Edited by the scholar Joseph Stevenson (1806–95) and published in 1875, this collection of medieval historical narratives, written by a variety of thirteenth-century English authors, is presented in the original Latin and French. Ralph of Coggeshall's chronicle relates events from the Norman Conquest to the early years of Henry III's reign, encompassing a number of eyewitness accounts, while Thomas Agnellus recounts in detail the short life of King Henry Junior, the rebellious eldest son of Henry II, who died before fully coming into his inheritance. The work also contains extracts from Gervase of Tilbury's eclectic universal history, an anonymous narrative of Christian exploits in the Holy Land from 1186 to 1188, and a literary account of the adventures of the infamous rebel Fulk FitzWarin. Together they illuminate many interesting aspects of medieval life, through tales of wonders, outlaws and crusading, offering rich insight into the reigns of the Angevins.
