The conflict with Roger de Montalt;
Ormerod seems to have gotten completely confused over "Roger de Montalt".
The Chester Chronicle becomes a more useful source for Henry II's adventures in Wales and Ireland, and the expeditions of John. It continues to be useful through the time of Ranulf de Blondeville and the reign of Henry III, especially as regards the relationship between the monks and the justicars of the then emerging Palatinate. The evidence seems to suggest that the Chronicle may have been started as early as c.1250, but this is debatable. The Mostyn text appears to be a copy of a chronicle promoted by Simon of Whitchurch (elected abbot 1265, died 1291). As noted above, Simon was particularly concerned with regaining the privileges and properties of the abbey that had been lost prior to his election and the Chronicle needs to be read with this very much in mind.
Given that the Mostyn document appears to have been a copy (or derivative) of the "Chester Chronicle" and appears to have been produced by native Welsh-speakers (with relatively poor Latin), one may question when and where information relating to Wales was introduced.
Sources and Links
Related Pages
- Cathedral: its early history as the monastery
- Plegmund; Alfred's archbishop;
- Ecgbert: conquered Mercia, briefly;
- Ælfgar: Earl of Mercia;
- Æthelflæd: Lady of the Mercians;
- Gastrell: the discovery of the Chronicle;
- Chester in 900;
- Vale Royal: a rival house;
- Lucian the Monk;
- Polychronicon;
Books
Online
- The Chester Chronicle;
- The Project Gutenberg eBook of The Anglo-Saxon Chronicle: Translation by Rev. James Ingram (London, 1823), with additional readings from the translation of Dr. J.A. Giles (London, 1847);
- THE LORD EDWARD'S LORDSHIP OF CHESTER, 1254-72;
- THE ABBEY OF ST. WERBURGH, CHESTER, IN THE THIRTEENTH CENTURY;
- The chartulary or register of the abbey of St. Werburgh, Chester;
- Monasticon Anglicanum: Dugdale, see page 373 for Simon of Whitchurch;
