Polychronicon Ranulphi Higden, Monachi Cestrensis

Ranulf Higden (d. 1364) was a monk at the abbey of St Werburgh in Chester. His most important literary work is this universal chronicle, which survives in over a hundred Latin manuscripts, testifying to its popularity. The earliest version of it dates from 1327, but Higden continued writing until his death, expanding and updating the text. It was also continued in other monastic houses, most importantly by John Malvern of Worcester. The English translation made by John Trevisa in the 1380s was also widely circulated and is included in this work, published in nine volumes for the Rolls Series between 1865 and 1886. The chronicle shows how fourteenth-century scholars understood world history and geography. Volume 5 concludes Book 4, covering the later Roman Empire and the Saxon invasion of Britain. The first part of Book 5 concentrates on the spread of Christianity in Anglo-Saxon England.