The Durham Latin Prose "Brut" to 1347 with a Continuation to 1348: A Nationalistic Chronicle of England and Its Manuscripts

Abstract

This article re-examines the unedited Durham Latin Prose "Brut" chronicle and its manuscript tradition in light of the discovery of a previously unknown manuscript. The Durham "Brut" covers the history of England from its legendary origins through the English victories over Scotland and France in 1346–47. The chronicle's later years are related to those in two other important late-medieval chronicles, the Anonimalle Chronicle and the Lanercost Chronicle, and for a short section of John of Washington's later chronicle. Only one witness of the Durham "Brut" was known until 2011, when another was identified with a 1347–48 continuation in a seventeenth-century hand. This article identifies an additional medieval witness that also includes the continuation. This article examines all three manuscripts together to track their development through both layout and a word by word comparison of a section of the text (Edward III's 1346 invasion of Normandy). This article will serve as a starting point for future editors of this neglected but important chronicle, written during a time of great change in English culture and national identity.