English chronicler

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Florence of Worcester, English chronicler. All that is known of his personal history is that he was a monk of Worcester and that he died in 1118. His "Chronicon ex Chronicis" is the first attempt made in England to write a universal chronicle from the creation onwards, but the universal part is based entirely on the work of Marianus Scotus an Irish monk who died at Mainz about 1082. To this Florence added a number of references to English history taken from Bede, the "Anglo-Saxon Chronicle", and various biographies. The portions borrowed from the "Chronicle" are of value because he used a version which has not been preserved. Florence begins to be an independent authority in 1030, and his "Chronicle" goes down to 1117; it is annalistic in form, but a very useful record of events. John, another monk of Worcester, continued the "Chronicon" to 1141, and other writers took it down to 1295. It has been edited for the English Historical Society by Benj. Thorpe (London, 1848-9, 2 vols.), and translated by Stevenson (Church Historians of England, Vol. II, pt. I, London, 1853); there is also an English version in Bohn's Antiquarian Library (London, 1854).

F.F. URQUHART