|
|
Article: A history for England: confusion between English and British history goes back a long way, as Alan MacColl reveals.
- Article from:
- History Today
- Article date:
- January 1, 2006
- Author:
CopyrightCOPYRIGHT 2006 History Today Ltd. This material is published under license from the publisher through the Gale Group, Farmington Hills, Michigan. All inquiries regarding rights should be directed to the Gale Group. (Hide copyright information)
|
IN 1154 THE MONKS of Peterborough Abbey made the final entries in what was, so far as we know, the last active version of the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle. The main events they recorded were the death of King Stephen, the accession of Henry II, the death of their abbot, and the appointment of his successor. So ended a tradition that had begun when the historical records of the English people were brought together in the ninth century, during the reign of Alfred Great. It would be two hundred years before the nation's history was written in English again.
In the following year, 1155, the Norman poet Wace completed his Roman de Brut, a history of the Britons adapted from ...