The ''Historia Regum'' ("History of the Kings") is a historical compilation attributed to
Symeon of Durham
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Symeon (or Simeon) of Durham (died after 1129) was an English chronicler and a monk of Durham Priory.
Biography
Symeon entered the Benedictine monastery at Jarrow as a youth. It moved to Durham in 1074, and he was professed in 1085 or ...
, which presents material going from the death of
Bede
Bede ( ; ang, Bǣda , ; 672/326 May 735), also known as Saint Bede, The Venerable Bede, and Bede the Venerable ( la, Beda Venerabilis), was an English monk at the monastery of St Peter and its companion monastery of St Paul in the Kingdom o ...
until 1129. It survives only in one manuscript compiled in Yorkshire in the mid-to-late 12th century, though the material is earlier. It is an often-used source for medieval English and Northumbrian history. The first five sections are now attributed to
Byrhtferth of Ramsey
Byrhtferth ( ang, Byrhtferð; ) was a priest and monk who lived at Ramsey Abbey in Huntingdonshire (now part of Cambridgeshire) in England. He had a deep impact on the intellectual life of later Anglo-Saxon England and wrote many computistic, ...
.
Sources
It is a "historical compilation" or a "historical collection" rather than a
chronicle
A chronicle ( la, chronica, from Greek ''chroniká'', from , ''chrónos'' – "time") is a historical account of events arranged in chronological order, as in a timeline. Typically, equal weight is given for historically important events and lo ...
or anything else. Antonia Gransden and David Rollason list its sources as follows:
Much of the compiled material up until 887, i.e. the first five sections, was itself probably derived from an earlier compilation by
Byrhtferth of Ramsey
Byrhtferth ( ang, Byrhtferð; ) was a priest and monk who lived at Ramsey Abbey in Huntingdonshire (now part of Cambridgeshire) in England. He had a deep impact on the intellectual life of later Anglo-Saxon England and wrote many computistic, ...
, and probably some of it was compiled before the end of the 10th century. The material covering 1119–1129 does appear to be original, and this part may have been authored by Symeon.
Manuscripts and authorship
The full text survives in one manuscript,
Cambridge, Corpus Christi College, MS 139
Cambridge, Corpus Christi College, MS 139 is a northern English manuscript compiled in ''c''. 1170. Apart from preliminary additions (i + ii), it contains two separate volumes, comprising 180 folios in total. The original first volume has 165 folio ...
, at folios 51v–129v, written down in the late 12th century.
[Gransden, ''Historical Writing'', p. Rollason (ed.), ''Libellus'', pp. xlviii–xlix.] An abbreviated copy is also found in Paris,
Bibliothèque nationale de France
The Bibliothèque nationale de France (, 'National Library of France'; BnF) is the national library of France, located in Paris on two main sites known respectively as ''Richelieu'' and ''François-Mitterrand''. It is the national repository ...
, MS nouv. acq. lat. 692. Even though the Cambridge manuscript names Symeon as the author in an
incipit
The incipit () of a text is the first few words of the text, employed as an identifying label. In a musical composition, an incipit is an initial sequence of notes, having the same purpose. The word ''incipit'' comes from Latin and means "it beg ...
and an
explicit
Explicit refers to something that is specific, clear, or detailed. It can also mean:
* Explicit knowledge, knowledge that can be readily articulated, codified and transmitted to others
* Explicit (text) The explicit (from Latin ''explicitus est'', ...
, Symeon's authorship of the work is often doubted by modern historians.
Besides not being an original historical work, reasons of internal evidence make it highly unlikely that the ''Historia Regum'' was written by the same author as the ''
Libellus de exordio'', which is generally accepted to have been authored by Symeon.
[Rollason (ed.), ''Libellus de Exordio'', pp. xlviii–xliv.]
Notes
Editions
*
* Stevenson, Joseph (tr.). ''Church Historians of England''. 8 vols: vol. 3 (part 2: ''The Historical Works of Simeon of Durham''). London, 1853. 425-617
Google Books
* Arnold, Thomas (ed.). ''Symeonis Monachi Opera Omnia''. 2 vols: vol 2. London, 1885. 1-283.
* Hart, Cyril R. (ed. and tr.). ''Byrhtferth’s Northumbrian Chronicle: An Edition and Translation of the Old English and Latin Annals''. The Early Chronicles of England 2.
Edwin Mellen Press
The Edwin Mellen Press or Mellen Press is an international Independent business, independent company and Academic publisher, academic publishing house with editorial offices in Lewiston (town), New York, Lewiston, New York, and Lampeter, Lampete ...
, 2006. Edition and translation of the first five sections.
References
*
*
*
Further reading
* Reprinted in ''Studies in Medieval History presented to R. H. C. Davis'', ed.
Henry Mayr-Harting
Henry Maria Robert Egmont Mayr-Harting (born 6 April 1936) is a British medieval ecclesiastical historian. From 1997 to 2003, he was Regius Professor of Ecclesiastical History at the University of Oxford and a lay canon of Christ Church, Oxford.
...
and R. I. Moore. London: Hambledon Press, 1985. 317 ff.
* {{Citation , last=Story , first= Joanna , title=Carolingian Connections: Anglo-Saxon England and Carolingian Francia, c. 750-870 , year=2003 , location=Aldershot , publisher= Ashgate , series=Studies in early medieval Britain 2 , chapter=Chapter 4: Chronicled Connections: Frankish Annals and the ''Historia regum''
Historical writing from Norman and Angevin Durham
12th-century Latin books