John Hardyng's Chronicle: An Edition of the Second Version

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John Hardyng's verse Chronicle survives in two noticeably different versions, both of which were composed during a period of intense civil unrest and political uncertainty, commonly known as The Wars of the Roses. Charting the succession of British and English monarchs from Britain's mythical naissance to 1437, the first version was presented to Henry VI in 1457; at 2674 stanzas and 7 folios of prose long, it survives in a single manuscript. Within three years Hardyng began revising the history for his sovereign's political rival, Richard, duke of York, to take into account York's election as Henry VI's successor. Though the duke died before the work was completed, Hardyng continued his revision for York's son, Edward IV, extending the Chronicle's coverage to 1464. A crucial piece of Yorkist propaganda, incorporating genealogical evidence of Edward's entitlement to the thrones of Britain, France, Spain, Portugal and Jerusalem, and romance materials which align York with King Arthur and the Holy Grail, this shorter version (1771 stanzas and 12 folios of prose) enjoyed greater popularity than the original, surviving in twelve manuscripts, three fragments, and two sixteenth-century prints. It featured prominently in the glut of pro-Yorkist literature produced in the capital c. 1460-80, where the majority of the manuscripts were produced, and it influenced later writers, such as Malory, Rous, Fabyan, Stow, Spenser, Shakespeare, and Milton.Despite the fact that the Chronicle, in both forms, is a valuable resource for scholars of medieval and early modern literature, fifteenth-century history, and the history of the book, neither version has received the consideration it deserves with regard to the complex socio-political context which led to its composition and revision, to the contribution it makes to a wider body of historiographical writing in late medieval Britain (especially given that it is written in the vernacular), to Hardyng's idiosyncratic conception of British history, to the material remains of the medieval book trade preserved in the extant manuscripts and prints, or to the way in which the second version was used by later authors.Part of the reason for this neglect has been accessibility. Whilst Simpson and Peverley's scholarly edition (2010/11) has addressed the absence of an edition the first version, to date there is no widely accessible, suitably 'readable', or properly annotated edition of the second version. Aside from the two editions printed by Richard Grafton in 1543, the only edition available to scholars is that published by Henry Ellis in 1812. Though commendable in its day, Ellis's edition is now inadequate. Based on Grafton's prints, it fails to take into account thirteen of the fifteen manuscripts and fragments, and handles the two manuscripts that it does provide variant readings from haphazardly.The aim of this project is to produce the first fully annotated scholarly edition of the second version of Hardyng's Chronicle, which brings together all that is currently known about the work's cultural, historical and material contexts. The edition will be published by Boydell and Brewer and read internationally by scholars and students interested in late medieval literature, history, and manuscript production. It will also be of interest to those interested in medieval kings, Arthurian literature, Scotland, heraldry, medieval warfare, and the local history of people and places of Northern England.More broadly, the resulting long-lasting, accessible resource will stimulate new interest in the function and reception of late medieval historiography. To this end, two research papers will be presented at international conferences, and a symposium on medieval historical writing will be held to coincide with the publication of the edition. This will hopefully be supported by a public exhibition on historical writing in the medieval and early modern periods at the Bodleian Library.