The chronicle that was written by Ralph, abbot of the Cistercian abbey of Coggeshall in England, is one of the few contemporary chronicle sources for the reigns of Kings Richard (1189–99) and John (1199–1216), and is the unique source for some famous events in English history. There are several early manuscripts, including one, Cotton Vespasian D. x in the British Library, that contains numerous corrections, additions, and interfoliations of an authorial nature. Ralph's hand is here identified and tracked over time. The evidence of this and other manuscripts from Coggeshall reveals how energetic Ralph and his monks were in assembling historical materials and how creative in finding routes to publication.
The lecture is also streamed through Zoom. To obtain the Zoom meeting ID and passcode, please contact to Mr. Olli-Pekka Kasurinen (olli.kasurinen@helsinki.fi).
Dr Willoughby visits the ERC project Medieval Publishing and the AoF project Authorial Publication in Early Medieval Europe at the University of Helsinki.