William Rishanger (born 1250), nicknamed "Chronigraphus", was an English

annalist Annalists (from Latin ''annus'', year; hence ''annales'', sc. ''libri'', annual records), were a class of writers on Roman history, the period of whose literary activity lasted from the time of the Second Punic War to that of Sulla. They wrote th ...

and

Benedictine , image = Medalla San Benito.PNG , caption = Design on the obverse side of the Saint Benedict Medal , abbreviation = OSB , formation = , motto = (English: 'Pray and Work') , foun ...

monk of

St. Albans St Albans () is a cathedral city in Hertfordshire, England, east of Hemel Hempstead and west of Hatfield, north-west of London, south-west of Welwyn Garden City and south-east of Luton. St Albans was the first major town on the old Roman r ...

. Rishanger quite likely wrote the ''Opus Chronicorum'', a continuation from 1259 of

Matthew Paris Matthew Paris, also known as Matthew of Paris ( la, Matthæus Parisiensis, lit=Matthew the Parisian; c. 1200 – 1259), was an English Benedictine monk, chronicler, artist in illuminated manuscripts and cartographer, based at St Albans Abbey ...

's ''Chronicle''. In effect it is a history of his own times from 1259 to 1307, a spirited and trustworthy account, albeit in parts not original. He wrote a history of the reign of

Edward I of England Edward I (17/18 June 1239 – 7 July 1307), also known as Edward Longshanks and the Hammer of the Scots, was King of England and Lord of Ireland from 1272 to 1307. Concurrently, he ruled the duchies of Aquitaine and Gascony as a vas ...

, and a work on the Barons' War; and was probably the continuator of ''Gesta Abbatum Monasterii Sancti Albani''.Antonia Gransden, ''Historical Writing in England II'' (1982), pp. 4-5.

Notes

Sources

*James P. Carley, ‘Rishanger, William (b. 1249/50, d. after 1312)’, ''Oxford Dictionary of National Biography'', Oxford University Press, 2004. *

James Orchard Halliwell 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, ...

(1840), ''The Chronicle of William de Rishanger'',

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was a text publication society founded in London in 1838 to publish early historical and literary materials, both unpublished manuscripts and new editions of rare printed books.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 ...

* * * English Benedictines 14th-century English historians 1250 births 14th-century deaths Historians of England {{RC-clergy-stub