Chronicle of Melrose
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The ''Chronicle of Melrose'' is a medieval
chronicle A chronicle (, from Greek ''chroniká'', from , ''chrónos'' – "time") is a historical account of events arranged in chronological order, as in a timeline. Typically, equal weight is given for historically important events and local events ...
from the Cottonian Manuscript, Faustina B. ix within the
British Museum The British Museum is a Museum, public museum dedicated to human history, art and culture located in the Bloomsbury area of London. Its permanent collection of eight million works is the largest in the world. It documents the story of human cu ...
. It was written by unknown authors, though evidence in the writing shows that it most likely was written by the monks at Melrose Abbey. The chronicle begins on the year 735 and ends in 1270, consisting of two separate segments: *The first part of the chronicle from the year 745 to about 1140 (the year Melrose Abbey was founded), is a compilation from the ''
Anglo-Saxon Chronicle The ''Anglo-Saxon Chronicle'' is a collection of annals in Old English, chronicling the history of the Anglo-Saxons. The original manuscript of the ''Chronicle'' was created late in the ninth century, probably in Wessex, during the reign of ...
'' as well as other historical works written by Simeon of Durham and Hoveden. *The second portion starts from 1140 until the end of the chronicle in 1270. It contains original work and is considered by
historian A historian is a person who studies and writes about the past and is regarded as an authority on it. Historians are concerned with the continuous, methodical narrative and research of past events as relating to the human species; as well as the ...
s to be more credible than the first segment. The chronicle is currently in the
British Library The British Library is the national library of the United Kingdom. Based in London, it is one of the largest libraries in the world, with an estimated collection of between 170 and 200 million items from multiple countries. As a legal deposit li ...
, taken away from Melrose possibly during the
Reformation The Reformation, also known as the Protestant Reformation or the European Reformation, was a time of major Theology, theological movement in Western Christianity in 16th-century Europe that posed a religious and political challenge to the p ...
period. In 2014, it was discovered that the ''Chronicle'' contains the oldest independent account of the sealing of
Magna Carta (Medieval Latin for "Great Charter"), sometimes spelled Magna Charta, is a royal charter of rights agreed to by King John of England at Runnymede, near Windsor, on 15 June 1215. First drafted by the Archbishop of Canterbury, Cardin ...
.


See also

*
List of English chronicles This is a list of the most important Chronicles relevant to the kingdom of England in the period from the Norman Conquest to the beginning of the Tudor dynasty (1066–1485). The chronicles are listed under the name by which they are commonly re ...
*
Cotton library The Cotton or Cottonian library is a collection of manuscripts that came into the hands of the antiquarian and bibliophile Sir Robert Bruce Cotton MP (1571–1631). The collection of books and materials Sir Robert held was one of the three "foun ...
* Solar eclipse of 1 May 1185


References


External links

* . 13th-century history books Scottish chronicles Works of unknown authorship {{Scotland-hist-book-stub