Polychronicon
The Polychronicon is a well-known medieval book written by Chester monk Ranulf Higden. Higden (c. 1280 - c. 1363), was an English chronicler and a Benedictine of the monastery of St. Werburgh in Chester (now the Cathedral), wherein he lived, it is said, for sixty-four years, and died at "a good old age", around 1363. It is not known whether he entered the monastery as a boy or as a teenager. He is believed to have been born in the West of England, and took the monastic vow, at Chester in 1299. Unlike the arabist Robert of Chester there is no evidence that he traveled outside of England to gather research for his work. Some suggest that he also travelled very little within the south of England, except on one occasion when Edward III wished to consult Higden on historical matters and he was duly summoned to the royal court:
- "Father Ralph, a monk of the abbey at Chester, is summoned to Westminster on 21 August 1352 'with all your chronicles, and those which are in your charge' to speak and take advice with our council on certain matters which will be explained to you on our behalf." (Calendar of Close Rolls, 1349-54, p. 499.)
The wording of this summons suggests that at this time the then elderrly Higden was the official custodian of the abbey’s library and the head of the "scriptorium": "those which are in your charge" being interpreted as the team of monks which Higden possibly gathered to help him compile ever larger versions of the work.
The book is commonly styled "Polychronicon", although the original title is often quoted as:
- "Ranuiphi Castrensis, cognomine Higdon, Polychronicon (sive Historia Polycratica) ab initio mundi usque ad mortem regis Edwardi III in septem libros dispositum" - a "history of the world from its beginning until the death of king Edward III" (1377).
The title of the work informs the reader at once of something slightly odd: Higden died c.1363, and Edward III in 1377. This either makes it clear that Higden was not the sole author of the "final" version or is an example of how the work is often loosely referenced as if it were a single text rather than a collection of related texts.
The original work was divided into seven books, in imitation of the seven days of Genesis, and, with exception of the last book, is a summary of general history and geography. The Polychronicon is highly traditional in structure and sources. It depends largely on classical writings such as Pliny’s Etymologia (especially as transmitted by earlier medieval writers and encyclopaedists, notably Isidore of Seville, Book II, #205), on medieval chronicles, on travel accounts such as those of Vincent of Beauvais (c. 1184/1194 – c. 1264), Gerald of Wales and Marco Polo (c1254 - 1324), on the Alexander legends and, above all, on the Bible. Higden is sometimes critical of sources, but for the most part simply sweeps them all up without any analysis. This has led to the suggestion that he was a plagiarist: however inclusion of source materials "as is" was a standard monastic practice and Higden himself makes it clear that he has based his work on that of others. He names many of his sources and describes himself as the "compiler" rather than the author. There is also a theory that the original "compiler" was another monk of St Werburgh named Roger, who started the work in c1300 and that Ranulf took up the same lask later: few adhere to this view.
It is the last "Universal Chronicle" produced by a monk in England and while it follows in the tradition of the "Chester Chronicle" of a century earlier (with which Higden would have been very familiar) it is vastly broader in scope. During Medieval times the Polychronicon was the standard work on general history, and more than a hundred manuscripts of it are known to exist. The Christ Church (Oxford) manuscript states that Higden wrote it down to the year 1342; the manuscript at Christ's College, Cambridge, states that Higden wrote to the year 1344. These are "short" first editions, followed by later editions which became increasingly more comprehensive.
Written in Latin, Polychronicon was translated into English by John of Trevisa (1387), and printed by Caxton (1482), and by others. There is also an English translation by an unknown author dating from the 15th century. The Trevisa translation generally follows Higden closely, but Trevisa is sometimes not averse to adding material, without any indication that these additions are not in the original Latin text. Thus while a "fact" such as the hot-poker murder of Edward II (1327) is found in Trevisa (1387), this is not in Higden's 1344 and later texts.
The work contains many fascinating insights as to what was known/believed at the time. For example, Higden mentions that the Earth is round, because it casts a round shadow on the moon during an eclipse (although he does not say "spherical"). This was an idea which appears to have originated with Anaxagoras, (c. 500 – c. 428 BC), a Pre-Socratic Greek philosopher. Sometimes Higden's geographical knowledge is good, at other times it seems bad to modern eyes:
- "India is terminated in the east with the rising of the sun, to the south with the ocean, to the west with the Indian Ocean and to the north with the hill called the Caucasus. In India live men of a spotted colour and there are found nightingales, elephants, pepper, precious stones, beryls, chalcedony, carbuncles, adamantine and hills of gold. Nevertheless it is impossible to go to them because of dragons and griffins."
Higden also reports that India ("Ynde") contains "men having heads like dogs .. barking more like dogs than to the voices of men". Much of this is simply the rehersal of "classical knowledge" of, for example, Cynocephaly.
Although such "gems" are scattered through the Polychronicon, much of the text is a bit of a chore to read given that the available Middle-English translations are not always in agreement with the original Latin, and passages relevant to a specific subject can be difficult to find, although some sections do have an index. Pointers to the parts of the work relating to Chester can be found below. E. Barber, who was the Archdeacon of Chester, described the text as a "pleasant, easy-going Universal History' but not "critical or scientific, or really historical".
Higden's fame later led him to be associated with the Chester Mystery Plays, of which some early writers stated that he was the author. There is however, no actual evidence that he was the author of the Mystery Plays and none of his contemporaries make any mention of his authorship of the plays. Moreover, if Higden had written the plays, he would probably have used Latin, not the English that the plays are written in. The plays were first performed only after his death and were a secular rather then monastic production. However, the post-reformation Banns of the Mystery Plays may be refering to Higden to distance the text from "continental" influence by associating the plays with an English writer who wrote a "biblical" history from an English perspective..
Higden's tomb is said to have been located in the south aisle of the Choir of the Cathedral. Some of the stories associated with the finding of the tomb and the body within are difficult to believe. One curiousity much commented on in the "Cheshire Sheaf" was that a wand of hazelwood was found in the tomb:
- "Some three or four years ago, when the grave of Ranulf Higden, the historian, was discovered in Chester Cathedral, it was stated that in that and another tomb in an adjoining aisle there had been found a long hazel stick placed, in each case, across the sere-clothed body. There must have been some significance, occult or otherwise, in this curious burial custom, and I should be pleased to learn any information you may pick up for me therefore. G.T."
The answer given in the "Sheaf" was:
- "The Hazel stick found in the two ancient tombs in Chester cathedral named by G.T, as also in a similar grave of Abbot Birchylles in the Lady Chapel there, many years before, shows the prevalence of superstition amongst people in high places in the earlier days of the English Church. Its use, under such circumstances, was held to be an antidote against witchcraft and all other evils in the future of the deceased. I am aware that the wand so placed in the grace has been regarded by some antiquaries as a badge of authority, and I know that the bishop's pastoral staff or the abbot's crook is not infrequently so found, but I can see no reason why a mere roughly-cut switch of the hazel tree should be regarded as a religious symbol. My belief is that blind superstition was at the bottom of it all. T.T."
One of the fascinating things about the Polychronicon is that it is frequently cited as the source for "historical facts", especially by some Chester "guidebook" writers. Use of the document (or references to it) as support for facts is made partly problematic as some later writers seem to have failed to realise that John of Trevisa's English version of the text contains revisions and "corrections" which sometimes do not reflect the original version. One example of such a guidebook writer is Hemingway, who cites the Polychronicon several times for information it simply does not contain.
This article does not cover the Polychronicon in detail, but looks at the context, a few selected issues and how in particular it relates to the history of Chester.
Chester in the time of the "three Edwards"
When Ranulph Higden was born in 1280, Edward I had largely completed his conquest of Wales, which was about to finish with the great miltary campaign of 1282, in which Edward invaded with a huge army, pushing north from Carmarthen and westwards from Montgomery and Chester. It was after the success of this campaign that Edward ordered the construction of his major Welsh castles. The abbot of St Werbergh's at the time was Simom of Whitchurch, and under Simon and and his successor, Thomas Birchills (1291-1323), the fortunes of the abbey revived. Simon had probably initiated the production of the Chester Chronicle (which is more properly an "annal"), possibly in about 1265. Edward I's Welsh invasion and castle-building appears to have stimulated the economy of Chester and it has been suggested that The Rows may have been built at the time that Ranulph could have been a novice. The late 13th and early 14th century probably saw the peak of the city's prosperity in the Middle Ages. With all the coming and goings of the "three orders" (gebedmen and fyrdmen and weorcmen : praying men, fighting men, and working men) it would have been a stimulating environment for someone interested in "news from elsewhere".
Higden was born at the end of the Medieval Warm Period. The MWP was followed by a regionally cooler period in the North Atlantic and elsewhere, which is sometimes called the Little Ice Age and during which temperatures dropped by as much as 2 °C, particularly in Europe. This created conditions for a shortened growing season and reduced crop yields that led to famines. The years 1315-1317 saw a poor harvest which led to the Great Famine of those years. Higden also notes that "a pestilence of animals and humans" took place in c.1316–18. Between 1310 and 1330, Northern Europe saw some of the worst and most sustained periods of bad weather in the Middle Ages, characterized by severe winters and rainy and cold summers. Higden mentions the exceptional rain (p308). Merchants from Chester were sent to Ireland to buy corn for the king, but little is known of the consequences of the famine in Chester.
It appears that life in the abbey was good. Abbot Birchills did not escape criticism for his high-living. The house was visited on behalf of the bishop in 1315 and 1323. The results of this audit were that Birchills was rebuked for:
- having too many personal servants, holding too many feasts, eating meat on fish days with a few favourite monks in his own apartments, using the convent's money to buy legal books, and, showing favouritism and laxity in controlling his servants.
Also, the prior was forbidden to hunt and in 1323 it was ordered that: no monk was to leave the abbey except with special permission and a fellow monk of good reputation as a companion. Three monks who had been accused of incontinence and violence were confined to the abbey - for reasons that can only be speculated about, one of them was forbidden to talk to any woman except in the presence of a senior member of the convent. Within the monastery no "fashionable clothes" were to be worn, there was to be no drinking after compline, silence was required in the refectory and any left-overs were to be distributed to the poor and not used to feed the greyhounds and other hunting dogs which the monks kept.
Edward of Woodstock (b.15 June 1330 – d.8 June 1376) known to history as the Black Prince, was Earl of Chester from March 1333. He was a minor until c.1346. Thereafter he is known to have visited Cheshire twice, with the second visit being brief. From the death of John Canmore in 1237 until 1376 Cheshire spent many years with an Earl who was either a minor or hardly interested in the county, except as a source of revenue. Despite this, Cheshire managed to avoid many taxes imposed by parliament. In a situation of almost perpetual minority, unmatched on any noble estate, the resources of comital lordship were weakened and diminished to the advantage of the local gentry who effectively usurped the leadership of local society. For a futher discussion of this see: Palatinate.
By the 13th century Chester's Midsummer fair lasted a month and the Michaelmas fair a fortnight. The significance of the Midsummer fair is attested by the citizens' largely successful struggle in the late 13th century to wrest control from the abbot of St. Werburgh's. In 1361 the citizens of Chester claimed that "they lived by trade" (see: Merchant Adventurers). However, the port suffered from facing west, away from the Continent, and also perhaps from the silting of the Dee estuary, as was frequently alleged. Ships with very heavy cargoes, such as wine and millstones, unloaded at anchorages in Wirral, the goods then being transferred to smaller craft or carts, but the city's own harbour at Portpool handled fish, Welsh slates, woollen cloth, hardware, and malt, and at high tide the smallest vessels could reach the New Tower (Watertower) at the north-western corner of the city walls.
The abbey of Chester (for further discussion see: Cathedral) was having ups-and-downs, but remained the richest abbey in the North-West, with far-flung possessions and a wide range of influential contacts. The maintenance of its forty monks and its considerable hospitality to visitors, especially grandees travelling to Ireland and north Wales, required a wide range of commodities. William Bebington, was elected Abbot in 1324 and was dead, possibly of pestilence, by 1352.
As the Palatinate sought to distance itself from the English state, so the abbey sought to be independent of its bishops. Bebington sought papal exemption from episcopal visitation and thus began more than a century of internal faction and misrule. In 1344 he obtained a papal indult to use the pastoral staff, ring, and mitre, together with a licence to exercise episcopal and archidiaconal jurisdiction over his servants and the parishioners of St Oswald's, and in the following year he obtained the exemption from ordinary, archiepiscopal, and archidiaconal jurisdiction of the abbey and St. Oswald's, which became immediately subject to the papacy. His opponents later alleged that Bebington was scheming to avoid correction by the bishop "so that he might give himself up to dissolute living" and that he and his party in the abbey did not obtain the consent of the whole convent or the permission of the abbey's patron, the Black Prince. Eventually the matter was referred to the Prince who appointed "keepers" to help the abbot govern, but Bebington's abbacy was marked by much bitterness.
The construction of the abbey was well underway. By the 1330s the choir, including the clerestory, had been finished. The crossing and the last two bays of the south choir aisle seem also to have been under construction at that time. A petition describes that the monks intended to continue with the nave and the bell tower which was ruined and dangerous and complained that with losses caused by the Welsh wars and by flooding. They also complained that resources were insufficient to maintain hospitality and pay for the building work. Additional revenues secured by the abbey's appropriation of the rectory of Chipping Campden in 1340 perhaps encouraged a further expansion of building operations. Then, if not earlier, the monastic choir was closed by a stone pulpitum, remains of which survive as screen walls in the choir aisles. Further modifications seem to have been made to the choir itself, including the elaborate sedilia with four canopied seats (much restored by Scott), and the gabled aumbries opposite.
Bebington was followed by Richard Sainsbury, (or Seynesbury, elected before 1352, resigned 1362). Sainsbury's rule as abbot was turbulent and he had inherited an expensive program of building work. He also came into office at the same time that the Black Death arrived. The details of the mortality at the abbey are not known, but in Chester twenty of the parish livings fell vacant in 1349 as compared with seven the year before and five in the year after. It is possible that the sanitation and hygiene of the monks may have reduced the effect of the plague on them. From Sainsbury on, standards at the abbey evidently fell. It has been suggested (by Burne) that this was due to the plague deaths making it difficult to find quality recruits.
Abbot Sainsbury continued, but was unable to complete, the rebuilding of the nave and the asymmetrical enlargement of the south transept. In 1354 Sainsbury obtained letters of protection from impressment into the service of the Black Prince for twelve of the carpenters, masons, and other workmen who were then continuously working on the church. Sainsbury frequently clashed with the officials of the Black Prince who were prepared to allow only such claims to privileges as could be substantiated by charters. There was, for example, a protracted quarrel on the question of the abbey's liability to contribute to the repair of the Old Dee Bridge with the prince repeatedly questioning its claim to be free of all secular demands. It is possible that some of the more "dubious" charters actually date from this period. On several occasions the abbot or his officials were accused of attempting to settle disputes with their tenants or the prince's forest officials by violence.
In the first year of his abbacy Sainsbury was attacked by a party of his own monks and beaten-up, while his two companions were wounded. These companions were John parson of St Mary on the Hill and his brother William. The attack seems to have been provoked by two other monks, Thomas Newport and John de Okeley. In 1361 Thomas Newport, later abbot, apparently again persuaded two of the monks to attack Abbot Sainsbury in his own chamber, giving the Black Prince and his council the opportunity to interfere in the internal affairs of the abbey. Thomas de la Mare, abbot of St. Albans and president of the Provincial Chapter, visited Chester and he forced Abbot Sainsbury, (whom he found guilty of dilapidation, encouragement of vice, and mockery of the Rule), to resign. The Black Prince then imprisoned Sainsbury at Denbigh castle and it appears that he was under arrest of some kind for the next two years ending up in Conwy castle by 1364.
Sainsbury was supposed to be returned to the abbey as an ordinary monk, but soon left on continental wanderings and continued to dispute his resignation until 1374 or later. Even after his death Sainsbury was involved in controversy: in 1724 the "remains of Hugh Lupus" were "discovered" in Chester Cathedral, wrapped in gilded leather, and deposited in a stone coffin marked with a "wolf's head" and the letters "RS". While Pennant supported the theory that this was indeed the founding earl, the Lysons noted the initials "RS" and concluded that this was Richard Sainsbury. Others thought this was Simon Ripley (see: Charles Moston) because of the "Black Dog". Several writers have Sainsbury dying in Italy and being buried there.
The last abbot during the life of Higden was possibly the Thomas Newport mentioned above (elected 1363, the year of Higden's death, died 1386). The new abbot complained of the urgent need for repairs and obtained a licence to employ six masons, a quarryman, and four stone-workers. Newport seems to have been as unpopular a landlord as Abbot Sainsbury and in the summer of 1381 his tenants in Wirral rose in arms and assembled at Lea-by-Backford where they were seized and taken to Chester Castle. Thomas Newport is also recorded to have bribed several of the jury appointed to try a case between William de Chevelifa and himself for having "ravished Margaret Heton at Over on Monday after All Saints Day".
It was during this period of considerable turbulence that the Polychronicon was created. It is unclear whether the Abbots (Bebington: from late 1320's and Sainsbury: 1350's) were at all involved in Higden's project to produce and expand the Polychronicon (probably from the late 1330's to 1363), or whether they were far too busy with disputes both with the ecclesiastical and secular authorities and with their tenants.
The Black Plague
In 1340, the total population of Europe was 54 million; by 1450, it would be 37 million, a 31% drop in only a century. In addition to the earlier social and economic decline, the Black Plague is identified as the superficial cause, which struck Europe and wiped out a full third of the population in short space of 1348–1350. The Pandemic, which began in central Asia, was first reported in Europe in the summer of 1346. In the summer of 1348 it reached England, arriving first at Melcombe Regis in Dorset. The disease was possibly carried there by infected soldiers and sailors returning from the Hundred Years' War, or from a visiting spice shipIt had spread through the southwestern shires to London by winter. It peaked in the summer of 1349. Heaviest hit were the clergy, who were brought into direct contact with plague victims.
Higden's comments on the Black Plague are notable by his silence. Under the year 1348 he begins the subject of the great mortality, speaks of the incessant rains of the second half of the year from Midsummer to Christmas, refers to the ravages of the plague at Avignon, the then home of the Avignon Papacy (1309 to 1376) and the ecclesiastical capital of Christendom. He just mentions England and Ireland, and then lets the pen fall from his hand:
- "In 1348 hardly a day went by without rain at some time in the day or night. During that time a great mortality spread across the world, especially in Avignon and in the coastal towns of England and Ireland. This year, around the 24 June, this pestilence attacked Bristol, then went to all other parts of England, and it lasted in England for more than a year. Indeed, it raged so strongly that hardly a tenth of mankind was left alive. A mortality of animals followed in its footsteps, rents fell, land fell waste for lack of people to farm it, and so much misery followed that the world will hardly be able to get back to its former condition. Few – almost none – of the lords died in this pestilence."
There is some exaggeration here, as somewhat less than 90% of mankind was killed by the pestilence: perhaps a third of English died and half of the French. However, the view was widespread: John of Reading gives the same statistic, but then his text goes on to add "the same year a remarkable thing was noticed for the first time: that everyone born after the pestilence had two fewer teeth than people had before".
The period from 1348 to 1352 is an absolute blank. He comes to the edge of the great subject of that time, as if he had intended to deal with it comprehensively, beginning with a notice of the previous weather, which is by no means irrelevant, and after two or three lines more he breaks off. Most of the monastic chronicles are interrupted at the same point; if there is an entry at all under the year 1349 it is for the most part merely the words "magna mortalitas". Higden's sudden silence in this part of his epic work, clearly indicates the massive impact of the pestilence. He would survive the plague, but work on the abbey seems to have been held-up during the Pandemic.
Polychronicon and the English language
Higden (who was writing in latin) comments that "there are as many languages as there are different peoples in England". The Polychronicon is often quoted as stating that school children were forced to speak/write French and non-nobles tried to learn/speak French to improve social standing. Higden goes so far as to express suprise that the York dialect cannot be understood by people of the South, and claims that the mixing with foreigners (Danes?) is responsible for that – also the distance from the royal court. One issue with this is that Trevisa interpolates his own text in that of Higden and some care is needed to distinguish Higden's original work from Trevisa's "glosses".
English was certainly under some pressure at the time: Henry IV (1399) was the first post-conquest King of England who was a native speaker of English and in 1401 – De heretico comburendo – was an act of parliament which forbade translation of the Bible into any vernacular, including English. However the Polychronicon was translated into English by John of Trevisa in 1387. Trevisa made a few changes in his translation and added comments, for example that while French was the dominant language in teaching (grammar school), that changed after the Plague (1348) and that by 1385 all teaching in grammar schools is conducted in English. This led, acording to Trevisa, to the obvious result that English children would learn faster than before. Thus, it has been argued, that at a time when English readers were denied easy access to an English Bible, Trevisa's translation of the universal history given in the Polychronicon provided English readers with accessible biblical paraphrases. This contributed to religious and other debate among the laity. The Dialogue on Translation between a Lord and a Clerk, or Dialogus inter dominum et clericum, written by John Trevisa, along with the dedicatory Epistle, forms the introduction to his 1387 translation of the Polychronicon, commissioned by Trevisa's patron, Lord Berkeley. Written in Middle English, it consists of a series of arguments made by the clerk on why books should not be translated from learned languages such as Latin, each one followed by a rebuttal from the lord. The clerk eventually agrees. Trevisa uses the dialogue in order to criticize the "grete mischief" of knowledge remaining inaccessible due to language.
In making his claim that translation of the Polychronicon was important, Trevisa may be trying to justify a theft. According to David Fowler, between 1377 and 1380, Trevisa and a group of other scholars left Queen's College Oxford and took with them a number of books and "liturgical objects", including a copy of the Polychronicon. The evidence is circumstantial at best, but Fowler involves Wycliff in the "theft". The implication here is that the Polychronicon, once translated, became a sort of English alternative to the bible.
A second translation was prepared by an anonymous writer, and written between 1432 and 1450. The Polychronicon, with the continuations and the English versions, was edited for the Rolls Series (No. 41) by Churchill Babington (vols. i. and ii.) and Joseph Rawson Lumby (1865–1886). This last edition was adversely criticized by Mandell Creighton in the Eng. Hist. Rev. for October 1888, but it contains the version of the text that many writers on the Polychronicon appear to have worked from.
The Polychronicon was printed (in English, with the addition of an eighth book) by William Caxton in 1482. Caxton notes the arguments in favour of translations for vernacular audiences in his prologue. Obviously, the translation of "religious" works from Latin into English was seen as a sensitive issue.
At the time that Higden was writing the English language was beginning to change rapidly. Caxton also comments on this implying that his 1482 imprint ("emprynte") has been updated from Trevisa's 1387 translation which Caxton describes as "rude and old englyssh".
One major cause of religious, social, and economic upheaval, with profound effects on the course of European history was the "Black Death" a bubonic plague Pandemic occurring in Afro-Eurasia from 1346-53. The Black Death hit the monasteries very hard because of their proximity with the sick who sought refuge there. This left a severe shortage of clergy after the epidemic cycle. Eventually the losses were replaced by hastily trained and inexperienced clergy members, many of whom knew little of the rigors of their predecessors. New colleges were opened at established universities, and the training process sped up. This undoubtedly fed the debate as to whether clerics should be celibate or not - a central theme in works such as Gawain (see: Cheshire Dialect). At the same time the feudal order was slowly breaking down and middle-ranking figures rendered military, political, legal, or domestic service in return for money, office, or influence rather than for land.
Maps
Maps were uncommon in English chronicles of the Middle Ages, possibly due to the inherent difficulty of copying them accurately by hand, and possibly due to a clerical bias: Saint Gregory the Great stated that pictures were for the illiterate what the Scriptures were for those who could read. During the Renaissance maps became far more common. The purpose of maps also shifted from being a rhetorical tool suitable for symbolic thinking and exposition to being an accurate description of geography or even a useful aid to navigation. Writing around 1200, Lucian the Monk describes the geography of Chester almost with reference to an imagined map, but does not include any graphical representation of such a "mind-map" in his "De laude Cestrie". Lucian also freely modifies the real world to create a symbolic diagram of concepts rather than record accurate geography. While Lucian's book is sometimes described as the first "guidebook" to Chester, it is more of a metaphysical than physical description. Even after the explosion of guidebooks of Chester in Georgian times it would be many years before these guidebooks contained maps.
It was only with the second version of 1340 that Higden included a world map: he placed this at the end of the prologue to the first book, which deals with geography. Higden appears not to have created a "new" map for his work, but rather chose an all-purpose image based on the work of earlier cartographers. This approach was taken in some other cases and has led to assumptions that the creator of the map was the same as the author of the work in which it was included.
Several versions of the simple map occur in variant texts of the Polychronicon. That there was some difficulty in finding a suitable map might be inferred from the fact that early copies of the "first edition" of the Polychronicon have a blank leaf where the map was later inserted (or the page filled with other text). This first map shows hardly any rivers or coastlines and has been taken as evidence that Higden was not himself a skilled cartographer. As was the traditional medieval form for such maps, Jerusalem is in the centre of the world map, with Paradise above, in the east. Britain is to the lower left, at the very edge of the known world. Of the c.120 surviving copies of the Polychronicon only about 20 contain the simple map and with very few exceptions the rest contain no map at all.
The version known as the “Ramsey Abbey Higden map” (shown above) is different. It comes at the very beginning of the volume, with a second map, copied from Higden’s simpler map, on the back of the right-hand folio. Its general appearance, and particularly the use of an informal documentary hand, suggests the map was created for the purposes of private research, which was becoming more common by the 14th century. The overall structure may have been copied from a map resembling the "Hereford Mappa Mundi" of c. 1285. The general consensus is that the Ramsey Abbey map was not created by Higden, although it is often described as the "Higden Map" or depicted in articles about the Polychronicon.
While the Ramsey Abbey map graphically places England on the edge of the world, Higden does the same in his prose and calls attention to it's isolation. He refers to England as “alter orbis” [another world] twice in the opening to the book, even claiming that:
- “Ora Gallici littoris finis foret orbis, nisi Britannia insula nomen pene alterius orbis mereretur” (the border of the French seaside should be the end of the world, if the island of Britain does not nearly merit the name of another world)
In mapping out the relationship between Britain and France and Spain later in the book, he asserts that "Britannia intra oceanum quasi extra orbem posita” (Britain is placed within the ocean just as it is placed outside of the world).
Higden and Vinland:
The maps associated with the Polychronicon have been mentioned with regard to the discussion about early (pre-Columbus) knowledge of the Americas, particularly by Viking explorers. There is no doubt that the Vikings reached Iceland, and very strong evidence that they settled in Greenland for a considerable period of time. What has been the subject of much more debate is whether the Vikings "settled" in mainland North America and to what extent the Americas were known to Europeans prior to Columbus. Juan de la Cosa’s Mappamundi of circa 1500 was long held to be the earliest map of America. There is no great mystery there as de la Costa had travelled with Columbus: he was and master of the Santa María, and thus played an important role in the first and second voyage of Christopher Columbus to the West Indies. The Map of Juan de la Cosa is clearly a navigational chart intended as being of practical use at sea, and a comparison with the "Polychronicon Map" illustrates the progress in cartography and geographical knowledge during the intervening period.
"Old maps" are an obvious target for forgery: unlike texts they are documents which do not require a mastery of the appropriate language and would be expected to contain geographical errors and innaccuracies. The so called "Vinland Map" was once thought to predate la Cosa's map and date from c.1450. The map first showed up in 1957 in the hands of an Italian book dealer named Enzo Ferrajoli de Ry, who was later arrested for stealing rare manuscripts from the La Seo archives in Zaragoza, Spain. The "Vinland map" shows a recognisable Britain with a remarkably accurate Greenland to the north-west of it. Norway is drawn very badly, despite being the homeland of the Vikings. Some other features such as the shape of Crimea look very modern. On the extreme left of the map is "Vinlanda Insula" with some internal geography shown. The map describes this region as having been visited by Europeans in the 11th century. There was a significant debate in the 1960's as to whether the Americas were "discovered" by Columbus or the Vikings: with both sides seemingly ignoring the indigenous populations.
The Vinland Map is now (since 2021) believed to be a 20th Century forgery on old parchment. It uses a modern pigment (a form of titanium dioxide, dating from the 1920's at the earliest) in the ink throughout the map and is stitched together with a plastic based thread. The modern yelowish pigment is used to "double ink" the black lines, so as to give the impression of age through spreading of the ink. The parchment is genuinely medieval, but is likely a blank page cut from some other work. The map also shows parts of the northmost coastline of Greenland that would not have been accessible for survey at the time it was supposedly drawn. Given that this is a fairly recent discovery (this is written in 2024) there are still a significant number of "internet documents" which claim that the "Vinland Map" supports the Viking "discovery" of the Americas.
The identity of the forger in the case of the Vinland Map is unknown. In 1957 a dealer offered it to the British Museum on behalf of Enzo Ferrajoli de Ry, who was based in Spain. The British Museum were suspicious of its provenance and declined purchase. In the early 1960s, American dealer Laurence C. Witten III bought the map for $3,500 and offered it to Yale, which declined to purchase it for $300,000. Instead, wealthy alumnus Paul Mellon paid for the map and donated it to the Connecticut university. Questions about provenance of the map led to arguments being put forward that the owner wished to conceal himself for "tax reasons".
However, in the margin of some versions of Higden's original map one of the "islands" marked is sometimes said to be named as "Svinlandia", "Winiland", "Wintland" or "Windland". There is no doubt that the "Higden" maps are genuinely medieval. The name also appears on the border of the "Ramsey Abbey Map". Neither of these maps places "Vinland" on the far side of the Atlantic.
There has been some debate as to whether this actually represents the American "Vinland" of the Viking's and as to what the Polychronicon's (or rather the map-maker's) source may have been. The "Eulogium Historium" dates from a period shortly after that of the Polychronicon and is associated with Malmesbury Abbey. It also attempts to be a "universal history", and also mentions variants on "Vinland", placing it closer to Norway, possibly even in the Baltic. While it was written c.1366 the "Higden Maps" may use the same sources as the Eulogium or may have been produced after 1366. Prior to the appearance of the fake Vinland map the traditional explanation for the wording on the "Higden Maps" was that "Wyndlond" was associated with Finland, Denmark-Jutland or, Witland: a seldom-used name for a historical region in the south-east Baltic region inhabited by Prussians (Aestii), called Estum in the text of Wulfstan. The name appears in King Alfred's adapted version of Orosius, in which the traveller Wulfstan's accounts were incorporated.
Description of Chester
Higden is often cited for his early description of Chester. Frequently, authors will use this in combination with a mention of a later writer, and omit to mention that Higden's description of Chester is very brief:
- "The cyte of legyons that is Chestre in the marches of Englonde towarde Wales betwegne two armes of the see that bee named Dee and Mersey. Thys cyte in tyme of Britons was hede and chyefe cyte of all Venedocia that is North Wales. This cyte in brytyshe speche bete Carthleon Chestre in Englyshe and Cyte of Legyons also For there laye a wyn ter the legyons that Julius Cezar sent for to wyne Monde. And after Claudius Cezar sent legyons out of the cyte for to wynn the islands that be called Orcades. Thys cyte hath plente of lyveland of corn of fleshe and specyally of samon. Thys cyte receyveth grate marchandyse and sendeth out also Northubres destroyed this cyte sometyne but Elfreda lady of Mercia bylded it agayn and made it mouch more. In thys cyte ben ways under erth with vowtes and stone worke wonderfully iwrought three chamberd werkes grete stones igrave with old mennes names there. in Thys is that cyte that Ethelfreda king of Northumberlonde destroyed and sloughe there fast by nygh two thousonde monkes of the myn ster of Bangor. Thys is the cyte that Kyng Edgar cam to some tyme with seven kyngs that were subject to hym"
The Polychronicon is sometimes cited as evidence for speculated "Tunnels" under Chester:
- There be waies heere under the ground vaulted marvelously with stone worke, chambers having arched roofes over had, huge stones engraven with the names of ancient men. Heere also are sometimes digged up peeces of money coined by Julius Caesar and other famous persons, and stamped with their inscriptions
Higden gets some of his dates wrong here: Claudius invaded Britain in 43, but most sources agree that Chester was founded under Vespasian in around 74-79. The Romans did get as far as the Orkneys (Orcades) at least in terms of trade but there is no evidence that they sent an army out of Chester with the intention of conquering them. Chester was used a base by Agricola (see: Roman Ireland) for his campaigns in Scotland but his intention was not to conquer the Orkneys although his naval forces passed them by on their circumnavigation of Scotland.
The mention of "Northumbres" (Northumbrians) and the monks of Bangor is a reference to the period of the Battle of Chester c.616: "Ethelfreda" being a reference to Æthelfrith of Northumbria. Higden also mentions "Elfreda lady of Mercia", a reference to Æthelflæd.
As can be seen, the Polychronicon's description of Chester is quite sparse and consists only of "snippets" from earlier works such as Bede and the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle. Later writers on Chester will often throw-in an "as mentioned in the Polychronicon", but Higden does not elaborate on the Cestrian historical events he mentions. In fact, without reference to other works, the Polychronicon is almost useless as regards the history of Chester. However, while it does not go into detail it is very useful in identifying what in very general terms was known when.
Werburgh
As an example, the Polychronicon contains one of the earliest sources for the legend surrounding Werburgh and her arrival in Chester. The relevant passages can be found in book V (Harl Mss 2261):
- "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."
This passage illustrates the problem with the supposed re-location of Werburgh, as that while the translation of her remains is mentioned by Bradshaw (writing c. 1513), it is not mentioned in either the brief biography of Werburgh written by Florence of Worcester (died 1118) nor by Goscelin, her hagiographer (who was alive in 1106). The Polychronicon does little to prove that Bradshaw is relating the truth of what happened in 875, and really only repeats what is already known from the Chester Chronicle. However the reputation of the work was such that a reference to it is often used as evidence for historical veracity.
Miscellania
Higden's Polychronicon is sometimes cited as the origin for many historical "facts", and indeed that these "facts" represent "truth". In some cases (such as the flying monk) the "facts" might seem outlandish, but turn out to have a basis in truth. In other cases Higden illustrates his own scepticism, and perhaps even a general view that some authors (for example Geoffrey of Monmouth) were not to be believed. In yet other cases the citation to Higden is to a passing comment and needs to be seen in that context. A further complication is that Trevisa, in his English translation, frequently altered the text and some care is needed to distinguish between what is actually written in Higden's original Latin and what is based on Trevisa. Some examples are given below.
Flying Monks
Higden refers to a story of a flying monk named Eilmer from Malmesbury Abbey, Wiltshire, who launched himself from the Abbey's tower with a set of home-made wings. According to the story, he glided "more than a furlong" (a furlong is just over 200 meters), before panic set in and he crashed to the ground. Higden gets the name of the monk wrong, and calls him "Oliver", which means that his supposed landing spot is known as "Oliver's Lane" (and is precisely where modern calculations based on wind currents place his likely landing spot). The gliding flight would have lasted about 15 seconds. Eilmer/Oliver apparently survived the crash with two broken legs, gave up aeronautics and wrote several works on astronomy.
William of Malmesbury recorded:
- "He was a man learned for those times, of ripe old age, and in his early youth had hazarded a deed of remarkable boldness. He had by some means, I scarcely know what, fastened wings to his hands and feet so that, mistaking fable for truth, he might fly like Daedalus, and, collecting the breeze upon the summit of a tower, flew for more than a furlong [201 metres]. But agitated by the violence of the wind and the swirling of air, as well as by the awareness of his rash attempt, he fell, broke both his legs and was lame ever after. He used to relate as the cause of his failure: his forgetting to provide himself a tail."
Eilmer's works, apart from quotations are now sadly lost, as is the pub which once stood nearby - the "Flying Monk", although his astrological treatises apparently still circulated as late as the 16th century.
The story of Eilmer illustrates a few important points about the Polychronicon. One of these is that later references are often not to the work itself but to later translations of it, an example being: "In the 14th century, as a result of an error, his name was changed to Oliver. Eilmer appeared as Oliver in Polychronicon, an important book on the history of Britain". The 14th century text is Trevisa's translation (or why mention it twice), although the mistranslation of Eilmer to Oliver appears to have been made in Higden's original from the earlier 14th century. However, Trevisa sows confusion when discussing Bishop Wilfrid's association with St Johns. Wilfrid had been expelled from Northumbria and found refuge in Mercia, where he was made a bishop at "Legecestria". Trevisa adds a gloss that this is Chester, although Higden could well have meant Leicester and does not specify Chester in the original Latin. Whether or not Wilfrid was involved with developments at St Johns leads to the question of when Chester first had a bishop, on which there has been much speculation.
King Arthur
Higden is quite disparaging about the existence of Arthur, pointing out in no uncertain terms that not only is Geoffrey of Monmouth full of inaccuracy (he is), but that there is no support from other sources. Ranulf writes:
- "Many men wonder about this Arthur, whom Geoffrey extols so much singly, how the things that are said of him could be true, for, as Geoffrey repeats, he conquered thirty realms. If he subdued the king of France to him, and did slay Lucius the Procurator of Rome, Italy, then it is astonishing that the chronicles of Rome, of France, and of the Saxons should not have spoken of so noble a prince in their stories, which mentioned little things about men of low degree. Geoffrey says that Arthur overcame Frollo, King of France, but there is no record of such a name among men of France. Also, he says that Arthur slew Lucius Hiberius, Procurator of the city of Rome in the time of Leo the Emperor, yet according to all the stories of the Romans Lucius did not govern, in that time nor was Arthur born, nor did he live then, but in the time of Justinian, who was the fifth emperor after Leo. Geoffrey says that he has marveled that Gildas and Bede make no mention of Arthur in their writings; however, I suppose it is rather to be marveled why Geoffrey praises him so much, whom old authors, true and famous writers of stories, leave untouched. But perhaps it is the custom of every nation to extol some of their blood-relations excessively, as the Greeks great Alexander, the Romans Octavian, Englishmen King Richard, Frenchmen Charles; and so the Britons extolled Arthur. Which thing happens, as Josephus says, either for fairness of the story, or for the delectation of the readers, or for exaltation of their own blood."
This section of the book was the subject of considerable comment by the "translator" John Trevisa. Being Cornish, Trevisa disagrees with Higden over Arthur and occasionally, as elsewhere, changes the text to suit his own position. Higden's views on "Arthurian" myths are interesting because he has clearly compared what Monmouth writes with other sources and he arrives at the conclusion that every nation needs a national myth for a variety of reasons.
One of the issues with Monmouth is that he claims that his source for the Arthurian history was "a very ancient book" that he obtained from Walter, Archdeacon of Oxford. No copy of this work has ever surfaced and many historians believe that it never existed. Strangely, Ranulf lists the book of Walter the Archdeacon as one of his forty authorities, even though if it did exist it would be unlikely that Ranulf would have had any access to it.
Witchcraft
There is a direct reference within the Polychronicon to the witches of the western isles of Britain, and particularly the Isle of Mann, where we learn that;
- "In illa insula vigent sortillegia, superstitiones, atque præstigia; nam mulieres ibidem navigaturis ventum vendunt, quasi sub tribus fili nodis inclusum; ita ut, sicut plus de vente habere voluerint, plures nodos evolvant." (In the Isle of Mann is sorcery and witchcraft used, women there sell wind to the shipmen, closed under knots of thread, so that the wind he would have, the more knots he must undo).
The belief was that untying the first knot would bring a fine breeze, the second a high wind, the third a destructive storm. Elsewhere in the Polycronicon the words "wicche craft" are used by Trevisa to translate into English the Latin "arte magica" as used by Higden. Both Higden and Trevisa have some knowledge of astrology, on p82 of "Book 1" where Higden bursts into verse, Trevisa follows his translation with an exposition upon the astrological terms that Higden has used. In his exposition Trevisa is apparently critical of Higden, and after exclaiming "God woot what this is to mene!" (God knows what this is to mean!") claims that the planetary "gods" mentioned by Higden are "feigned", and continuing to list the negative aspects of the "gods".
St George
Trevisa's translation of Ranulf Higden's original work was printed by Wynkyn de Worde in 1395. A 1527 reprint of this by Peter Treveris has a title page is printed in black and red with a woodcut of St. George and the Dragon along with a woodcut of the young Henry VIII flanked by the English royal arms and the arms of the city of London. The same design, in black only, is printed on the final leaf. Within the text are a few woodcut initials and portraits.
The motif of Saint George as a knight on horseback slaying the dragon first appears in western art in the second half of the 13th century, but the iconography may (dubiously) go back to the Mesopotamian myth of Tiamat and Marduk. The tradition of the saint's arms being shown as the red-on-white Saint George's Cross develops in the 14th century.
Once again, there as been some apparent confusion created by the differences between Higden's original work and these later print editions. It is not justified to argue that the St George iconography dates from Higden's time simply because it appears on the cover of the 1527 edition by Treveris.
Music
It is sometimes said that the Polychronicon contains the first instance of printed music in England. This is not quite true. The case in question relates to an impression of Higden's Polychronicon, printed by Wynkyn de Worde at Westminster in 1495, which was the first English work to use movable type to print music. The printed music does not appear in Higden's original text.
Harold
In his description of the City of Chester, Ranulf makes passing mention of the supposed "retirement" of Harold to the Hermitage on the banks of the Dee.
- "Þere is here riȝtene dwellynge. Of kyng Haralde" (see: Book 1, p82)
The possible truth behind the Harold legend is discussed on the page relating to the Hermitage. The same legend is mentioned in Gerald of Wales (who visited Chester at Easter 1188) and Higden had access to Gerald's writings as he quotes from them frequently. While the "Harold" story is present in early versions of Higden's Polychronicon, it appears to be deleted from later copies.
Edward II
Given that Ranulph Higden's Polychronicon, was written in c. 1342, Higden was possibly one of the very first chroniclers who believed in the "red-hot poker" murder of Edward II (1327) - or so it is said. John Trevisa "translated" Higden into English as:
- "sleyne with a hoote broche putte thro the secret place posteriale." (p325)
See the Earls of Chester for more on this. To summarise, the earliest chronicles state that Edward II died of a grief-induced illness. Those written after 1330 state that he was murdered, strangled or suffocated. Between 1332 and 1337 the chroniclers start to state that the murderers were Thomas Gurney and John Maltravers (even though John Maltravers had never been accused officially of the crime but was tried for a different one in 1330). Around 1340 chronicles start to repeat the story of a piece of metal being inserted through his anus; at first this is described as a copper rod, then an iron one, and finally a red-hot iron poker. The only contemporary account of Edward's death was the work of Adam of Murimuth (1274/75 – 1347) who simply says that the king was suffocated by Sir Thomas Gourney and John Mautravers and dates the deed to the 22nd September, 1327.
Unfortunately, Higden did not include any mention of the hot poker, which is wholly the addition of Trevisa. Some have argued that Trevis had "inside knowledge" of events, but while Trevisa served as the chaplain to Lord Berkeley, but this was not the same Berkeley who was the custodian of Edward II, but rather his grandson. This is one of several examples where Trevisa changes the text of Higden to suit his own opinions.
Robin Hood
A recent find places Robin Hood in Edward I's reign, thus supporting the belief that his legend is of 13th Century origin. A translation of the short inscription, which contains only 23 words in Latin, reads:
- "Around this time, according to popular opinion, a certain outlaw named Robin Hood, with his accomplices, infested Sherwood and other law-abiding areas of England with continuous robberies."
Curiously, the inscription, which is believed to have been added in about 1460, was found as a marginal note in a copy of Higdon's "Polychronicon". Some modern writers cite the Polychronicon (and by implications its reputation) as evidence for the existence of a historical Robin Hood, and fail to mention that this is a marginal note added at a later date to one copy and not an integral part of the original text. The first clear reference to "rhymes of Robin Hood" is from the alliterative poem Piers Plowman, thought to have been composed in the 1370s. There is a further curious connection with Chester in that the line which mentions him in Plowman reads:
- "I kan nought parfitly my Paternoster as the preest it singeth, but I kan rhymes of Robyn hood and Randolf Earl of Chestre".
There has been some speculation as to which earl Ranulph this might be, with theories including either Ranulf de Blondeville or Ranulph De Gernon.
What many of these miscellania illustrate is how the Polychronicon cannot be seen in isolation and how references to it are ofen used to support theories requiring much broader evidence than the work actually contains.
Hidden Messages
The book contains at least two hidden messages. If the first letters of the chapters which make up book one are selected and arranged in sequence they spell out a phrase in latin:
- "presentem cronicam compilavit Frater Ranulphus Cestrensis monachus" ("Brother Ranulf, monk of Chester, compiled the present chronicle")
Ranulf actually draws attention to this "acrostic" in his book where he writes: "There is another City of Legions of this name, where the present chronicle was finished, just as the head letters of this first book make clearly accessible". Higden's acrostic first appears in the intermediate version of the Polychronicon and is not in the initial "short version".
Another hidden message is found in chapter 34, where the first letters of successive words spell "Ranulphus".
- "R(efert) A(ffirmatum) N(otat) V(ulgatum) L(ibri) P(ost) H(aec) V(t) S(unt)"
Perhaps there are yet more hidden messages in the book. However, Burne in his "Monks of Chester" (1962) makes the interesting observation that in the Huntington Library copy of the Polychronicon examination under UV light shows that the acrostic was not originally present, but that the beginning of nearly every chapter had to be "fudged" to supply the letters needed.
To America
The Huntington Library copy of the Polychronicon is believed to be Higden's own working document and written in his own hand. It was acquired in February 1918 by Henry E. Huntington of San Marino, California, from Herschel V. Jones (1861-1928) of Minneapolis. Prior to this the document belonged to George Dunn (1864-1912) of Woolley Hall, Maidenhead (indicated by his bookplate and a pencilled note on the front pastedown), and after his death was sold at Sotheby's, 11 February 1913. One peculiar story about Dunn is that on the morning before his wedding day, his bride-to-be ran off with his brother. The wedding breakfast, which was laid ready for the celebration, was left untouched for the remainder of his life.
Ownership prior to Dunn seems to have lain with Sir Thomas Phillipps (2 July 1792 – 6 February 1872), his MS 20712 (slip with number on spine; stamp and number on f. i). The book was part of the Phillipps sale, held on 5th June 1899. Phillipps amassed the largest collection of manuscript material in the 19th century, acquiring some 40,000 printed books and 60,000 manuscripts, arguably the largest collection a single individual has created. He coined the term "vello-maniac". Phillipps's will stipulated that his books should remain intact at Thirlestaine House (bought to house his collection), that no bookseller or stranger should rearrange them and that no Roman Catholic, especially his son-in-law James Halliwell, should be permitted to view them. In 1885, the Court of Chancery declared this too restrictive and thus made possible the sale of the library which Phillipps's grandson, Thomas FitzRoy Fenwick, supervised for the next fifty years. Presumably the Polychronicon passed either directly or indirectly from Phillipps estate to Dunn via Fenwick.
Associated with the volume in the Huntington collection is a typewritten description of the manuscript attributed to William Morris (24 March 1834 – 3 October 1896), but there is no indication that the manuscript ever belonged to him. Morris may have been studying the book in the context of his poem "The Wanderers" (1860's) which tells the story of a group of medieval Norsemen who flee Europe to find the mythical "Earthly Paradise". It is set in the time of Edward III, i.e. the time of Higden, and the travellers are fleeing the pestilence of which Higden wrote. Their journey to the far west takes them in search of "The Land East of the Sun and West of the Moon" something which appears to have also been borrowed by Tolkien in which the "Wanderer" Earendel, sails "West of the Moon, east of the Sun". Morris may have been aware that the maps associated with the Polychronicon mentioned the "Vinland" of Norse exploration.
The history of Higden's Polychronicon prior to Phillipps is less clear. On the rear pasteboard, from the 16th century is written in mixed Latin/English:
- "Iste liber pertinet beare it well in mynde/ Ad me Georgium Savagium Boothe curteyes and kynde/ A penis inferni Iehesu him bringe/ Ad gaudia celestia to everlastinge ioye. Amen"
..and it also includes a note reading "By me George Savage."
The Savage family have a long Cheshire history. Sir John Savage, was the son of Sir John Savage of Clifton and Katherine, sister of the first Earl of Derby. The younger Sir John fought in the Battle of Bosworth Field and after serving Henry VII he was killed at the Siege of Boulogne in 1492. Sir John had a legitimate son, also called John, four daughters, and an illegitimate son called George. George Savage entered the priesthood, as was usual for the bastards of the Savage family; in 1486 he obtained a dispensation from the bishop of Lichfield which allowed ordination "despite his defect of birth". George Savage seems to have died in 1552, but by that date he had fathered, despite the rules of clerical celibacy, a family of some size; he had at least seven bastard children by three different mistresses. Four of his illegitimate sons followed him into the Church. It is here that the history becomes even more murky.
Ormerod states the following, which he seems to have lifted from Leycester:
- "This sir John Savage was slain at the siege of Boloigne in France, 8 Hen. VII. 1492, in the life-time of his father. See Stow in eodem anno. He was a valiant man and an expert soldier, and made knight of the garter by Henry the Seventh. He had a bastard son, called George Savage, parson of Davenham in Cheshire. This George had several bastards, to wit, George Savage priest, chancellor of Chester; John Wimslow, archdeacon of Middlesex, begot on one Wimslow's daughter; Elizabeth, married Clayton of Thelwall in Cheshire, she was begot also on Wimslow's daughter; Randle Savage of the Lodge, begotten on the daughter of one Dyes of Barrow in Cheshire ; Margaret, married Colstensoke of Over-Whitley, she was begot also on Dyes daughter ; Ellen, married Hayes of Litley in Aston juxta Pickmere, she was also begot on Dyes daughter: Edmund Bonner, first dean of Leycester, and after twice bishop of London, begotten of Elizabeth Frodsham, first married to one Edmund Bonner, a sawyer with Mr. Armingham, who begot other children on her afterwards, and dwelt at Potters-Hanley in Worcestershire."
Ormerod is not always accurate but he mentions two George Savages: one being the bastard son of John Savage and parson of Davenham, the other being in turn his bastard son and Chancellor of Chester. Archdeacon R.V.H Burne, in his "The Monks of Chester" (1962) states that George Savage was the half-brother to Bishop of London Edmund Bonner (c. 1500 – 5 September 1569) who Burne states was made Chancellor of the of the new Diocese of Chester in 1544. This relationship is disputed: John Strype (1 November 1643 – 11 December 1737) claimed that Bishop Bonner was the double-bastard son of George Savage, whereas others (including Sir Edmund Lechmere) asserted that Bonner was of legitimate birth. C. A. Haigh also claims that Bonner was the son of George Savage by Elizabeth Frodsham, who later married a Worcestershire sawyer and gave her child her new husband's name. George had another bastard son, George Wilmesley (1502-1561) who Haigh claims became the first Chancellor of Chester circa 1541.
Clearly there is some confusion in the records as to who was the Chancellor of Chester, when they held the post, and indeed whether George Savage was Chancellor at all. Ormerod explains this (Prolegomena, pg 113) by stating that George Wilmesley (Wylmisley) and George Savage were one and the same person, with Wylmisley being the name of his mother's family. Burne was of the opinion that George Savage (who he says died 1552) acquired the manuscript "by fair means or foul". However a date of 1522 predates the surrender of the abbey in 1540. Clearly the connexions of the later George Savage with the abbey/cathedral could have given him access to the library. Wilmesley died in 1561, by which time he had a wife named Ellen, a daughter, four legitimate sons, and at least one and probably two bastards. He appears to have spent his last years at Tattenhall, where he lived his brother, the Rector. In his will (Lancashire and Cheshire Wills and Inventories from the Ecclesiastical Court, Chester, Chetham Society, old series, 33 (1857), pp. 115-124) Wilmesley gave no values for the property he bequeathed, nor was an inventory drawn up. How the Polychronicon eventually came into the hands of Phillipps (1792–1872) as his manuscript 20712 of c.60000 is unclear.
Solving the mystery of the Identity of Aelfgyva in the Bayeux Tapestry?
Higden possibly sheds some light on a mystery from the Bayeux tapestry.
There is a "mysterious lady" (Aelfgyva) in the Bayeux tapestry who may hint at some scandal well known at the time. Looking at the tapestry in detail, it can be seen that the woman is depicted as being with a tonsured cleric, who is either slapping her face or stroking her cheek (the woman appears to be smiling). The priest is in a peculiar pose and just below the two figures is an obviously naked man in a very similar pose. The image is labled "ubi unus clericus et Aelfgyva" ("where a cleric and Aelfgifu"). Looking at the family tree for the English players in this particular drama, it is clear that Aelfgifu (it means "elf-gift") was either an incredibly common name in the late Dark Ages, or that it was some form of title of rank. Hence there has been considerable debate as to who she might be.
Possible contenders are:
- Harold's wife Aldgyth of Chester (who might not actually have been a widow) and who was the daughter of Ælfgar;
- Harold's mistress, Ealdgyth also known as "Edith Swanneschals" or "Edith the Fair";
- Eadgyth daughter of Godwin and therefore Harold's sister - the only witness when her husband Edward the Confessor (allegedly) promises Harold the crown of England on his deathbed (January 5, 1066);
- Cnut's first wife, Ælfgifu of Northampton mother of Harold Harefoot;
- Cnut's second wife, Emma of Normandy (who changed her name to Ælfgifu when she moved to England) and who previously had been the wife of Ethelred the Unready. She was later said to have invited Æþeling Ælfred to England and his death "at the hands of Godwin". Some evidence for her being invilved in a scandal with a priest is provided in Higden's Polychronicon;
- Ælfgifu of York, first wife of Ethelred the Unready;
- The wife of Ælfgar, the Earl of Chester, Ælfgifu
- William's wife Matilda or one of William's daughters (Adeliza, or Adela, (or possibly an Agatha) one of whom was suppoed to have been betrothed to Harold at some point.
- Harold's mother Gytha Thorkelsdóttir;
- Harold's daughter "Gytha of Wessex";
- Eadgifu, the Abbess of Leominster, who was abducted by Harold's exiled brother Sweyn Godwinson;
- Ælfgiva, the daughter of Earl Æthelwold who was called the "Abbess of Cologne" and was a nun at Winchester.
Higden writes about a scandal involing Emma of Normandy (c. 985 – 6 March 1052):
- [Edward] called from Normandy diverse men of great familiarity with him, that he might reward them ; among whom a monk was called Robert, whom he made Bishop of London, and after Metropolitan of England, after whom the king was governed, in so much that he put to exile Godwin his father-in-law ; and his own mother, for suspicion with the Bishop of Winchester ; had, her goods taken from her, and put her to the monastery of Wherwell, and imprisoned Aelfwine the bishop. But Emma his mother being in liberal keeping did write to the bishops of England in whom she trust, saying that she was vexed more for the trouble of the bishop than for her own shame and pain, saying that she would prove that bishop to be defamed by the judgement of God and examination of hot iron. The bishops gathered had moved the king to mercy, but that Robert Archbishop of Canterbury caused him to do the contrary, saying to them "O the bishops my brethren, how dare ye defend that beast and no-woman, which defamed the king her own son. But though she would excuse the bishop, who shall excuse her, whom men say to have conspired the death of Alfred her son, and to have procured poison to Edward but without doubt she hath a pre-eminence above the kind of woman. Nevertheless and if she goes 4 paces on 4 culters of hot iron for herself, and 5 for the bishop, without any hurt, she shall be excused of this crime". Wherefore the day of examination was prefixed, but in the night afore, this Emma praying at the sepulchre of Saint Swithun was comforted much. The day coming, nine fiery, glowing ploughshares are placed in a straight row upon the swept pavement of the church, she covering her face, passed by full steps the 9 culters or shares without any hurt. Then the king sorrowing much, asking mercy and forgiveness, took discipline of either bishop, and also of his mother, restoring to her goods taken away. Then Emma the queen gave to Saint Swithun 9 manors, and to the bishop other 9 manors, for the 9 culters or shares that she passed ; and Robert Archbishop of Canterbury fled into Normandy. - Volume VII page 162
Higden has his dates mixed up and interestingly the part shown italicised has been altered at a later date. Higden sets his story in 1043, and it was not until 1051 that Robert of Jumièges became Archbishop of Canterbury and Earl Godwin was forced into exile. The priest involved in the scandal appears to be Ælfwine, the Bishop of Winchester from 1032 to 1047. According to an account in the twelfth century Quadripartitus Ælfwine was responsible together with Earl Godwin of Wessex, for inviting the future king Edward the Confessor to return to England in 1041, and in 1042 Ælfwine witnessed a charter of Harthacnut's together with Edward, Godwin, and Edward and Harthacnut's mother, Emma. Ælfwine died in 1047 and was formerly a royal priest in the court of Cnut before being made Bishop of Winchester in 1032. Emma, through her marriages to Æthelred the Unready (1002-1016) and Cnut the Great (1017-1035), became the Queen Consort of England, Denmark, and Norway. She was the mother of three sons, Edward the Confessor (King of England), Alfred, and Harthacnut (King of England), as well as two daughters, Goda of England, and Gunhilda of Denmark.
What actually happened on 16th November 1043, was that Edward the Confessor, accompanied by Leofric (of Chester), Godwin (of Wessex) and Siward (of Northumbria), travelling from Gloucester, made a surprise visit on his mother, Emma, in Winchester:
- "... and they deprived her of all the treasures that she had; which were immense; because she was formerly very hard upon the king her son, and did less for him than he wished before he was king, and also since: but they suffered her to remain there afterwards." (Anglo-Saxon Chronicle' Manuscript D)
- "... the king caused all the lands that his mother owned to be brought into his hands, and took from her all that she had in gold and in silver and in numberless things; because she formerly held it too fast against him." (Anglo-Saxon Chronicle Manuscripts C and E)
- "Soon after this Stigand was deprived of his bishopric; and they took all that he had into their hands for the king, because he was nighest the counsel of his mother; and she acted as he advised, as men supposed." (Anglo-Saxon Chronicle' Manuscript C)
The 'Translation of St.Mildrith' by Goscelin provides the answer as to why this happened:
- "... his [Edward's] own mother was accused of inciting Magnus, king of Norway, to invade England, and it was said that she had given countless treasures to Magnus. Wherefore this traitor to the kingdom, this enemy of the country, this betrayer of her own son, was judged, and everything she possessed was forfeited to the king."
So there were at least two possible scandals "as men supposed", one with Stigand, Bishop of Winchester (1047-1070) and another with Ælfwine, Bishop of Winchester (1032-1047). There is still some confusion over dates as while Anglo-Saxon Chronicle Manuscript C states that "Soon after this Stigand was deprived of his bishopric; and they took all that he had into their hands for the king", Stigand (born around 990 so perhaps just a little younger than Emma, who was born c985) was only deposed in 1070, and his estates and personal wealth were confiscated by William the Conqueror (Stigand was imprisoned at Winchester, where he died without regaining his liberty). The Bayeux Tapestry has not been dated with any certainty, but one likely date lies between 1070 and 1077, in time for the opening of Bayeux Cathederal.
The fictional detective Richard Dutton in one of the The Chester Mystery Novels ("Deadly Rosary") believes that he has "solved" the mystery of who the woman and the cleric, with his theory that around 1003 Emma and Stigand had a liason (whereas in fact Stigand would have been far too young at the time - Ælfwine would have been old enough).
- "..William the Conqueror's great aunt Emma, who was knocked up by the Archbishop who crowned Harold, and gave birth to Edward the Confessor. I'll wager he wasn't too pleased when he found out about that. It was probably in November 1043 when she had a big row with him in front of Leofric of Chester and Harold'd father Godwin. On his deathbed, the only witnesses to Edward naming Harold as the next king were Harold and Leofric's grand-daughter, whom Harold had conveniently married after doing away with her previous husband. Sound's like a stich-up to me."
Moreover, while both the tapestry and Norman sources named Stigand, the (then excommunicated) Archbishop of Canterbury, as the man who crowned Harold, possibly to discredit Harold's kingship; English sources suggested that he was crowned by Ealdred, Archbishop of York and favoured by the papacy, making Harold's position as legitimate king more secure.
Summary
As this wiki is a history of Britain with specific references to Chester, so the Polychronicon is a history of the world with a particular focus on what was happening in England. Overall, the Polychronicon has fairly scant mentions of historical events in Chester.
The Polychronicon was Chester's greatest contribution to Medieval literature and was both an agent of change and a reflection of the changes that were happening on the eve of the English Renaissance. Unfortunately, the "part" of it which is most often seen by the public is a "Mappa Mundi" which was not an integral part of the original work but added by a copyist to a single replication of the work. The "map" is a symbolic representation of the world rather than an aid to navigation.
In general, Higden refrains from expressing any criticism of his sources. There are a few exceptions, such as his negative comments on Geoffrey of Monmouth and his telling of "Arthurian" history, but even in this his scepticism is quite mild. Criticising Monmouth was a perfectly acceptable practice for historians in the Medieval period, most of whom appear to have doubted the truth of much of what Monmouth wrote. Overall, Higden simply records past events without any interpretation of why things happened. Unlike "modern" historians he does no "original research", for example by synthesising information from sources such as other historians, with documents such as charters and institutional accounts.
Trevisa's translation (1387) into English and Caxton's subsequent printing (1482) made the work available outside of monastic circles and Trevisa's added "Dialog" is a significant landmark in the debate as to whether knowledge should only be available in Latin and interpreted via the church, or whether it should be available in English so that the reader can interpret it for themselves. Even if were being read out to the laity by a clerk, Polychronicon opened the door on geography and history to an audience far broader than just monks.
From a modern perspective, Higden's Polychronicon and the Chester Chronicle can be seen as sources of historical information about Chester, as can Henry Bradshaw's Life of St Weburgh and Lucian the Monk's "De laude Cestrie". The "Mercian Register" is a source on Æthelflæd's "refortification" of Chester and Bede gives a little information on the Battle of Chester. However, looking at these documents just as evidence of past events is only part of their story. How, and why, the writers approach their subjects and the ways in which the works are later interpreted is often just as fascinating.
Chronology
The following chronology illustrates the events which were happening around Higden's lifetime.
- 1280: Ranulph Higden born
- 1282: Edward I's final Welsh war starts
- 1284: Edward II born
- 1291: Simon of Whitchurch dies, Thomas Birchils becomes abbot
- 1299: Higden takes monastic vow
- 1301: Edward II becomes Earl of Chester
- 1307: Edward II becomes king
- 1312: Edward III born
- 1324: Birchils dies, William Bebington becomes abbot
- 1327: Edward II dies (murdered), Edward III crowned
- 1330: Edward III assumes government, Black Prince born
- 1333: Black Prince becomes Earl of Chester
- 1340: Battle of Sluys: Hundred Year's War starts;
- 1342: First version of Polychronicon completed
- 1346: Black Prince reaches his majority, Battle of Crecy
- 1349: Black Death reaches its peak in England
- 1352: Higden summoned to Westminster, Bebington dead by then, Sainsbury becomes abbot
- 1356: Battle of Poitiers
- 1360: Treaty of Bretigny
- 1361: Sainsbury is forced to resign
- 1363: Higden dies
- 1375: First known performance of the Chester Mystery Plays
- 1377: Edward III dies
Sources and Links
The Text
The links given below are to a series of volumes providing the text of the Polychronicon in Latin, Trevisa's English translation and another English translation by an unknown author. There is no translation into modern English available online. The following list indicates how the Books of the Polychronicon are spread through the volumes linked to online, and identifies where references to Chester can be found:
- Vol 1: Contains the first part of Higden's "Book 1" which is largely concerned with world geography. There is nothing in this volume which is specific to Chester. In those copies of the Polychronicon which include a map it is to be found here. However the text and the map are largely independent and there is none of the cross-referencing between the two that would be expected in a modern geography text. The descriptive textual world and the illustrated cartographic are still separate elements in the writer's mind.;
- Vol 2: Starts with a continuation of Higden's "Book 1" now concerned with English geography. Higden's description of Chester is in Chapter XLVIII. This is followed by the start of "Book 2", which comprises the history of the world "down to the destruction of the first temple". Other mentions of Chester in this volume include in relation to the River Dee (p26-7 and p32-35), the Marches (p102), and its early cathedral at St Johns (p116, pp129-131);
- Vol 3: Continues "Book 2" with more biblical history and touches on the early hisory of Rome. "Book 3" is "The history of the world from the 'Babylonish Captivity' to the birth of John the Baptist.;
- Vol 4: Continues "Book 3" from the death of Alexander. "Book 4" begins with the conception of Christ and continues through this volume to the time of Nero.;
- Vol 5: Continues Roman history, with a few chapters on the Romans in Britain. "Book 4" ends with the departure of the Romans from Britain. "Book 5" is a "History of the World from the Papacy of St. Leo down to that of John the Eighth" (c400-c882). This book contains Chapter VI on "Arthur" in which Ranulph questions the veracity of Monmouth. The volume finishes with Chapter XII on Penda of Mercia (for more on this period see: Saxon).;
- Vol 6: This volume continues "Book 5" with the life of Mahomet. Book 5 ends with the conflict between Alfred and the Danes. "Book 6" follows and will end with the arrival of the Normans. In this volume the history continues until the reign of Edgar the Pacific. Chester is referred to as regards the translation of Werburgh (p126, p366), on page 409 as regards destruction by the Danes, and on page 412 as regards Mercian fortifications associated with Æthelflæd and her brother Edward the Elder.;
- Vol 7 This volume continues English history through the times of Cnut and the lead-up to the Conquest, which brings "Book 6" to an end. "Book 7" then begins, it will continue until the reign of Edward III, but the volume ends in the midst of "The Anarchy". Chester get a mention as regards Edgar's river trip (p16) - see: Edgar's Field, and Harold's association with Chester (pp244-246) - see: Harold's family;
- Vol 8; This covers the period from the death of King Stephen to Higden's own times. The final part is "Book 8", an English continuation to 1460 and the coronation of Edward IV. Vol 8 covers the period up to 1380. Chester is mentioned several times:
- pp3-5 relates to Ranulph De Gernon and his imprisonment in 1146;
- p51 mentions the Battle of Alnwick during the civil war of 1173-4 and the supposed capture of Hugh de Kevelioc. In fact, it appears that Hugh was captured at Dol in France;
- pp201-3 mentions the 1222 wedding of John Canmore (a future Earl of Chester) to Elen the daughter of Llewelyn of Wales so as to cement the peace between Ranulf de Blondeville and the Welsh. Tradition holds that the wedding took place at the "Cathedral" (then the abbey);
- p207 mentions the death of Ranulf de Blondeville in 1232 and his burial at the abbey;
- p211 mentions the death of John Canmore in 1237 (again buried at Chester). Higden's original text mentions the heirs of the Earldom in some detail, but the later translatons edit this section such that the Earldom is at once taken back by the Crown.
- p282 mentions Edward I's 1282 campaign in Wales;
- p332 mentions Edward II becoming the Earl of Chester in 1301;
- p334 describes a severe winter with an eight week frost in c1338 and the collapse of the Old Dee Bridge at the thaw. While this is present in Higden's text it is removed in later translations.
- Vol 9; Completes "Book 8", contains the appendices, a glossary and the index.
Related Pages
Online and others
- R.V.H. Burne: The Monks of Chester (1963);
- J.G. Edwards, 'Ranulf, monk of Chester', English Historical Review, v. 47 (1932), p. 94;
- Antonia Gransden, 'Ranulf Higden' in her Historical writing in England, v. 2 (London, 1982), pp 43-57;
- John Taylor, The Universal Chronicle of Ranulf Higden (Oxford, 1966);
- Radical Historiography: Langland, Trevisa and the Polychronicon;
- The Evesham World Map;
- Higden World Maps;
- The Vinland Map;
- A note on the deaths of Edward II - Ian Mortimer
- Hi-res page image;
- Hi-Res map image;
- The Identity of Aelfgyva in the Bayeux Tapestry;
- Mapping Identity in John Trevisa’s English Polychronicon: Chester, Cornwall, and the Translation of English National History;
- The Role of Maps in Later Medieval Society: Twelfth to Fourteenth Century;
- Medieval Mappaemundi;
- Introduction to "Prologue: The Wanderers";
- V. H. Galbraith, “An Autograph Manuscript of Ranulph Higden Polychronicon,” The Huntington Library Quarterly 23;
- The Trojan Provinces of Britain;
- A MID-TUDOR ECCLESIASTICAL OFFICIAL: THE CURIOUS CAREER OF GEORGE WILMESLEY;