The Warenne (Hyde) Chronicle

by van Houts, Elisabeth; Love, Rosalind

• ISBN13: 9780199665204
• ISBN10: 0199665206
• Format: Hardcover
• Copyright: 2013-06-10
• Publisher: Oxford University Press

Summary

TheWarenne Chronicleis the more appropriate name for the Latin text known as the Hyde Chronicle. It covers the period from 1035 - the year in which Robert the Magnificent, duke of Normandy, died - up to the account of the White ship disaster in November 1120 when William Adelin, eldest son and heir of King Henry I, lost his life at the age of eighteen. The chronicle therefore covers the history of Normandy and England around the Norman Conquest of England with special reference to the earls of Warenne in Normandy. It is not a full blown dynastic history of this aristocratic family, but rather a historical narrative that emphasises the loyal support of the earls to the Norman rulers. The crucial question as to how far the Warenne chronicler may have covered the years beyond 1120 is impossible to settle definitively. The new argument put forward here is that theWarenne Chroniclewas written early in the reign of King Henry II, probably shortly after 1157, for King Stephen's son William and his wife Isabel, heiress of Warenne, to provide an account of the invaluable help her ancestors had given to the Anglo-Norman rulers. Although the chronicle has survived anonymously, the suggestion is made that the author may have been Master Eustace of Boulogne, clerk and chancellor of William of Blois as fourth earl of Warenne. Unique information, other than that pertaining to the Warennes, concerns the commemoration of Queen Edith/Matilda, Henry I's rule in western Normandy, and the use of the word 'normananglus' (Norman-English) for the inhabitants of England of Norman origin.

Author Biography

Elisabeth van Houts has published widely on Anglo-Norman history, medieval historiography, and the history of gender and women in the Middle Ages.

Rosalind Love has edited and written about a number of Latin saints' Lives from eleventh-century England, as well as publishing on the Latin authors of an earlier period, in particular the venerable Bede. She is also involved in a project focusing on glossed manuscripts of Boethius's Consolation of Philosophy.

Table of Contents

Introduction
i. The manuscript
ii. Date
iii. Author
iv. The Warennes: Family and Chronicle
v. Sources
vi. Historical Value
vii. The Edition
The Warenne Chronicle
Latin
Translation
Historical annotation
Appendix 1: The epitaph of Gundrada of Warenne
Appendix 2: Frederick, 'brother' of William I of Warenne
Appendix 3: Earl Hamelin and Saint-Bertin at Saint-Omer
Bibliography