- Jean Froissart
Jean Froissart (c.1337 - c.1405) was one of the most important of the chroniclers of medieval France. For centuries, "Froissart's Chronicles" have been recognized as the chief expression of the chivalric revival of the 14th century Kingdom of England and France. His history is also one of the most important sources for the first half of the Hundred Years' War.
- Orderic Vitalis
Orderic Vitalis (1075-c. 1142) was an English chronicler who wrote one of the great contemporary chronicles of 11th and 12th century Normandy and England. He was the eldest son of a French priest, Odeler of Orleans, who had entered the service of Roger of Montgomery, 1st Earl of Shrewsbury, and had received from his patron a chapel in that city. When Orderic was five, his parents sent him from an English priest, Siward by name, …
- Guaman Poma
Felipe Guaman Poma de Ayala, best known as Guaman Poma or Human Poma, (c. 1550 - after 1616) was an indigenous Peruvian who became disillusioned with the treatment of the native peoples of the Andes by the Spanish after conquest.
- Adam Of Bremen
Adam of Bremen (also: Adam Bremensis) was one of the most important German medieval chroniclers. He lived and worked in the second half of the 11th century. He is most famous for his chronicle "Gesta Hammaburgensis Ecclesiae Pontificum" ("Deeds of Bishops of the Hamburg Church").
- Raphael Holinshed
Raphael Holinshed (died c. 1580) was an English chronicler, whose work, commonly known as "Holinshed's Chronicles", was one of the major sources used by William Shakespeare for a number of his plays. Raphael Holinshed, or Raphael Hollingshead, probably belonged to a Cheshire family. Relatively little is known about him. He is thought to have come from Cheshire, but lived in London, where he worked as a translator for the printer Reginald Wolfe.
- Robert Of Gloucester
Robert of Gloucester wrote a chronicle of British, English, and Norman history sometime in the mid- or late-thirteenth century. The "Chronicle" survives in some 16 manuscripts, ranging in date from the early fourteenth to mid-fifteenth centuries, and was of considerable interest to contemporaries and antiquarian scholars.
- Giovanni Villani
Giovanni Villani ("ca" 1275-1348), the Florentine writer of the famous chronicles (the "Cronica") is the greatest Italian chronicler of his own times and the cornerstone of the early medieval history of Florence. His interest in economic details makes him the most modern of the late medieval chroniclers. Villani was born into the Florentine merchant middle class, the son of Villano di Stoldo, …
- Edward Hall
Edward Hall (also Halle; c. 1498-1547), English chronicler and lawyer, was born about the end of the 15th century, being a son of John Hall of Northall, Shropshire. Educated at Eton and King's College, Cambridge, he became a barrister and after-wards filled the offices of common sergeant of the city of London and judge of the sheriff's court. He was also member of parliament for Bridgnorth.
- Walter Bower
Walter Bower or Bowmaker (1385-1449), Scottish chronicler, was born about 1385 at Haddington, East Lothian. He was abbot of Inchcolm Abbey (in the Firth of Forth) from 1418, was one of the commissioners for the collection of the ransom of James I, King of Scots, in 1423 and 1424, and in 1433 one of the embassy to Paris on the business of the marriage of the king's daughter to the dauphin.
- Symeon Of Durham
Symeon (or Simeon) of Durham (d. after 1129), English chronicler, embraced the monastic life before the year 1083 in the monastery of Jarrow; but only made his profession at a later date, after he had removed with the rest of his community to Durham. He was author of two historical works which are particularly valuable for northern affairs. He composed his "Historia ecclesiae Dunelmensis", extending to the year 1096, …
- Hydatius
Hydatius, bishop of Aquae Flaviae in the Roman province of Gallaecia (almost certainly the modern Chaves, Portugal, in the modern district of Vila Real) was the author of a chronicle of his own times that provides us with our best evidence for the history of Hispania in the 5th century.
- Inca Garcilaso de la Vega
Garcilaso de la Vega was an illustrious Peruvian poet and acclaimed writer on the subject of the Incas. He is more commonly known as "El Inca" Garcilaso de la Vega, or simply "El Inca". Born of Spanish aristocratic and royal Inca roots, he was the son of Spanish conquistador Sebastián Garcilaso de la Vega y Vargas (died 1559) and Inca princess Isabel Suárez Chimpu Ocllo, …
- Bar-Hebraeus
Bar-Hebraeus (b. 1226 near Malatya, Sultanate of Rûm (modern Turkey) - d. 30 July 1286 in Maraga, Persia) was "catholicos" (bishop) of the Syriac Orthodox Church in the 13th century. He is noted for his works addressing philosophy, poetry, language, history, and theology; he has been called "one of the most learned and versatile men from the Syriac Orthodox Church" (Dr. William Wright). Bar-Hebraeus was born with the Arabic name.
- Thomas Walsingham
Thomas Walsingham (d. c. 1422), English chronicler, was probably educated at St Albans Abbey at St Albans, Hertfordshire, and at Oxford.
- John Of Worcester
John of Worcester (died circa 1140) was an English monk and chronicler. John was the author of the "Chronicon ex chronicis", a work which was formerly attributed to Florence of Worcester. The "Chronicon ex chronicis" begins with the creation and ends in 1140. It was previously believed that that only the final part of the work was written by John.
- Flodoard
Flodoard was a French chronicler. He was born at Épernay, and educated at Reims in the cathedral school which had been established by Archbishop Fulcon (822-900). As canon of Reims, and favourite of the archbishops Herivaeus (d. 922) and Seulfus (d. 925), he occupied while still young an important position at the archiepiscopal court, but was twice deprived of his benefices by Herbert II, Count of Vermandois, …
- Fernão Lopes
Fernão Lopes, was a Portuguese chronicler, appointed by King Edward I of Portugal. Fernão Lopes wrote the History of Portugal as it was known at the time. His writing was based on oral expression and revealed his common roots. He even says that in his "pages one cannot find the beauty of words but the nudity of the truth." He was an autodidact and one of the last representatives of popular knowledge. By the time of his death a new kind of knowledge was rising, …
- Geoffrey Keating
Seathrún Céitinn, known in English as Geoffrey Keating, was a 17th century Irish clergyman, poet and historian. He was born in Burgess, Ballylooby, just outside Cahir in County Tipperary in ca. 1569, and died ca. 1644. He is buried in Tubrid Graveyard in the parish of Ballylooby-Duhill. In November 1603, he was one of forty students who sailed for Bordeaux under the charge of the Rev.
- Galbert Of Bruges
Galbert of Bruges (Galbertus notarius Brugensis in Latin) (d.1134) was a Flemish cleric and chronicler. Administrator and notary to Count Charles the Good, he is known for his Latin account "De multro, traditione et occisione gloriosi Karoli comitis Flandriarum" of the Count's murder in 1127. He subsequently worked for William Clito.
- Rigord
Rigord (Rigordus) (c. 1150-c. 1209) was a French chronicler, was probably born near Alais in Languedoc, and became a physician. After becoming a monk he entered the monastery of Argenteuil, and then that of Saint-Denis, and described himself as "regis Francorum chronographus". Rigord wrote the "Gesta Philippi Augusti", dealing with the life of the French king, Philip Augustus, from his coronation in 1179 until 1206.
- Lambert Of Ardres
Lambert of Ardres was a French twelfth century chronicler. He was a parish priest at Ardres, and related to the Counts of Guînes. He wrote for that family a "Historia comitum Ghisnensium", between 1194 and 1198. It is mixture of history and folklore. It also contains a contemporary description of a donjon.
- Gislebert Of Mons
Gislebert (or Gilbert) of Mons (c. 1150-1225) was the Flemish chronicler whose "Chronicon Hanoniense" ("Chronicle of Hainaut") is an essential eye-witness source for events affecting his parton Baldwin V, Count of Hainaut Gislebert became a clerk, and obtained the positions of provost of the churches of St. Germanus at Mons and St. Alban at Namur, in addition to several other ecclesiastical appointments.
- Andrew Of Wyntoun
Andrew Wyntoun, known as Andrew of Wyntoun ("c." 1350 - 1420) was a Scottish poet, a canon and prior of Loch Leven on St Serf's Inch and later, a canon of St. Andrews. Andrew Wyntoun is most famous for his completion of an eight-syllabled metre entitled, "Orygynale Cronykil of Scotland" (which marks the earliest mention of "Robin Hood"). Wyntoun wrote the 'Chronicle' at the request of his patron, Sir John of Wemyss, …
- Jan Długosz
Jan Długosz, also known as Joannes, Ioannes or Johannes Longinus or Dlugossius, was a Polish chronicler, diplomat, soldier, and secretary to Bishop Zbigniew Cardinal Oleśnicki of Kraków. He is best known for his "Annales seu cronici incliti regni Poloniae" ("The Annals of Jan Długosz"), covering events in southeastern Europe, but also in Western Europe, from 965 to 1480, the year he died.
- Chronicle Of Fredegar
The "Chronicle of Fredegar" is a chronicle that recounts the events of Frankish Gaul from 584 to around 641. Later authors continued the history to the coronation of Charlemagne and his brother Carloman on 9 October 768. John Michael Wallace-Hadrill notes that this work "occupies a vital position in the history of Frankish Gaul ... first, because of the intrinsic importance of the information it contains; and secondly, …
- John Clyn
Brother John Clyn of the Friars Minor, Kilkenny was a 14th century Irish monk and chronicler who lived at the time of the Black Death. When the plague struck Clyn's monastery, it infected and ultimately killed every member. Clyn, the last survivor and infected himself, kept a journal in which he chronicled the deaths of every other person in his world. After burying the last of his brothers, he wrote: "So that notable deeds should not perish with time, …
- Liutprand Of Cremona
Liutprand (also Liudprand, Luitprand; c. 922 - 972) was a Lombard historian and author, and bishop of Cremona. He was born towards the beginning of the 10th century, to a good family. In 931 he entered service as page to Hugh of Arles, who kept court at Pavia as King of Italy and who married the notorious and powerful Marozia of Rome. He was educated at the court and became a cleric at the Cathedral of Pavia.
- Theophanes The Confessor
Saint Theophanes Confessor (c. 758/760 - March 17, 817/818) was an aristocratic but ascetic Byzantine monk and chronicler. He is venerated on March 12 in the Roman Catholic Church and on March 25 in the Eastern Orthodox Church.
- Regino Of Prüm
Reginon or Regino of Prüm was a Benedictine abbot and medieval chronicler.
- Nestor The Chronicler
Nestor (c. 1056 - c. 1114) was the reputed author of the earliest East Slavic chronicle, the "Lives of St Theodosius" and of "Boris and Gleb", and of the so-called "Reading". Nestor was a monk of the Kiev Monastery of the Caves from 1073. The only other detail of his life that is reliably known is that he was commissioned with two other monks to find the relics of St Theodosius, a mission which he succeeded in fulfilling.
- Antonio Pigafetta
Antonio Pigafetta (c. 1491 - c. 1534), was an Italian navigator born in Vicenza. He paid a large sum of money to accompany and assist the Portuguese captain Ferdinand Magellan and his Spanish crew on their trip around the world. During the voyage, he kept an accurate journal which later assisted him in translating one of the Philippine languages, Cebuano. It is the first recorded document concerning this language.
- Richard Of Hexham
Richard of Hexham (fl. 1141),English chronicler, became prior of Hexham about 1141, and died between 1163 and 1178. He wrote "Brevis Annotatio", a short history of the church of Hexham from 674 to 1138, for which he borrowed from Bede, Eddius and Symeon of Durham. This is published by James Raine in "The Priory of Hexham, its Chroniclers, Endowments and Annals" (Durham, 1864 to 1865).
- Blas Valera
Blas Valera was born in Chachapoyas in 1545. Although the author of the "Comentarios Reales de los Incas" believed that Valera was born in Cajamarca, it is proved that he was born in the city of Chachapoyas. Valera is considered to be the son of Luis Valera, one of the illustrated men who accompanied Pizarro in the conquest. He established himself in this city since its foundation. The mother of this out-standing Chachapoyano writer was Francisca Pérez, …
- Geoffrey Gaimar
Geoffrey Gaimar (flourished 1140?), was an Anglo-Norman chronicler. Gaimar's most significant contribution to medieval literature and history is as a translator from Old English to Anglo-Norman. His "L'Estoire des Engles" translates extensive portions of the "Anglo-Saxon Chronicle" as well as using Latin and French sources. It is an octosyllabic rhymed chronicle written between 1136 and 1137 for Constance, wife of Ralph FitzGilbert, a Lincolnshire landowner.
- Robert Fabyan
Robert Fabyan (died 1513), chronicler, was born in London, of which he became an Alderman and Sheriff. He kept a diary of notable events, which he expanded into a chronicle, which he entitled, "The Concordance of Histories". It covers the period from the arrival of Brutus in England to the death of King Henry VII of England, and deals mainly with the affairs of London.
- Jean Molinet
Jean Molinet (1435 - August 23, 1507) was a French poet, chronicler, and composer. He is best remembered for his prose translation of "Roman de la rose". Born in Desvres, which is now part of France, he studied in Paris. He entered the service of Charles, Duke of Burgundy from 1463, becoming secretary to Georges Chastellain; in 1464 he wrote "La complainte de Grece", a political work presenting the Burgundian side in current affairs.
- John Of Hexham
John of Hexham (c. 1160-1209) was an English chronicler, known to us merely as the author of a work called the "Historia XXV. annorum", which continues the "Historia regum" of Symeon of Durham, and contains an account of English events from 1130 to 1153. From the title, as given in the only manuscript, we learn John's name and the fact that he was prior of Hexham.
- Peregrine O'Duignan
Peregrine O'Duignan, Irish clergyman and historian, fl. 1627-1636. Born Cu Coigriche mac Tuathal O Duibhgeannain, presumably about or after 1590, his name was Latinized to Pereginus (anglicized Peregrine) when he took holy orders in the Franciscan Order based at Leuven. Cu Coigriche (also Cuchogry) means "hound [or hero] of the neighbouring[or foreign] land." His family, the Clan O Duibhgeannain, …
- Jans der Enikel
Jans der Enikel, i.e. "Jans the Grandson" was a Viennese poet and historian of the late 13th century. He wrote a "Weltchronik" (history of the world) and a "Fürstenbuch" (history of Vienna), both in Middle High German verse. The "Weltchronik" tells the history of the world, starting even before the six-day creation by telling of Satan's rebellion in Heaven, and relating the Biblical stories of the Old Testament (oddly not the New), …
- Miron Costin
Miron Costin, also known under the title "Poema polonă" ("The Polish poem").