8 - Document: Edward I's Wars in the Chronicle of Hagnaby Priory

Summary

Edward I's wars have yielded a splendid range of documentary evidence. Accounts enable the composition of armies to be studied in remarkable detail. Cavalry retinues can be reconstructed, and infantry numbers and desertion rates calculated. Heraldic lists recorded those present on campaigns, and they can be compared with pay accounts, to demonstrate the scale of unpaid service. The quantities of food supplies are listed in detail; even the calorific value of the daily rations provided for soldiers on garrison duty can be worked out. In contrast, the chronicles describing the king's wars against the Welsh, the French and the Scots are thin, certainly in comparison to those for the Hundred Years War. Walter of Guisborough provides the fullest account, but there is a suspiciously inventive quality to some of his work, notably with the dialogue that he uses to elaborate his narrative. It is therefore surprising that more use has not been made of the chronicle written at Hagnaby in Lincolnshire, now preserved in the British Library as Cotton Manuscript Vespasian B.xi. For Edward's reign it is independent of other chronicles, and uniquely for this period, it contains newsletters providing valuable detail. Though some extracts have been published, it has never been edited in full, no doubt at least partly because of the garbled quality of some of the Latin, and because much of it is of relatively little value. It is, however, very useful for providing insights into Edward I's wars, particularly in Wales and France.