Works
John of Worcester's principal work was the (Authorship
The greater part of the work, up to 1117 or 1118, was formerly attributed to Florence of Worcester on the basis of the entry for his death under the year 1118, which credits his skill and industry for making the chronicle such a prominent work. In this view, the other Worcester monk, John, merely wrote the final part of the work. However, there are two main objections against the ascription to Florence. First, there is no change of style in the after Florence's death, and second, certain sections before 1118 rely to some extent on the ("History of New Things") of Eadmer of Canterbury, which was completed sometime in the period 1121–1124. The prevalent view today is that John of Worcester was the principal author and compiler. He is explicitly named as the author of two entries for 1128 and 1138, and two manuscripts (CCC MS 157 and the ) were written in his hand. He was seen working on it at the behest of Wulfstan, bishop of Worcester, when the Anglo-Norman chronicler Orderic Vitalis visited Worcester: :Manuscripts
The survives in five manuscripts (and a fragment on a single leaf): * MS 157 (Oxford, Corpus Christi College). The principal manuscript, working copy used by John.Sources for English history
For the body of material dealing with early English history, John is believed to have used a number of sources, some of which are now lost: * unknown version(s) of the '' Anglo-Saxon Chronicle'', possibly in Latin translation. John may have shared a lost source with William of Malmesbury, whose ("Deeds of the Kings of the English") includes similar material not found in other works. *Editions and translations
* Darlington, Reginald R. and P. McGurk (eds.), P. McGurk and Jennifer Bray (trs.). ''The Chronicle of John of Worcester: The Annals from 450–1066''. Vol 2. Oxford Medieval Texts. Oxford: 1995. * McGurk, P. (ed. and tr.). ''The Chronicle of John of Worcester: The Annals from 1067 to 1140 with the Gloucester Interpolations and the Continuation to 1141''. Vol 3. OMT. Oxford, 1998. * . * Stevenson, J. (tr.). ''Church Historians of England''. 8 vols: vol. 2.1. London, 1855. 171–372. * . * Weaver, J. R. H., ed. (1908) ''The Chronicle of John of Worcester, 1118–1140: being the continuation of the'' Chronicon ex Chronicis ''of Florence of Worcester''. Oxford: Clarendon PresReferences
Further reading
* Brett, Martin. "John of Worcester and his contemporaries." In ''The Writing of History in the Middle Ages: Essays Presented to R.W. Southern'', ed. by R.H.C. Davis and J.M. Wallace Hadrill. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1981. 101-26. * Brett, Martin, "John, monk of Worcester." In ''The Blackwell Encyclopedia of Anglo-Saxon England'', ed. Michael Lapidge, et al. Oxford: Blackwell, 1999. * * Gransden, Antonia. ''Historical writing in England c. 550 to 1307''. Vol 1. London, 1974. 143–8. * O'Donnell, Thomas. "Identities in Community: Literary Culture and Memory at Worcester." In ''Constructing History Across the Norman Conquest: Worcester, c.1050-c.1150'', ed. by Francesca Tinti and D. A. Woodman. York: York Medieval Press, 2022. 31–60. * Orderic Vitalis, ''Historia Ecclesiastica'', ed. and tr. Marjorie Chibnall, ''The Ecclesiastical History of Orderic Vitalis''. 6 volumes. Oxford Medieval Texts. Oxford, 1968–1980. . {{DEFAULTSORT:John of Worcester 1140s deaths Year of birth unknown Year of death uncertain 12th-century English historians English Christian monks English chroniclers Writers from Worcester, England English male non-fiction writers 12th-century writers in Latin 12th-century English writers 12th-century astronomers