New Dating for The Chronicle from Rollo to Edward IV

Abstract

The Chronicle from Rollo to Edward IV is a brief Yorkist chronicle written to establish Edward IV’s legitimacy, outlining his claims to the crowns of ‘England and of Fraunce of Castell and of Legeons and to the Duchie of Normandie’.1 The chronicle concludes by explaining Edward IV’s claim to the French crown, but it begins with the foundation of the Duchy of Normandy and traces the English crown genealogically from William the Conqueror up to Edward III. At this point, the structure of the account shifts and it turns to an examination of the descendants of Edward III’s many children. It is in its treatment of this complex period of English history that the chronicle becomes decidedly Yorkist. Raluca Radulescu writes, ‘The Yorkist bias of both the scribe and the reader of the chronicle is evident in the underlining of the Yorkist claims to the crown of England … and the Yorkist claim to the crowns of France and Castile’.2 The chronicle does little to hide its bias. In summing up Henry IV through Henry VI, the chronicler writes: Thies thre Harryes hath kepte the Crowne and occupied the Crowne of England fro[m] the rightfull hheires this iijxx yeres and thre. And blissed be god it is nowe the moste partie knowe with the Spiritualte and also with the Temp[or]al[i]te.3