Description
The author is a canon of St. Mary's Abbey, Leicester, and he wrote a chronicle between 1378 and 1396. The chronicle is about the campaigns in France, the onset and effects of the Black Death, and the crises of Richard II's reign. The author was horrified by the rise of Lollardy and his account of it is unmatched. The chronicle was printed in 1652 in a competent text with a brief Latin commentary, and less satisfactorily in the Rolls Series in 1889-95. This edition includes analysis of the text and its sources, and the first translation of its distinguished and engaging narrative.
Henry Knighton, a canon of St Mary's Abbey, Leicester, wrote his Chronicle between 1378 and 1396. Leicester was a fief of the duchy of Lancaster, and the abbey was closely in touch with the households of Henry of Grosmont and John of Gaunt. The Chronicle contains exceptionally vivid accounts of the campaigns in France, in which Duke Henry was one of Edward III's leading generals, of the onset and effects of the Black Death, and of the crises of Richard II's reign. Knighton, whose fellow canon Philip Repingdon was a pupil and early disciple of John Wyclif, was a horrified witness of the rise of Lollardy, his account of which is unmatched. The Chronicle was printed in 1652 in a competent text with a brief Latin commentary, and less satisfactorily in the Rolls Series in 1889-95. This edition includes analysis of the text and its sources, and the first translation of its distinguished and engaging narrative. Review: assured of a warm welcome ... The translation is readable, even racy ... there is some impressive verse translating ... The detailed account of the first Lollards is especially welcome in translation. Professor Martin has performed the most difficult parts of his task with verve and distinction. * A.K. McHardy, University of Nottingham, EHR Nov. 97 * The book constitutes an impressive scholarly achievement, one that should find wide readership among medievalists in several disciplines. * Speculum - A Journal of Medieval Studies * Professor Martin's excellent new edition is ... particularly welcome. In every way it represents an immense advance on its Rolls Series predecessor, and provides the opportunity for a reassessment of the work of an important fourteenth-century chronicler. Martin's edition illustrates ... both the range and the quality of Knighton's writing. From 1337 ... where Knighton himself becomes an original source, his chronicle is of value. Martin's edition, which is a model of careful and stimulating scholarship, will no doubt prompt other questions, and will certainly give a new impetus both to the examination of Richard II's reign and to the study of late medieval chronicle writing. The volume, it should be said, has been produced with the customary excellence of the Clarendon Press. * John Taylor, University of Leeds, The Historical Association 1997 * this splendid new edition with translation of its latter portion will ensure that it is even more widely read and cited than it has been hitherto ... Meticulously edited and elegantly translated, this edition ensures that it will be as widely accessible as it deserves to be. * Chris Given-Wilson, University of St Andrews, Ecclesiastical History, Vol 48, No. 1 - Jan 97 * A full version and translation of this important chronicle, composed by Knighton ... Martin also provides critical discussion of Knighton's sources and his reliability. * The Medieval World *
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