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28-523: Gesta Normannorum Ducum ( Deeds of the Norman Dukes ) is a chronicle originally created by the monk William of Jumièges just before 1060. In 1070 William I had William of Jumièges extend the work to detail his rights to the throne of England . In later times, Orderic Vitalis (d. c. 1142) and Robert of Torigni (d. 1186), extended the volumes to include history up until Henry I . The Gesta Normannorum Ducum by William of Jumièges has become

56-650: A book written by a chronicler in the Middle Ages describing historical events in a country, or the lives of a nobleman or a clergyman, although it is also applied to a record of public events. The earliest medieval chronicle to combine both retrospective ( dead ) and contemporary ( live ) entries, is the Chronicle of Ireland , which spans the years 431 to 911. Chronicles are the predecessors of modern " time lines " rather than analytical histories. They represent accounts, in prose or verse, of local or distant events over

84-437: A chronicle with information not available to the original chronicler. Determining the reliability of particular chronicles is important to historians . Many newspapers and other periodical literature have adopted "chronicle" as part of their name. "It is well known that history, in the form of Chronicles, was a favourite portion of the literature of the middle ages. The annals of a country were usually kept according to

112-563: A concise historical record in which events are arranged chronologically , year by year, although the term is also used loosely for any historical record . The nature of the distinction between annals and history is a subject based on divisions established by the ancient Romans. Verrius Flaccus , quoted by Aulus Gellius , stated that the etymology of history (from Greek ιστορειν , historein , equated with Latin inspicere , "to inquire in person") properly restricts it to primary sources such as Thucydides 's which have come from

140-401: A considerable period of time, both the lifetime of the individual chronicler and often those of several subsequent continuators . If the chronicles deal with events year by year, they are often called annals . Unlike the modern historian, most chroniclers tended to take their information as they found it, and made little attempt to separate fact from legend. The point of view of most chroniclers

168-567: A continuation beyond 1070. This text displays a difference from William's writing and so would seem to be of an unknown origin, but it was included by Marx in his translation, assuming it was by the original author. The most recent translations were edited and translated by Elisabeth M.C. van Houts and were published in two volumes, volume I in 1992 and volume II in 1995, both by the Clarendon Press, Oxford . Chronicle The information sources for chronicles vary. Some are written from

196-406: A form of journalism or non-professional historical documentation. Before the development of modern journalism and the systematization of chronicles as a journalistic genre, cronista were tasked with narrating chronological events considered worthy of remembrance that were recorded year by year. Unlike writers who created epic poems regarding living figures, cronista recorded historical events in

224-563: A modern translation, but the final work was interrupted by his death. The work was completed M. Jean Marx, a French scholar who published his translation in 1914. The original version had ended with the Harrying of the North by the Conqueror in 1070, but a passage mentioning Robert Curthose as duke appears to be a revision sometime after 1087. However, there was no evidence that William made

252-548: Is a term for a historical chronicler, a role that held historical significance in the European Middle Ages . Until the European Enlightenment , the occupation was largely equivalent to that of a historian, describing events chronologically that were of note in a given country or region. As such, it was often an official governmental position rather than an independent practice. The appointment of

280-587: Is highly localised, to the extent that many anonymous chroniclers can be sited in individual abbeys . It is impossible to say how many chronicles exist, as the many ambiguities in the definition of the genre make it impossible to draw clear distinctions of what should or should not be included. However, the Encyclopedia of the Medieval Chronicle lists some 2,500 items written between 300 and 1500 AD. Entries in chronicles are often cited using

308-584: Is now called the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle , a text concerned mainly with the activities of kings, was written in annalistic form. Other examples of insular annals, written under various kinds of patronage, include the Annals of the Four Masters , the Annals of Ulster , the Annals of Innisfallen , and the Annals of Wales ( Annales Cambriæ ). Introduced by insular missionaries to

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336-427: Is one where the author assembles a list of events up to the time of their writing, but does not record further events as they occur. A live chronicle is where one or more authors add to a chronicle in a regular fashion, recording contemporary events shortly after they occur. Because of the immediacy of the information, historians tend to value live chronicles, such as annals , over dead ones. The term often refers to

364-583: The Anglo-Saxon Chronicle , started under the patronage of King Alfred in the 9th century and continued until the 12th century, and the Chronicles of England, Scotland and Ireland (1577–87) by Raphael Holinshed and other writers; the latter documents were important sources of materials for Elizabethan drama. Later 16th century Scottish chronicles, written after the Reformation , shape history according to Catholic or Protestant viewpoints. A cronista

392-745: The Passion until decades or centuries into the future. Beginning in Ireland , Wales, and England in the 7th century, monks began to briefly note important events of the year as marginalia in these tables. Thereafter the compilation of annals became by and large a monastic activity, with the earliest recorded monastic annals being compiled in Ireland and known as the Chronicle of Ireland . Not all early annalistic texts, however, were monastic, and some in fact were made under royal patronage. For example, what

420-498: The abbreviation s.a. , meaning sub anno (under the year), according to the year under which they are listed. For example, " ASC MS A, s.a. 855" means the entry for the year 855 in manuscript A of the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle . The same event may be recorded under a different year in another manuscript of the chronicle, and may be cited for example as " ASC MS D, s.a. 857". The most important English chronicles are

448-559: The annals developed into fuller and more descriptive entries, they became more indistinguishable from chronicles , although the term was still used for various works, such as the Annals of Waverley . In modern literature, the term "annals" is similarly loosely applied to works which more or less strictly adhere to the order of years, both in western contexts (English Annual Registers , French Annuaires de la Revue , German Jahrbücher ) and to equivalent styles in other cultures (such as

476-413: The author's own observations, while annals record the events of earlier times arranged according to years. Hayden White distinguishes annals from chronicles , which organize their events by topics such as the reigns of kings, and from histories, which aim to present and conclude a narrative implying the moral importance of the events recorded. Generally speaking, annalists record events drily, leaving

504-433: The chronicler's direct knowledge, others from witnesses or participants in events, still others are accounts passed down from generation to generation by oral tradition . Some used written material, such as charters , letters , and earlier chronicles. Still others are tales of unknown origin that have mythical status. Copyists also changed chronicles in creative copying, making corrections or in updating or continuing

532-553: The continent, these texts were recopied, augmented, and continued, especially in Austrasia . During the 9th-century Carolingian Renaissance , they became the usual form of contemporary history: major examples include the Royal Frankish Annals , the Annals of Fulda ( Annales Fuldenses ), the Annals of St Bertin ( Annales Bertiniani ), and the Annals of Lorsch ( Annales Laureschamenses ). As

560-570: The entries unexplained and equally weighted. The chief sources of information in regard to the annals of ancient Rome are two passages in Cicero and in Servius which have been the subject of much discussion. Cicero states that, from the founding of the Republic down to the pontificate of Publius Mucius Scaevola ( c.  132  BC), it was usual for the pontifex maximus to record

588-494: The lives of individuals in an ostensibly truthful and reality-oriented way. Even from the time of early Christian historiography, cronistas were clearly expected to place human history in the context of a linear progression, starting with the creation of man until the second coming of Christ , as prophesied in biblical texts . Rhymed or poetic chronicles, as opposed to prosaic chronicles, include: Annals Annals ( Latin : annāles , from annus , "year") are

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616-553: The name of the magistrates and the noteworthy events of each year on a white tablet (an album ), which was exhibited in an open place at his house so that the people might read it. Servius states the events were written for each day. In the late Republic, these were known as the Annales Maximi . After the pontificate of Publius, annals were compiled by various unofficial writers, of whom Cicero names Cato , Pictor , and Piso . These annals have been generally regarded as

644-438: The official chronicler often favored individuals who had distinguished themselves by their efforts to study, investigate and disseminate population -related issues. The position was granted on a local level based on the mutual agreements of a city council in plenary meetings. Often, the occupation was honorary, unpaid, and stationed for life. In modern usage, the term usually refers to a type of journalist who writes chronicles as

672-569: The principal work of Norman historical writings, one of many written to glorify the Norman Conquest of England. But unlike most it was probably started in the late 1050s as a continuation of Dudo's De moribus . The monk William returned to his writing after the Conquest, most probably at the request of William the Conqueror. The final version of his history was written at his monastery at Jumièges c.  1070–1071 . During

700-544: The same with the Commentarii Pontificum cited by Livy , but there seems reason to believe that the two were distinct, with the Commentarii being fuller and more circumstantial. Verrius Flaccus's division of genres is borne out in the common division of Tacitus's works into Annals and Histories , although he did not use those titles to refer to his own works. Among the early Christians, it

728-481: The twelfth century there were interpolations and additions, first by Orderic Vitalis, then by Robert of Torigni, who added an entire book on Henry I of England . During the medieval period his work was widely circulated and read, was an essential work in most monasteries and was the basic source on which the histories of Wace and Benoît de Sainte-Maure were based. William's Gesta Normannorum Ducum survives today in forty-seven manuscripts. Jules Lair undertook

756-574: The years of the sovereign's power, and not those of the Christian æra. The Chronicles compiled in large cities were arranged in like manner, with the years reckoned according to the annual succession of chief magistrates." – John Gough Nichols , critical edition foreword to Chronicle of the Grey Friars of London (1852) Scholars categorize the genre of chronicle into two subgroups: live chronicles, and dead chronicles. A dead chronicle

784-517: Was common to establish the date of Easter by asking local Jews for the date of Passover ( Nisan 14 in the Jewish calendar ) and either using that date or the nearest Sunday to it. By the end of the 3rd century, this date sometimes occurred before the spring equinox and frequently varied from city to city. Following the 325 Council of Nicaea , Easter tables began to be drawn up according to various methods of computing Easter , often running from

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