From this period almost to the Reformation, whatever knowledge we have of the affairs of England has been originally derived either from the semi-barbarous Latin of our own countrymen, or from the French chronicles of Froissart and others. The revival of good taste and of good sense, and of the good old custom adopted by most nations of the civilized world-that of writing their own history in their own language was happily exemplified at length in the laborious works of our English chroniclers and historians. Many have since followed in the same track; and the importance of the whole body of English history has attracted and employed the imagination of Milton, the philosophy of Hume, the simplicity of Goldsmith, the industry of Henry, the research of Turner, and the patience of Lingard. The pages of these writers, however, accurate and luminous as they generally are, as well as those of Brady, Tyrrel, Carte, Rapin, and others, not to mention those in black letter, still require correction from the Saxon Chronicle; without which no person, however learned, can possess any thing beyond a superficial acquaintance with the elements of English history, and of the British Constitution. "Some remarks may here be requisite on the CHRONOLOGY of the Saxon Chronicle. In the early part of it * the reader will observe a reference to the grand epoch of the creation of the world. So also in Ethelwerd, who closely follows the Saxon annals. It is allowed by all, that considerable difficulty has occurred in fixing the true epoch of Christ's nativity, because the Christian era was not used at all till about the year 532, ‡ when it was introduced by Dionysius Exiguus; whose code of canon law, joined afterwards with the decretals of the popes, became as much the standard of authority in ecclesiastical matters as the pandects of Justinian among civilians. But it does not appear that in See A.D. XXXIII. the era of Christ's crucifixion. +See Playfair's System of Chronology, p. 49. Playfair says 527: but I follow Bede, Florence of Worcester, and others; who affirm that the great paschal cycle of Dionysius commenced from the year of our Lord's incarnation 532-the year in which the code of Justinian was promulgated. Vid. Flor. an. 532, 1064, and 1073. See sino M. West. an. 532. the Saxon mode of computation this system of chronology was implicitly followed. We mention this circumstance, however, not with a view of settling the point of difference, which would not be easy, but merely to account for those variations observable in different MSS.; which arose, not only from the common mistakes or inadvertencies of transcribers, but from the liberty, which the original writers themselves sometimes assumed in this country, of computing the current year according to their own ephemeral or local custom. Some began with the incarnation or Nativity of Christ; some with the Circumcision, which accords with the solar year of the Romans as now restored; whilst others commenced with the Annunciation; a custom which became very prevalent in honour of the Virgin Mary, and was not formally abolished here till the year 1752; when the Gregorian calendar, commonly called the New Style, was substituted by Act of Parliament for the Dionysian. This diversity of computation would alone occasion some confusion; but in addition to this, the INDICTION, or cycle of fifteen years, which is mentioned in the latter part of the Saxon Chronicle, was carried back three years before the vulgar era, and commenced in different places at four different periods of the year! But it is very remarkable that, whatever was the commencement of the year in the early part of the Saxon Chronicle, in the latter part the year invariably opens with Midwinter-day or the Nativity. Gervase of Canterbury, whose Latin Chronicle ends in 1199, the era of legal memory, had formed a design, as he tells us, of regulating his chronology, by the Annunciation; but from an honest fear of falsifying dates he abandoned his first intention, and acquiesced in the practice of his predecessors; who for the most part, he says, began the new year with the Nativity."* Let us now see what has been done by previous editors and translators of this valuable national document. Gerard Langbaine was the first who entertained thoughts of publishing this Chronicle; but he relinquished his design. as appears from his papers in the Bodleian library, becausc Wheloc had anticipated him. The first edition therefore of the original text of this "Vid. Prol. in Chron. Gervas, ap. X. Script. p. 1338." work is due to Wheloc, professor of Arabic at Cambridge. His work entitled Chronologia Anglo-Saxonica, [A.D. 1644], occupying about sixty folio pages, forms a supplement to his edition of Bede's Ecclesiastical History. But as Wheloc had the use of only the Bennet or Plegmund MS. [No. 1 in our summary of the MSS.], and of an original, now lost, of which our No. 7, the Dublin transcript, is supposed to be a copy, it is manifest that the editor had no opportunity of inserting those parts of the Chronicle-forming about one half of the whole-which do not occur in those two manuscripts. Forty-eight years after Wheloc, Gibson, a young man of Queen's College, Oxford, and afterwards bishop of London, published a more complete edition of the Chronicle, for which he used three additional MSS. which had come into notice since the time of Wheloc. More than 120 years passed before this historical record again attracted the notice of the public, or the labours of an editor. It was then translated into English throughout from the text of Gibson by a learned lady still living, Miss Gurney; to whom, both my enterprising publisher and myself are largely indebted for her kindness in facilitating the present edition, and to whom we gladly take this opportunity of acknowledging the debt. Miss Gurney's translation was printed for private circulation, and did not receive the final polish of the fair translator, who was deterred from bestowing further labour upon a work which was shortly to be undertaken by one of our ablest antiquaries. In 1823 appeared an edition of the Saxon Chronicle by Dr. Ingram, now President of Trinity College, accompanied with an English translation, a map of Saxon-England, coins of the Saxon kings, &c., &c. At the same time that this learned work made its appearance, it was understood that the late Mr. Petrie, keeper of the records in the Tower, was devoting his laborious attention to prepare the Chronicle for publication at the expense of the Record Commission. Accuracy and laborious research were shining features in the literary character of Petrie : but he was less remarkable for discriminating how far an author's text may be illustrated without being overlaid by various readings, and he carried his mode of arrangement to such extremities, mutilated and subdivided his authors to such a degree, and so encumbered his pages with references, stars, accents, and brackets, that it is doubtful whether the learned and laborious folio, which he superintended to its completion, will ever see the light of publication. It remains in the possession of the Master of the Rolls, a mighty storehouse of collations for all future editions of Gildas. Nennius, Bede, the Saxon Chronicle, Florence of Worcester, Henry of Huntingdon, &c., &c. In 1830 appeared a small anonymous volume, entitled, Ancient History, English and French, exemplified in a regular dissection of the Saxon Chronicle, &c., &c., London, Hatchard, 1830; containing some lively dissertations in which much genius is displayed, unhappily not leading to clear or satisfactory results. Such being the editions and translations already in existence, it became a serious question with the publisher and editor of the present volume, what would be the best plan to be pursued, in order that the work might be placed before the public in a form the best adapted to secure general approbation. As the result of this deliberation, it was judged expedient to take the edition of Petrie as a basis, because it was found to contain the most perfect collations of all the six existing manuscripts, and therefore to present a more complete text than any other printed volume. The style of the translation is as literal as the idiom of our language will allow. But, as the edition of Mr. Petrie extends only to the year 1066, it has been necessary to form a text for the latter portion of the Chronicle from other sources. To effect this the translation of Miss Gurney, has, with the consent of that amiable lady, been taken as a ground-work, and numerous additions, variations, and notes, have been introduced by a collation of her text with that of Dr. Ingram. As the result of these various modes, the public have now the advantage of reading the whole of this very interesting chronicle, not only in a perfect form, but even to an extent that might, perhaps, by some be deemed superfluous, with all the variations which can be gathered from all the manuscript copies now known to be in existence. Bampton Oxfordshire, July 1847. J. A. G. To the most glorious king Ceolwulph,* Bede, the servant of Christ and I FORMERLY, at your request, most readily transmitted to Ceolwalph king of Northumberland, not the king of Wessex, who igned about A.D. 527; nor the king of Mercia, who reigned about A.D. $19. B |