This two-volume work was published as part of the Rolls Series between 1889 and 1895. A history of England, it deals principally with the period from 1066 until the death of author Henry Knighton around 1396. An introductory section of material largely drawn from Ranulf Higden adds what Knighton describes as necessary context to the recounting of the Norman Conquest. Volume 1 covers the period up to 1336, culminating in the murder of Edward II. Volume 2 begins in 1337 at the start of the Hundred Years' War and closes in a time of comparative peace under the rule of Richard II. As editor, Joseph Rawson Lumby (1831–95) has been criticised for oversights, errors and omissions. Nevertheless, his detailed contents and marginalia make the Latin text more accessible to the modern reader.