GRANDSEN, Antonia - Legends, traditions, and history in medieval England

LEGENDS, TRADITIONS AND HISTORY
IN MEDIEVALENGLAND
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LEGENDS, TRADITIONS AND
HISTORY IN
MEDIEVAL ENGLAND
ANTONIA GRANSDEN
THE HAMBLEDON PRESS
LONDON AND RIO GRANDE
Published by The Hambledon Press 1992
102 Gloucester Avenue, London NW1 8HX (U.K.)
P.O. Box 162, Rio Grande, Ohio 45672 (U.S.A.)
ISBN 1 852850167
© Antonia Gransden 1992
A description of this book is available from the
British Library and from the Library of Congress
Printed on acid-free paper and
bound in Great Britain at the
University Press, Cambridge
Contents
Acknowledgements
Preface
List ofIllustrations
1 Bede's Reputation as an Historian in
Medieval England
2 Traditionalism and Continuity during the Last Century
ofAnglo-Saxon Monasticism
3 Legends and Traditions concerning the Origins
of the Abbey ofBury St Edmunds
4 Cultural Transition at Worcester in the
Anglo-Norman Period
5 Prologues in the Historiography of Twelfth-Century
England
6 The Growth ofthe Glastonbury Traditions and
Legends in the Twelfth Century
7 Realistic Observation in Twelfth-Century England
8 The Chronicles ofMedieval England and Scotland
9 The Cronica Buriensis and the Abbey of St Benet
ofHulme
10 The Continuations of the Flores Historiarum from
1265 to 1327
11 The Alleged Rape by Edward III ofthe Countess
ofSalisbury
12 A Fourteenth-CenturyChronicle from the Grey Friars
at Lynn
vii
ix
xi
1
31
81
107
125
153
175
199
239
245
267
279
vi Legends, Traditions and History in Medieval England
13 The Date and Authorship ofjohn of Glastonbury's
Cronica sive Antiquitates Glastoniensis Ecclesie
14 Antiquarian Studies in Fifteenth-Century England
Additional Notes to Chapters 6, 8 and 10
Index
Index of Manuscripts
289
299
329
335
360
Acknowledgements
The articles reprinted here appeared first in the following places and are
reprinted by kind permission of the original publishers.
1. Journal of Ecclesiastical History, 32 (1981), 397-425.
2. Journal of'EcclesiasticalHistory,40(1989), 159-207.
3. English Historical Review, c (1985), 1 -24.
4. Medieval Art and Architecture at Worcester Cathedral British Archaeological
Association, Conference Transactionsfor theyear 1975,1 (1978), 1-14.
5. England in the Twelfth- Century, Proceedings of the 1988Harlaxton Symposium,
edited by Daniel Williams (Woodbridge, 1990), pp. 55-81.
6. Journal of Ecclesiastical History, 27 (1976), 337-58.
7. Speculum, x\vu( 1972),29-51.
8. Journal of Medieval History, xvi (1990), 129-50, ibid., xvii (1991), 217-43.
9. Bulletin of the Institute of Historical Research, xxxvi (1963), 77-82.
10. Mediaeval Studies,xxxvi (1974), 472-92.
11. English Historical Review, Ixxxvii (1972), 333-44.
12. English Historical Review, Ixxii (1957), 270-8.
13. English Historical Review, xcv (1980), 358-63.
14. AntiquariesJournal, Ix (1980), 75-97.
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Preface
The value to the historian of narrative sources as quarries of facts has
always been recognized. However, there is a growing consciousness that,
unless these sources are properly understood, they can neither be correctly
interpreted nor their historical worth assessed. Used uncritically, it can be
argued, they provide less reliable factual information than charters, public
records and other kinds of official documents. This is true, but an unwary
historian can also be led astray by, for example, forged charters and
political bias in public records. In any case, narrative sources have more
to offer than just solid facts, as historians increasingly appreciate. They
provide clues to what the author and, by implication, some ofhis contem-
poraries, thought about events and personalities in their times. They also
give some idea about how the author saw the past. For instance, they raise
the puzzling question of the extent to which the author understood the
difference between true history and legend.
My interest in the narrative sources ofEnglish history was first aroused
by Professor V.H. Galbraith, who was an excellent example of a scholar
who successfully used narrative, particularly chronicle, evidence in
conjunction with that of the public records. The enthusiasm,knowledge
and perception with which he treated the chronicles ofRichard IPs reign
in his seminarsat Oxford made him an inspiring and invigoratingteacher.
I have also been especially indebted to two other eminent medievalists,
Sir Goronwy Edwards and Dom David Knowles. Sir Goronwy, my
supervisor for a London Ph.D., combined erudition with good sense and
good humour —and a sense of humour —an invaluable combination in a
supervisor. Later, Dom David's belief that my plan to write a history of
historical writing in medieval England was feasible, and that such a book
should be very useful, gave me confidence and encouragement, but
without his sustainedinterest and help I might not have persisted. Both he
and Sir Goronwy read chapters of the first volume of my Historical Writing
in England in draft and always had valuable comments and suggestions to
make.
The art...