A sign of the times is the beginning of civic chronicles. The London series alone is important for English history. It begins with the Liber de Antiquis Legibus, or Chronica Majorum et Vicecomitum Londoniarum (1188-1274, ed. T. Stapleton, Camden Soc.). The work of ARNOLD FITZTHEDMAR, alderman of the German merchants in London, it is copious for the years 1236 to 1274, and is, with Wykes, the only chronicle of the Barons' Wars written with a royalist bias. Fourteenth century civic chronicles, based upon Flores Historiarum, and continued independently, form the main contents of the two volumes of Chronicles of the Reigns of Edward I. and II. (ed. by Dr. Stubbs for the Rolls Series). These are: (1) Annales Londonienses, perhaps written by ANDREW HORN, chamberlain of London, and compiler of the Liber Horn; they have much general value for the period 1301 to 1316, and deal more narrowly with London history from 1316 to 1330, when they conclude. (2) Annales Paulini, 1307-1341, compiled by one of the clergy of St. Paul's, but not by Adam Murimuth. These take up Dr. Stubbs's first volume. The second contains: (1) JOHN OF LONDON'S Commendatio Lamentabilis in Transitu magni Regis Edwardi quarti, a funeral eulogy containing the most elaborate contemporary analysis of Edward's character. (2) The CANON OF BRIDLINGTON'S Gesta Edwardi de Carnarvon, with a continuation down to the death of Edward III., of little value after 1339. It has frequent reference to the vaticinations of the local prophet, John of Bridlington, and was not put in its present shape before 1377. Its first part is based on earlier sources, and it is, for lack of better, a prime authority for north-country history and Anglo-Scottish relations; the continuation contains the best account of Edward Balliol's attempts on the Scottish throne. (3) Vita Edwardi II., from 1307 to 1325, attributed by Hearne on slight grounds to a MONK OF MALMESBURY, with many notices of the history of Gloucestershire and Bristol, of which the famous rising is described at length. The writer is the most human of the annalists of the reign, prolix, self-conscious, moralising, and somewhat incoherent. He is the most outspoken of all the fourteenth century critics of the Roman curia, and has more insight than most of his contemporaries.
The following are of primary importance for the early years of Edward III.; it is significant that they are nearly all secular, not monastic, in origin. (1) Continuatio Chronicorum, 1303-1347, by ADAM MURIMUTH, a canon of St. Paul's much employed by Edward III. (ed. E.M. Thompson in Rolls Series), a mere continuation of the Flores until 1325, thence enlarged from personal sources, but still meagre until 1337, when it becomes a first-rate authority to 1346. Murimuth's adoption of Michaelmas day as the beginning of the year has often confused those who have imitated him. Chief among these is (2) GEOFFREY LE BAKER of Swinbrooke, an Oxfordshire man, and like Murimuth, a secular clerk, whose Chronicon (ed. E.M. Thompson), beginning in 1303 on the basis of Murimuth, has independent value after 1324, and is noteworthy for its touching details of Edward II.'s fall and death. It ends in 1356 with an excellent account of the battle of Poitiers. The early part of Baker's chronicle, widely circulated as Vita et Mors Edwardi II., was previously assigned to Sir Thomas de la Moor, and was so edited by Stubbs, but Sir E.M. Thompson showed clearly that this Oxfordshire knight was Baker's patron and not the writer of a chronicle. With many defects, Baker can tell a story picturesquely. (3) ROBERT OF AVESBURY, a canon lawyer, wrote De mirabilibus Gestis Edwardi III., of special importance for the war from 1339 to 1356, and containing many state documents. It is edited by E.M. Thompson in the same volume as Murimuth. (4) HENRY KNIGHTON, Canon of Leicester, wrote a Chronicle about 1366 which is valuable for the period 1336-1366 and includes the best contemporary account of the Black Death. The latest edition by Lumby in the Rolls Series is not a scholarly work. (5) Eulogium Historiarum (ed. Haydon, Rolls Series) is contemporary and valuable for 1356-1366 only. There is a great dearth of English chronicles for the latter years of Edward III. The signal exception is the important St. Alban's Chronicon Angliæ already mentioned.
In the age of Edward III. the Flores Historiarum were superseded by the Polychronicon (often called the "Brute" after WACE'S Brut d'Angleterre), the voluminous compilation (to 1352) of RANDOLPH HIGDEN, a monk of Chester (edited by Babington and Lumby, Rolls Series). ROBERT OF GLOUCESTER, PETER LANGTOFT, and ROBERT MANNYNG have been referred to elsewhere. The first is of some original value for the Barons' Wars and Edward I., while Langtoft, a Yorkshire canon specially interested in the Scottish wars, is a contemporary for all Edward I.'s reign. Among rhyming chronicles, French in tongue but English in origin, may be mentioned Le Siège de Carlaverock, 1300 (ed. Nicolas, 1828), of value for heraldry, and CHANDOS HERALD'S Prince Noir (ed. H.O. Coxe, whose edition was pillaged by F. Michel for his more accessible version of 1883). L'Histoire de Foulques Fitz Warin (d. 1260?), a picturesque marcher hero, a prose romance of the end of the thirteenth century, can be read in Stevenson's edition of COGGESHALL (Rolls Series), or Englished by A. Kemp-Welch (1904).
No contemporary Scottish chronicles of importance deal with the War of Independence, though fairly full Scottish versions of it exist in later books. The earliest of these is the Bruce of JOHN BARBOUR, Archdeacon of Aberdeen. Written in 1375 at the instigation of Robert II., Barbour's spirited verses are inspired by patriotic rather than historic motives. His details are minute, but impossible to control by other sources, and he is more valuable as the epic poet of Scottish liberty than as an historical authority. He is edited by Skeat (Early English Text Soc.), Jamieson, and Innes. The earliest prose Scottish chronicle, that of JOHN FORDUN, who died about 1384 (ed. Skene, in Historians of Scotland), is of value for the fourteenth century. ANDREW WYNTONN'S Originale, a metrical history written in the fifteenth century, has next to no authority until the end of this period (ed. Laing, in Historians of Scotland), BLIND HARRY'S Wallace, written in 1488, is romance not history.
Wales is more fortunate than Scotland in preserving contemporary thirteenth century annals, of which a Latin chronicle, Annales Cambriæ, extending to 1288, and a Welsh one, Brut y Tywysogion (i.e., Chronicle of the Princes), down to 1278, are edited by J. Williams in the Rolls Series, the latter with an English translation. A more critical version of the Welsh text of the Brut is that of J. RHYS and J.G. EVANS' Red Book of Hergest, vol. ii. (1890).
The close relations between England and France for the whole of this period render the French chronicles by far the most important of foreign sources for English history. They are enumerated in detail by Auguste Molinier in vols. iii. (up to 1328) and iv. (after 1328) of the first part of Les Sources de l'Histoire de France (Manuels de Bibliographie historique). The chief French chronicles of the period 1226-1328 are collected in vols. xx.-xxiv. of the Recueil des Historiens de la France begun by Dom Bouquet. Some of them are of special importance for English history. For Anglo-Netherlandish relations under Edward I. see Annales Gandenses (1296-1310), "la chronique la plus remarquable de la fin du xiiie siècle," the French Chronique Artésienne (1295-1304), and the Chronique Tournaisienne (1296-1314), all edited by F. Funck-Brentano in the already mentioned Collection de Textes. For the Hundred Years' War the French chroniclers are indispensable, especially for military history. The most famous of these writers, JEAN FROISSART, has been characterised in my text (p. 419). He can best be studied in Luce and Raynouart's excellent edition for the Soc. de l'Histoire de France (tomes i.-viii., 1869-1888) which completes the story up to Edward III.'s death. Luce's careful "sommaire et commentaire critique" often affords means of checking Froissart by other sources. The magnificent volumes of indexes of Kervyn de Lettenhove's complete edition (vols. XX.-XXV.) are still of immense use, though his text and comments are inferior to those of Luce, Froissart's spirit may well be caught in Lord Berners's racy English translation (Tudor Translations), or in G.C. Macaulay's useful abridgment. The three redactions of Froissart's first book (from 1327 to 1373-1377), which is all that concerns our period, have been clearly distinguished by Luce. (1) The first edition, written about 1373, at the request of Count Robert of Namur, is inspired by an English bias. Up to 1360 it is largely derived from the chronicle of JEAN LE BEL, Canon of St. Lambert of Liège; after that date it is original. (2) The second edition, only represented by two MSS., of which one is incomplete, is a modification of the first with a French bias. The earlier part is more independent of Jean le Bel. (3) The third edition, preserved in a single MS., ends with the death of Philip VI in 1350, and, written after 1400, is even more hostile to England than the second. The best edition of Jean le Bel is by Polain for the Académie royale de Belgique.
A few of the more important French chronicles after 1328 may be mentioned shortly. (1) Grands Chroniques de France (ed. Paulin Paris). Original from 1350 to 1377, a work of first-rate importance, where, if truth is altered, it is altered deliberately from political motives. (2) JEAN DE VENETTE, 1340-1368, written with a popular bias, and partly favourable to Charles of Navarre (edited as a supplement to Géraud's edition of Guillaume de Nangis, ii., 178-378, Soc. de l'Hist. de France). (3) Chronique Normande du xiv'e siècle, 1337-1372 (ed. Molinier, Soc. de l'Hist. de France, 1882), exact and very important for the wars 1337 to 1372. (4) Chronique des quatre premiers Valois (Soc. de l'Hist. de France). (5) CUVELIER'S poetical Vie de Bertrand du Guesclin (2 vols., Doc. inédits). Further details can be found in Molinier's bibliography. Netherlandish sources for the Hundred Years' War are summarised in PIRENNE'S Bibliographie de l'Histoire de Belgique (1895). Of special importance is JAN VAN KLERK'S Van den Derden Edewaert Rym Kronyk. (1840), useful for 1337-1341, and written with an English bias.
The unofficial legal literature of the thirteenth and fourteenth centuries is of exceptional variety and value. Many lawyers' treatises throw light on matters far beyond legal technicalities. HENRY OF BRACTON or BRATTON'S De Legibus et Consuetudinibus Angliæ illustrates the union of English and Roman juridical ideas characteristic of the age of Henry III. It has been edited badly by Sir T. Twiss in six volumes (Rolls Series), and some portions well by Professor Maitland in his Select passages from Bracton and Azo (Selden Soc.). Maitland's Bracton's Note Book includes extracts from plea rolls seemingly made by Bracton. Bracton's book on the laws was translated, condensed, and rearranged by a writer of the next generation called Britton. It may be studied in a modern edition in NICHOLLS'S Britton on the laws of England, while Fleta, an almost contemporary Latin law book, must be read in Selden's seventeenth century edition. Another thirteenth century law-book, Le Mirroir des Justices, has been edited by Maitland and W.J. Whittaker for the Selden Society. From Edward I.'s time onwards unofficial reports of trials called YEAR BOOKS, written in French, become valuable for their vividness and detail, and for the light which they throw on the more technical records of the plea rolls. Many of them are printed in unsatisfactory seventeenth century editions, but the Year Books of five of Edward I.'s regnal years, between 1292 to 1307, together with the Year Book of 11-12 Edward III., are accessible in A.J. Horwood's editions in the Rolls Series. L.O. Pike has also edited in the Rolls Series the Year books of Edward III. from 1338 to 1345, and Maitland's Year books of Edward II. for the Selden Society are the first two instalments of a scheme for publishing the Year Books of the reign. Besides their legal value, the Year Books are an almost unworked mine for social and economic, and often even political and ecclesiastical, history.
Of literary aids to history T. WRIGHT'S Political Songs (Camden Soc.) illustrate this period to the reign of Edward II. One of Wright's pieces has been more elaborately edited in C.L. KINGSFORD'S Song of Lewes (1890), and C. Hardwick published a Poem on the Times OF Edward II. for the Percy Soc. (1849). With Edward III. such literature becomes copious. Of special importance are T. Wright's Political POEMS and SONGS FROM the accession of Edward III., vol. i. (Rolls Series, 1859), J. Hall's Poems of LAURENCE MINOT, Skeat's editions of CHAUCER and LANGLAND, and G.C. Macaulay's edition of GOWER. The Latin works of Wycliffe, published by the Wycliffe Society, mainly belong to the succeeding period, but De Dominio Divino and De Civili Dominio, as well as some tracts printed in the appendix to LEWIS'S Life of Wiclif and in Shirley's edition of Fasciculi Zizanioram (Rolls Series), were written before 1377.
Of modern works treating of this period, many monographs, dealing with particular points, have been mentioned in notes in the course of the narrative. Of general guides to the period the best by far are Stubbs and Pauli. STUBBS'S Constitutional History (vol. ii.) is as valuable for the chapters summarising the political history as for the more strictly constitutional matter. R. PAULI'S Geschichte von England, iii., 489-896, and iv., 1-505, 716-741, remains, after half a century, the fullest and most satisfactory working up in detail of these reigns, though the great additions to our material make parts of it a somewhat unsafe guide. It can be supplemented for particular aspects of history by the following: For legal history, POLLOCK and MAITLAND'S History of English Law before the time of Edward I., especially vol. i., book i. (chapters iv.-vi.), and book ii.; and most of vol. ii.; to which should be added the prefaces by Prof. Maitland and others to the volumes of the Selden Society. MAITLAND'S Roman Canon Law in the Church of England (1898) is also of great importance. For economic history, W.J. ASHLEY'S Economic History, parts i. and ii.; W. CUNNINGHAM's Growth of English Industry and Commerce, Early and Middle Ages; VINOGRADOFF'S Villainage in England, S. DOWELL'S History of Taxation (2nd edition), H. HALL'S Customs Revenue of England, and, as a collection of materials, J.E. THOROLD ROGERS' History of Agriculture and Prices, vols. i. and ii. For ecclesiastical history, W.R.W. STEPHENS'S History of the English Church, 1066-1272; W.W. CAPES'S History of the English Church in the Fourteenth and Fifteenth Centuries, and F. MAKOWER'S The Constitutional History and Constitution of the Church of England (translated from the German). For academic history, DENIFLE'S Entstehung der Universitäten des Mittelalters bis 1400, especially pp. 1-40, 237-251 (Oxford) and pp. 367-376 (Cambridge), HAURÉAU'S Histoire de la Philosophie scholastique and RASHDALL'S Universities of the Middle Ages, i., 1-74, and ii., part ii. (Oxford and Cambridge). For military history, KÖHLER'S Entwickelung des Kriegswesens in der Ritterzeit, OMAN'S History of the Art of War in the Middle Ages, CLARK'S Mediæval Military Architecture, and (above all) J.E. MORRIS'S Welsh Wars of Edward I. For naval history, NICOLAS'S History of the Royal Navy, and C. DE LA RONCIÈRE'S Histoire de la Marine Française. For particular reigns the following may be found useful: For Henry III., PETIT-DUTAILLIS'S Étude sur Louis VIII., GASQUET'S Henry III. and the Church (1905), BÉMONT'S Simon de Montfort, PROTHERO'S Simon de Montfort, and BLAAUW'S Barons' Wars (2nd ed., 1871). For the reign of Edward I., SEELEY's Life and Reign of Edward I. (1872), my Edward I.; GOUGH'S Itinerary of Edward I., MAXWELL'S Robert the Bruce (Heroes of the Nations), and MORRIS'S above-mentioned Welsh Wars of Edward I. For some aspects of Edward II.'s reign, STUBBS'S prefaces to Chronicles of Edward I. and Edward II. are of special value. For Edward III.'s reign, BARNES's History of Edward III. (1688) is not quite superseded by LONGMAN'S Life and Times of Edward III. (2 vols., 1869), and MACKINNON'S History of Edward III. (1900). For the Hundred Years' War, E. DÉPREZ'S Préliminaires de la Guerre de Cent Ans (1328-1342) (Bibl. de l'Ecole française de Rome, 1902) for diplomatic history, and DENIFLE's Désolation des Églises et Monastères de la France pendant la Guerre de Cent Ans (ii., part i., 1899) for the best general survey of the war to 1380. See also LUCE'S La Jeunesse de Bertrand de Guesclin and La France pendant la Guerre de Cent Ans, and (for Brittany) A. DE LA BORDERIE'S Histoire de Brétagne (1899). The end of Edward III.'s reign is illustrated by S. ARMITAGE SMITH'S John of Gaunt (1904), J. LECHLER'S Wiclif und die Vorgeschichte der Reformation (2 vols., 1873), also translated, not very adequately, Wycliffe and His English Precursors (1878 and 1881), F.D. MATTHEW'S introduction to Wyclif's English Works (Early English Text Society), and R.L. POOLE'S Illustrations of the History of Mediæval Thought (1884), and Wycliffe (1889). G.M. TREVELYAN's England in the Age of Wycliffe (1899) is interesting but not always very scholarly.