Anglo-Saxon Chronicle

The Anglo-Saxon Chronicle is a collection of annals in Old English chronicling the history of the Anglo-Saxons. The annals were initially created in the late 9th century, probably in Wessex, during the reign of Alfred the Great. Multiple manuscript copies were made and distributed to monasteries across England and independently updated. In one case, the chronicle was still being actively updated in 1154.

Nine manuscripts survive in whole or in part, but not all are of equal historical value, and none of them is the original version. The oldest seems to have been started towards the end of Alfred's reign, and the most recent was written at Peterborough Abbey after a fire at that monastery in 1116.

Almost all of the material in the chronicle is in the form of annals, by year; the earliest is dated at 60 BC, and historical material follows until the year in which the chronicle was written, when contemporary records begin. The manuscripts are collectively known as the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle.

The chronicle is not unbiased. There are occasions that comparison with other medieval sources makes it clear that the scribes who wrote it omitted events or told one-sided versions of stories. There are also places in which the different versions contradict one another.

Taken as a whole, the chronicle is the single most important historical source for the period in England between the end of Roman rule in Britain and the decades following the Norman Conquest. Much of the information in the chronicle is not recorded elsewhere. In addition, the manuscripts are important sources for the history of the English language; in particular, the later Peterborough Chronicle is one of the earliest examples of Middle English in existence.

Seven of the nine surviving manuscripts and fragments of the chronicle are now in the British Library. The remaining two are in the Bodleian Library, Oxford, and the Parker Library of Corpus Christi College, Cambridge.