Six Old English Chronicles: Ethelwerd's Chronicle, Asser's Life Of Alfred, Geoffrey Of Monmouth's British History, Gildas, Nennius And Richard Of Cirencester

by John Allen Giles (Editor), Ethelwerd, Asser

Six Old English Chronicles is a collection of historical texts from the Anglo-Saxon period, translated and edited by J.A. Giles. The book includes six Ethelwerd�������s Chronicle, Asser�������s Life Of Alfred, Geoffrey Of Monmouth�������s British History, Gildas, Nennius, and Richard Of Cirencester. Each chronicle provides a unique perspective on the history of England, Wales, and Scotland, from the Roman occupation to the Norman Conquest. Ethelwerd�������s Chronicle is a brief history of England from the Roman period to the reign of King Alfred the Great. Asser�������s Life Of Alfred is a biography of King Alfred, providing insight into his military campaigns, political achievements, and personal life. Geoffrey Of Monmouth�������s British History is a legendary account of British history, including the story of King Arthur. Gildas is a sixth-century monk who wrote a scathing criticism of the British rulers of his time. Nennius is an eighth-century Welsh monk who compiled a history of the Britons. Richard Of Cirencester is a medieval scholar who wrote a history of Roman Britain. This collection of chronicles provides a fascinating glimpse into the history and culture of early England.This scarce antiquarian book is a facsimile reprint of the old original and may contain some imperfections such as library marks and notations. Because we believe this work is culturally important, we have made it available as part of our commitment for protecting, preserving, and promoting the world's literature in affordable, high quality, modern editions, that are true to their original work.

532 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 1848

About the author

An English historian, primarily known as a scholar of Anglo-Saxon language and history.

Reviews

[Debbie Zapata · Rating 2 out of 5]

I will be honest here. The idea of reading these chronicles turned out to be better than the reality. As editor Giles says in his preface to this 1906 collection:
"Of the present volume it will be sufficient to inform the reader that it contains Six Chronicles, all relating to the history of this country before the Norman Conquest, and all of essential importance to those who like to study history in the very words of contemporary writers."

I don't know about 'study', but I do love to read old titles, and I think I added this to my lists after reading a rousing historical romance about King Alfred's days written by Arthur Conan Doyle.

But the best part of this book turned out to be that editor's preface, where Giles told a little about each of the chronicles and their authors. That and some of the footnotes by Giles, such as this one for one chapter of Geoffrey Of Monmouth's British History:
"It is wonderful that the contents of this book should ever have passed for authentic history; our ancestors of the eleventh, twelfth, and thirteenth centuries must have been singularly ignorant of every thing concerning the latter ages of the Roman empire, and the formation of the modern kingdoms of France and Germany, &c., if they could believe that king Arthur ever held his court in Paris."

Geoffrey was the most vivid author here, and it was pretty spiffy to read the original source book for such stories as Shakespeare's King Lear and of course the King Arthur legends. But even Geoffrey got to me after awhile, such as here: "This prince had twenty sons and thirty daughters by twenty wives, and with great valour governed the kingdom of Britain sixty years." Great valour, indeed!

All the chroniclers tended to write as if they were creating new bibles. I guess that was their model, but it got old pretty fast, and I skimmed through quite a bit of each chronicle. I can appreciate what these men tried to do, and the imagination it took to connect the dots from ancient Britain back to ancient Troy. But this book, or rather these chronicles should be read only as historical curiosities, and to get a few giggles (sometimes even a nice big belly-laugh).

Of course they also make you wonder....what will people hundreds of years in our future think of the books we have written? What will they think of the stories about our current kings and presidents and their actions?

What an embarrassing prospect that is!

[Patrick\ · Rating 4 out of 5]

Again, I dig into the oldest of Brit history writings. Always good reads - the imagination is kindled. Of course, much of it is wrong, but it was that which was believed at its time and for some time after. I can live with this.