СНАР. Other for Reign of Henry VI. dence. ceases accordingly to be a mere record of the history of the house, and embodies some important notices of the strife that was going on between the contending parties without. Two other Chronicles relating to the reign of Henry VI. have just been edited by Mr. Gairdner.' The Correspondence of bishop BEKYNTON, secretary Bekynton's to Henry VI., contains both letters written by himself Correspon- and several written in the royal name, as well as letters addressed to the king and to himself. Though not of any striking interest, the correspondence serves to illustrate some points in our national history in the first half of the fifteenth century.2 John Hard yng. b. 1378. d. 1465. Richard d. after Jean de JOHN HARDYNG, a dependant of the family of the Percies, who was frequently employed in state business in the reigns of Henry V. and Henry VI., composed a Chronicle treating of the earliest period of English history, and terminating with the flight of Henry into Scotland. This was continued by RICHARD GRAFTON, a man of good family and liberal education, to the thirtyfourth year of the reign of Henry VIII. The treatment by both writers presents us only with a very meagre collection of facts, while Grafton's work is little more than a transcript of Hall (see infra, p. 299.) The Collection of Chronicles by JEAN DE WAURIN' Two Chronicles of the Reign of Henry VI. 2 Memorials of the Reign of Henry VI.: R. S. 1872 Edited by James Gairdner. Official Correspondence of The Chronicle of John Hardyng, containing an Account of Public Transactions from the earliest Period of English History to the Beginning of the Reign of King Edward the Fourth. Together with the Continuation by Richard Grafton, to the Thirty-Fourth Year of King Henry the Eighth. Edited by H. Ellis 1812. Recueil des Croniques et Anchiennes Istories de la Grant Bretagne a present nomme Engleterre, par Jehan de Waurin. Vol. i., Albina to embraces the period from the first fabled settlement in Britain to the author's own times, that is, to the expedition undertaken by king Edward IV. against the Bastard of Falconbridge, after the defeat and death of the prince of Wales and queen Margaret at Tewkesbury in 1471. It consists of six volumes, each volume being divided into six books; volume v. containing the period 1413-43; volume vi. that from 1443-71. For the fourteenth century there can be no doubt that Jean borrows a good deal from Froissart. His merits and claims to rank as an independent authority are discussed by Mr. Hardy in his Introduction (vol. i. pp. clv-ccx). СНАР. Wor V. Collections. WILLIAM OF WORCESTER (also known as 'the Bot- William of toner'), was born at Bristol about the year 1415, and cester's received his education at Oxford at the expense of Sir Annalsand John Fastolf, with whom he afterwards lived at Caistor in Norfolk, and in relation to whom he filled the several functions of esquire, historian, and executor. He died about 1490. Worcester was a man of considerable learning, and was indefatigable in the study of the antiquities of the kingdom; but his Annales Rerum Anglicarum, which extend from A.D. 1324-1491, exhibit no merits beyond those of the ordinary chronicler. Besides the Annales, Worcester compiled certain 'Collections concerning the Affairs of Normandy and France,' in French.2 The most important source of information with respect to the last-named subject is, however, the Chronicle of JEAN LE BEL,3 a native of Liège and of noble family, Jean le Bel. A.D. 688; vol. ii. A.D. 1399-1422; vol. iii. 1422-1431. Edited by W. Hardy. R. S. 1864-79. A translation of vol. i. by Mr. Hardy has also appeared. R. S. 1864. In vol. ii. of the Liber Niger Scaccarii (ed. Hearne, 1771); also in Letters and Papers illustrative of the Wars of the English in France (supra, p. 290, note 2) vol. ii. pt. ii. 2 Also included in Mr. Stevenson's collection. Jehan le Bel. Chroniques. Edi ed by M. I.. Polain. 1863. CHAP. b. 1337. d. 1410. . who, together with his brother served under Jean of Hainault in the expedition undertaken by Edward III. against the Scots at the commencement of his reign. The writer was himself participant in many of the events which he describes, and his experiences in England having made him familiar with the habits and characteristics of those to whom he was opposed by nationality, his narrative is comparatively free from unjust prejudices. The period it embraces is that extending from A.D. 1326 to 1361, and it thus corresponds with the first part of Froissart. the first book of FROISSART, by whom it was adopted as the basis of his better-known work, in which graphic and lively description but imperfectly compensates for his want of trustworthiness as an authority. Froissart continues the subject to the year 1400, when his place is supplied by the Chronicles of Enguerrand de MONSTRELET, Monstrelet who treats at length of the English war and the English expulsion from Normandy, his work terminating with the year 1467. For the events of the years 1449 and 1450, however, the most detailed account is that contained in the narrative of ROBERT BLONDEL, entitled de Reductione Normanniae.1 Blondel was a Norman and attached successively to the courts of the queen of Sicily and Charles VII. He records with considerable minuteness and precision the incidents that occurred in Normandy, Brittany, and France, from the capture of Fougères, when the truce between England and France was broken, to the defeat and final expulsion of the English after the loss of Cherbourg. Allowing for occas onal acerbities of expression, his narrative may be accepted as a fair and honest representation of events. Enguer rand de b. 1390. d. 1453. Robert b. 1390. d. 1460. The Historie of the Arrivall of Edward IV. in Eng 'Narratives of the Expulsion of the English from Normandy, 1449–50. Robertus Blondelli de Reductione Normanniae etc. Ed. J. Stevenson. P.S. 1863. land, contains the best contemporary account of the final overthrow of the Lancastrian party. The editor has also furnished in the Preface an instructive criticism of the writers from whom we chiefly derive our knowledge of this period, and who were especially followed by the chroniclers. СНАР, Historie of vall of Ed the Arri ward IV. Letters. For the social causes which mainly conduced to the Wars of the Roses, Mr. Gairdner's valuable Prefaces to his edition of the Paston Letters should be studied, to- Paston gether with the letters themselves. While destitute, for the most part, of any literary interest or charm, this remarkable collection brings very clearly before us the degraded moral sense, the coarseness of feeling, and the rude manners characteristic of domestic life in England at this period. The letters are also of service as showing the real character of Jack Cade's rebellion, and the ruthless spirit in which party warfare was carried on in the counties. They illustrate, in short, the conditions under which the reactionary rule of the Tudor dynasty became possible. Lincoln A Chronicle of the Rebellion in Lincolnshire in 1470 The Reis valuable not only as detailing particulars, not else- bellion in where found, of an obscure episode in the great struggle, shire. but as proceeding from a writer instructed by the king's government, and who appeals to documents throughout." For the literary history of the period, the Philobiblon of RICHARD OF BURY is of considerable value; while 'Historie of the Arrivall of Edward IV. in England and the final Recoverye of his Kingdomes from Henry VI. A.D. 1471. Edited by John Bruce. C. S. 1838. 2 The Paston Letters. Edited by James Gairdner. 3 vols. 1872 1875. 1847. Edited by John Gough Nichols for Camden Miscellany, vol. i. C. S. The best edition is that by M. Cocheris, in 2 vols. (Paris, 1856.) A good abstract of the treatise is given by professor Morley in his English Writers, vol. ii. pt. i. pp. 49-57. Richard of Bury and Pecock. CHAP. Continuation of the Croyland the theological and scholastic tendencies of the age are reflected in the pages of the Repressor of REGINALD PECOCK.' The Continuation of the Croyland Chronicle, by more than one hand, is a genuine continuation of the spurious Chronicle. work ascribed to Ingulphus (supra, p. 255), and carries on the history to the year 1486; in the great dearth of historical writers on the latter years of the reign of Henry VI. and on the reign of Edward IV., this narrative, meagre though it be, becomes of no slight importance. The Chronicle of JOHN WARKWORTH also preserves some valuable details with respect to the latter period.3 Warkworth's Chronicle. More's Richard III. The account of Edward V. and Richard III. by SIR THOMAS MORE,1 may be accepted as virtually that of a contemporary, the facts having been in all probability communicated by his patron, archbishop Morton, in whose household he was a page in his youth. As a literary composition, the work is also deserving of note from the contrast which it presents in its purity and vigour of diction to most of the historical productions of this century. Some of the diplomatic papers of Richard Papers of III. are to be found in the Letters and Papers edited by Mr. Gairdner." Richard III. The brief period of the nominal rule of Edward V. has been illustrated by a series of extracts from the The Repressor of over much Blaming of the Clergy. By Reginald Pecock, sometime Bishop of Winchester. 2 vols. Edited by Church.l Babington. B. D. R. S. 1860. 2 Printed in Gale's Scriptores, i. 451-593; see supra, p. 217. C. S. A Chronicle of the First Thirteen Years of the Reign of King Edward Ltters and Papers illustrative of the Reigns of Richard III. and |