Book contents
- Frontmatter
- Contents
- List of plates
- Dedication
- Acknowledgements
- Abbreviations
- A note on quotations and translations
- Introduction
- 1 The rhetoric of confidence in the prologues to Anglo-Norman prose chronicles
- 2 The legendary history of Britain in Anglo-Norman prose chronicles
- 3 Legends of English heroes: Engel, Havelok, Constance
- 4 Representations of the Norman Conquest in Anglo-Norman prose chronicles
- 5 Family chronicles
- Conclusions
- Appendix: Two extracts from the Scalacronica: texts and translations
- Bibliography
- Index
- YORK MEDIEVAL PRESS: PUBLICATIONS
3 - Legends of English heroes: Engel, Havelok, Constance
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 05 May 2013
- Frontmatter
- Contents
- List of plates
- Dedication
- Acknowledgements
- Abbreviations
- A note on quotations and translations
- Introduction
- 1 The rhetoric of confidence in the prologues to Anglo-Norman prose chronicles
- 2 The legendary history of Britain in Anglo-Norman prose chronicles
- 3 Legends of English heroes: Engel, Havelok, Constance
- 4 Representations of the Norman Conquest in Anglo-Norman prose chronicles
- 5 Family chronicles
- Conclusions
- Appendix: Two extracts from the Scalacronica: texts and translations
- Bibliography
- Index
- YORK MEDIEVAL PRESS: PUBLICATIONS
Summary
If some Anglo-Norman prose chronicles drew on the legendary matter of the Historia Regum Britannie for their account of British history, most relied on more sober sources to provide the spine of their narratives of Anglo-Saxon England before the Norman Conquest. Bede, Henry, archdeacon of Huntingdon, William of Malmesbury and Ranulf Higden were all heavily used by Anglo-Norman chronicle writers. However, these canonical works did not always satisfy the authors of Anglo- Norman prose chronicles. In this chapter, I will consider these works' approach to Anglo-Saxon history through one method by which they reconstruct this past for their own time: their incorporation of legends about English heroes. These heroes were Anglo-Norman inventions or elaborations, such as Guy of Warwick, Bevis of Hampton and Havelok, and the stories told about them were not part of most earlier canonical histories. Although the canonical works were the main source of historical information for these Anglo-Norman chronicles' accounts of the Anglo-Saxon period, the names and deeds of legendary figures were frequently added into the vernacular works. Incorporating these heroes into their narratives of pre-Conquest England was therefore a deliberate attempt by the chronicles to augment their authoritative sources.
- Type
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- Information
- Reimagining History in Anglo-Norman Prose Chronicles , pp. 74 - 104Publisher: Boydell & BrewerPrint publication year: 2013