The Brut Chronicle

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Composed in Anglo-Norman sometime after 1272, then extended to 1333, and, finally, in about 1400 translated into English; includes second continuation, believed to have been written around 1430, that extends the account from 1377 to 1419.

For more details, including collation, script and decoration information, and subject headings, please see the detailed catalog record in the Dartmouth College Library catalog, from which this text has been taken.

The earliest prose chronicle in English, this copy starts with the legendary hero Brutus' conquest of Albion and continues, with the second continuation, to 1419 and Henry V's siege of Rouen; opening folio defective and shriveled with loss of text and illuminated border, one further leaf with outer third of fol. lacking, 4 further leaves with sections of lower or outer margin excised or torn away not affecting text; vellum darkened and spotted throughout, a few tears or nibbles, condition rarely affecting legibility. It is written in single column of 36 lines, in brown ink between two pairs of verticals scored or faintly ruled. Includes some decoration and marginal inscriptions in fifteenth and sixteenth century hands.