The Anglo Saxon Survival Guide

Back to the Anglo Saxon Survival Guide Index
Back to Archeology and Records

The Anglo Saxon Chronicle was originally compiled on the orders of King Alfred the Great in around A.D. 890, and aterwards maintained and expanded to by generations of anonymous scribes until the middle of the 12th Century.

The original language was Anglo-Saxon (Old English), but later entries were made in Middle English.

Various manuscripts of the Anglo Saxon Chronicle survive to today and have been translated into modern English. This is where they are kept:

Known "Anglo-Saxon Chronicle" MS:
A-Prime The Parker Chronicle (Corpus Christi College, Cambridge, MS. 173)
A Cottonian Fragment (British Museum, Cotton MS. Otho B xi, 2)
B The Abingdon Chronicle I (British Museum, Cotton MS. Tiberius A vi.)
C The Abingdon Chronicle II (British Museum, Cotton MS. Tiberius B i.)
D The Worcester Chronicle (British Museum, Cotton MS. Tiberius B iv.)
E The Laud (or "Peterborough") Chronicle (Bodleian, MS. Laud 636)
F The Bilingual Canterbury Epitome (British Museum, Cotton MS. Domitian A viii.) NOTE: Entries in English and Latin.
H Cottonian Fragment (British Museum, Cotton MS. Domitian A ix.)
I An Easter Table Chronicle (British Museum, Cotton MS. Caligula A xv.)