![Warkworth Chronicle f1](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/1/12/Warkworth_Chronicle_f1.jpg)
The Warkworth's Chronicle, now stylized "Warkworths" ''Chronicle'', is an English
chronicle formerly ascribed to
John Warkworth, a
Master
Master or masters may refer to:
Ranks or titles
* Ascended master, a term used in the Theosophical religious tradition to refer to spiritually enlightened beings who in past incarnations were ordinary humans
*Grandmaster (chess), National Master ...
of
Peterhouse, Cambridge. Known from only two manuscripts, it covers the years 1461–1474 and provides information on the recording and reception of historical events including the accession of King
Edward IV and the murder of King
Henry VI.
Background, authorship, publication
For a long time the chronicle was known from only a single manuscript, Cambridge, Peterhouse, MS 190, fols. 214v – 225r. Not until 1972 was a second copy discovered, by
Lister M. Matheson, in Glasgow Library, MS Hunterian 83, fols 141r – 148v; the chronicle had been overlooked since the catalogue of Hunterian manuscripts incorrectly listed its contents. In both manuscripts, Warkworth follows the
''Brut'' Chronicle, as a continuation;
[ that version of the ''Brut'' ended in 1419 and is continued until 1461, with the additional text pulled from one of the ''Chronicles of England'' printed by ]William Caxton
William Caxton ( – ) was an English merchant, diplomat and writer. He is thought to be the first person to introduce a printing press into England, in 1476, and as a printer to be the first English retailer of printed books.
His parentage a ...
, itself a continuation of the ''Brut''.[ Matheson concluded that the continuation in Hunterian 83, covering the years 1461–1474, was added to the manuscript in 1484, and was thence copied into Peterhouse 190, likely under Warkworth's supervision.][Kaufman 50–51.] A third manuscript, British Library MS. Harley 3730, is incomplete but contains material similar or identical to that of the Hunterian and Peterhouse manuscripts.
John Warkworth was Master of Peterhouse from 1473 to 1500, and he owned the ''Brut'' Chronicle of Peterhouse 190; for this reason the Warkworth Chronicle was ascribed to him as well, and thus named ''Warkworth Chronicle''. Alexander Kaufman describes how Matheson changed its appellation: "Matheson chose to remove the italics from Warkworth and place the name instead in quotation marks to signify John Warkworth's involvement with the manuscript that contained the chronicle that was, at one time, attributed to him".
The author, says Matheson, must have been a Northerner (based on orthographic and linguistic evidence), "an educated man with some sense of proportion and critical discrimination", likely a bibliophile with access to many texts and connected to the Peterhouse library. Since he was allowed to make additions to a manuscript in that library he must have had a certain standing. Matheson calculates that the author may have been in his late twenties when he wrote the chronicle and identified Roger Lancaster (d. 1502) and Thomas Metcalf (d. 1503), both Yorkshiremen, as the most likely candidates from the list of fellows of Peterhouse.
It was first published in 1839 by the Camden Society
The Camden Society was a text publication society founded in London in 1838 to publish early historical and literary materials, both unpublished manuscripts and new editions of rare printed books. It was named after the 16th-century antiquary a ...
,[Thomson 657.] edited by James Halliwell-Phillipps
James Orchard Halliwell-Phillipps (born James Orchard Halliwell; 21 June 1820 – 3 January 1889) was an English Shakespearean scholar, antiquarian, and a collector of English nursery rhymes and fairy tales.
Life
The son of Thomas Halliwell, he ...
, and reprinted in facsimile in 1988 and 1990. Lister Matheson published an edition (collated from the two manuscripts) as ''Death and Dissent: Two Fifteenth-Century Chronicles'' (Boydell & Brewer, 1999). Translated from Old English to modern English in 2005 by Joshua Pond, MBA, archived in the library of Bowling Green State University in Bowling Green, Ohio.
Content
The chronicle covers the events of 1461 to 1474; it is "a well-known and frequently cited source" for that period. Matheson notes that the account of the first eight years are "confused", but that it improves from the account of the rebellion led by Robin of Redesdale
Robin of Redesdale ( fl. 1469), sometimes called "Robin Mend-All", was the leader of an insurrection against Edward IV of England. His true identity is unknown, but is thought to have been either Sir John Conyers (d. 1490), steward of Middleham, ...
(1469). It is especially valuable since it covers "the turbulent events in Matheson vii.">he North of[Matheson vii.]England in 1470 and 1471", since sources for that period are difficult to come by and since it offers a "more provincial viewpoint" in contrast to chronicles produced in London. Given the general propagandistic tone of contemporary chronicles that document the Wars of the Roses
The Wars of the Roses (1455–1487), known at the time and for more than a century after as the Civil Wars, were a series of civil wars fought over control of the English throne in the mid-to-late fifteenth century. These wars were fought bet ...
, the chronicle is "generally moderate" in tone, even though its probable author was "a Yorkshireman whose sympathies lay with Richard III".[
The descriptions of historical events are accompanied by a number of marvels or portents, which can be organized in two categories: natural phenomena, such as a heat wave and an incident of unstinting rain and flooding, which presage political turmoil; and true marvels, including two occurrences of the bleeding of the corpse of King Henry VI in 1471, and the appearance of a headless man crying "Bowes, bowes, bowes" on Dunsmore Heath in Warwickshire. Kaufman suggests that the man might be a ]barghest
In Northern English folklore, the Barghest or Barguest is a mythical monstrous black dog with large teeth and claws, This in turn cites:
*Wirt Sikes, ''British Goblins'' (1880)
*''Notes and Queries'', first series, ii. 51.
*Joseph Ritson, ''Fa ...
, "a fiend that is attached to a specific place", and that "bowes" is a conjugation of the verb "to bow", that is, the barghest signifies that in these difficult times it is good "to bend down in reverence, to be obedient and submit to God's will".[Kaufman 58–62.]
References
Notes
Bibliography
*
*
*
* {{cite journal, title='Warkworth's Chronicle' Reconsidered, first=J. A. F., last=Thomson, journal=The English Historical Review, volume=116, issue=467, year=2001, pages=657–64, jstor=579814
External links
Camden Society's edition of the Chronicle
English chronicles
15th-century history books