Description

Between 1863 and 1876, the Rolls Series published several works about the abbey of St Albans, edited by Henry Thomas Riley (1816-78) under the rubric 'Chronica monasterii S. Albani'. This account of the achievements of its abbots was compiled and enlarged by Thomas Walsingham (c.1340-c.1422), who supervised the scriptorium at St Albans until 1394, and wrote several other historical works. It appeared in three volumes between 1867 and 1869, with English side-notes to the Latin text. The early part of the Gesta reworks earlier accounts, including that by Matthew Paris (d. 1259), but the section covering 1308-93 was composed by Walsingham himself and is an important primary source for fourteenth-century English history. Volume 1 covers the time from the abbey's foundation in 793 to 1290. Volume 2 focuses on the period from 1290 to 1349, and Volume 3 covers Thomas's own lifetime, up to 1393.