They were all forsworn and their oaths broken. they had done him homage and sworn oaths of fealty to him, but not one of their oaths was kept. When the traitors saw that Stephen was a mild good-humoured man who inflicted no punishment, then they committed all manner of horrible crimes. 'In the days of this King, there was nothing but strife, evil and robbery, for quickly the great men who were traitors rose against him. The sufferings of the common people during the Civil War of Stephen and Matilda are also vividly described:. Then King Harold was killed, and Earl Leofwine his brother, and Earl Grythe his brother, and many good men, and the French remained masters of the field.' But the king nevertheless fought hard against him, with the men who were willing to support him, and there were heavy casualties on both sides. And William came against him by surprise before his army was drawn up in battle array. King Harold was informed of this and he assembled a large army and came against him at the hoary apple tree. 'Then Count William came from Normandy to Pevensey on Michaelmas Eve, and as soon as they were able to move on they built a castle at Hastings. The chronicle records the Battle of Hastings:. Reporting on the reign of King Egbert, it states:. Its early entries are essentially an official history of the Wessex dynasty and it is one of the few literary sources we possess for England's history during the period. The Chronicle is the oldest history of any European country in a vernacular language. Six of these copies are kept at the British Library. The other, known as the Peterborough Chronicle is recorded in Old English except for the last entry, which is in early Middle English. Another version survives in Old English with a translation of each annal into Latin. Of these seven are written entirely in the Anglo-Saxon language. Nine versions of the chronicle have survived to the present day.

One particular version of the chronicle was still being actively updated in 1154 and dates to the end of King Stephen's reign. The Anglo-Saxon Chronicle began to be compiled in around 890 A.D., at the command of King Alfred the Great (871- 899) and consists of a series of annals written in the Old English language.Īlfred ordered that copies be made of the original manuscripts and distributed to monasteries across the length and breadth of England, which were to be regularly updated.

The Anglo Saxon Chronicle by Various