, the author of an old chronicle, not in much estimation, was a Benedictine
, the author of an old
chronicle, not in much estimation, was a Benedictine of
St. Werberg’s monastery in Chester, where he died about
1360, aged between eighty and ninety. He is thought to
have borrowed much from another monk of his monastery,
Roger Cestrensis, but probably both were indebted to the
same original materials, and both were sufficiently admirers
of the marvellous to compile works rather of curiosity than
of use, unless where they present us with the transactions
of their own time. Higden’s work was entitled “Polychronicon;
” Dr. Gale published that part which relates to
the Britons and Saxons among his“Quindecem Scriptores,
&c.
” But the greatest curiosity among collectors is the
English translation of the “Polychronicon,
” by John de
Trevisa, printed by Caxton in 14S2, folio, in seven books,
to which Caxton added an eighth. The most magnificent
copy of this work extant is in the library of earl Spencer.
There are also copies in his majesty’s collection, in the
Bodleian and British Museum, and in Mr. Heber’s library.
The “Chester Mysteries,
” exhibited in that city in