When Edward IV became king of England in 1461, the prominent Austin friar John Capgrave found himself in an unenviable position. Having spent his professional lifetime constructing a network of patrons among the Lancastrian party that had ruled the country since the beginning of the century, he now found himself compelled to cultivate the Yorkist regime. To this end, sometime after Edward's accession but before the author's death in 1464, Capgrave prepared for dispatch to the new king a book containing his Abbreuiacion of Cronicles, a collection of annotations on universal history running from Creation until 1417. This book, now Cambridge, University Library MS Gg. 4. 12, has been identified as a Capgrave autograph, that is, as a manuscript transmitting a text that is written in its author's own hand. In the preface dedicating the Cronicles to Edward, Capgrave explains the rationale behind the layout that he has chosen for his work. He presents the text annalistically in order to clarify its chronological progression and to leave space for subsequent additions:

This preamble and the notes that follow it are primarily designed to facilitate the consultation of the Cronicles: “These reules had in mynde þe reder schal more parfitely vndirstand þis book,” Capgrave concludes (8/6–7).