Description

Part of the Rolls Series of publications of historical documents, this five-volume collection, originally compiled in the fifteenth century, is the first history of England of this magnitude, spanning almost two millennia. It is the work of French knight Jean de Wavrin (c.1400-c.1473), a chronicler under Philip the Good and Charles the Bold, Dukes of Burgundy. Wavrin participated in several military expeditions, including some under the English banner, and was keen to keep the kingdom as an ally. The editor, archivist and antiquarian Sir William Hardy (1807-87), points out that Wavrin selected the best-known oral and written materials and added his own first-hand observations to tell a fascinating story with a profusion of details. Volume 3, published in 1879, begins with the death of Henry V and ends with the trial of Joan of Arc.