The Anglo-Saxon Chronicle
Produced by Douglas B. Killings
The Anglo-Saxon Chronicle
Originally compiled on the orders of King Alfred the Great, approximately A.D. 890, and subsequently maintained and added to by generations of anonymous scribes until the middle of the 12th Century. The original language is Anglo-Saxon (Old English), but later entries are essentially Middle English in tone.
Translation by Rev. James Ingram (London, 1823), with additional readings from the translation of Dr. J.A. Giles (London, 1847).
At present there are nine known versions or fragments of the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle in existence, all of which vary (sometimes greatly) in content and quality. The translation that follows is not a translation of any one Chronicle; rather, it is a collation of readings from many different versions.
The nine known Anglo-Saxon Chronicle MS. are the following:
A-Prime The Parker Chronicle (Corpus Christi College, Cambridge, MS. 173) A Cottonian Fragment (British Museum, Cotton MS. Otho B xi, 2) B The Abingdon Chronicle I (British Museum, Cotton MS. Tiberius A vi.) C The Abingdon Chronicle II (British Museum, Cotton MS. Tiberius B i.) D The Worcester Chronicle (British Museum, Cotton MS. Tiberius B iv.) E The Laud (or Peterborough ) Chronicle (Bodleian, MS. Laud 636) F The Bilingual Canterbury Epitome (British Museum, Cotton MS. Domitian A viii.) NOTE: Entries in English and Latin. H Cottonian Fragment (British Museum, Cotton MS. Domitian A ix.) I An Easter Table Chronicle (British Museum, Cotton MS. Caligula A xv.)
This electronic edition contains primarily the translation of Rev. James Ingram, as published in the Everyman edition of this text. Excerpts from the translation of Dr. J.A. Giles were included as an appendix in the Everyman edition; the preparer of this edition has elected to collate these entries into the main text of the translation. Where these collations have occurred I have marked the entry with a double parenthesis (()).