Registra quorundam abbatum monasterii S. Albani, qui saeculo XVmo floruere

Between 1863 and 1876, the Rolls Series published several works from or about the abbey of St Albans, edited by Henry Thomas Riley (1816-78) under the rubric ‘Chronica monasterii S. Albani’. This two-volume contribution, covering the later fifteenth century, appeared in 1872-3. Volume 1 focuses on a text from MS. Arundel Coll. Arm. III, recording events from 1451 to 1461, the first ten years of the second abbacy of John Whethamstede. It is important for its references to early battles in the Wars of the Roses. Riley argues that this version of Whethamstede’s records was prepared by a compiler with a strong political agenda against one of Whethamstede’s senior monks, who had been a candidate for the office of abbot and was eventually elected in 1476. The volume includes an introduction, a detailed summary of the content, and English side-notes to the main Latin text.