Polycronycon

Description: 

Polycronycon Leaf
English (Westminster), 1482

Contributors:

Higden, Ranulf (English chronicler, born ca.1280 or 1299, died 1364)
Trevisa, John (Cornish translator, active 1385, died 1402)
Caxton, William (English printer, publisher, and translator, ca. 1427-1492)

Single leaf

Language: Middle English

height 27 cm
width 20 cm

Fragment: Leaf CCXXX from the first English edition of "The Polycronicon" by Ranulf Higden. Translated from Latin to English by John Trevisa. Edited and printed and with continuation by William Caxton. All three individuals are named on p. a3v of the original book.

Portland State University Library Special Collections
Mss 7, Rose-Wright Manuscript Collection no. 23
 

Brandon Metcalf, Medieval Portland Capstone Student, 2016
The Polychronicon was a text written by a 14th-century Benedictine monk, Ranulf Higden. This leaf comes from a version of the Polychronicon printed into a folio book by William Caxton in Westminster in 1482. The text of the Polychronicon details a universal biblical, mythological, and factual history.[1] The original Polychronicon, written by Ranulf Higden, was comprised of seven separate manuscripts; Caxton collected these and printed them in a 450-page book.[6] 

The leaf’s text is set in a single column, in a gothic style font, an English Bastard, a font which is more suited to vernacular English, for being easy to read.[2] The font is printed in a simple black ink and the text is notated with red printed paragraph marks, known as a pilcrow. The second section of the leaf begins with a stylized red A. The colors on the page are extremely bright and have not faded despite their age. Because Caxton’s edition was printed before 1500, it is considered an incunabulum. As was common in the early days of printing, the Polychronicon has several features that seem to emulate the appearance of a manuscript.[3]

Originally written in Latin, the Polychronicon was translated into English in the late 14th century by John Trevisa. Later, William Caxton modernized the text from the English that John Trevisa used.[4] Caxton’s idea to revise the English translation to a more vernacular style was in part to reach a larger audience as instead of Latin or a more refined courtly English.[5] The text of the leaf is a difficult and laborious read. Even though the text is in vernacular for its day, it’s still difficult for modern eyes to read.

The Text of the Leaf

The Portland State University leaf’s verso, beginning with a title at the top, centered. It reads “Liber quintus,” or fifth book. There is a second title, which represents the start of a new chapter that reads “Capitulum quartum,” which reads “the fourth chapter” or “chapter four.” The beginning text of the leaf gives a short history of Theodoric the Great (referred to in the text as Theodericus), who was king of the Ostrogoths (goths). It details his fight against Odoacer (Odaacer) and his wedding to his first wife Audofleda (Andeffelde) and the joining of Italy. The subject changes under “Capitulum quartum.” 

The leaf’s text begins by setting up the year as the reign of Anastasius the 1st (Anastasius), who was emperor of the Byzantine Empire. The text moves to a new chapter. It refers to Saint Patrick (Seynt Patrik) and his deeds (wōderful werkes), such deeds as the famous chasing snakes out of the Ireland (with his staf al the venomous beestes oute of Irlend). In the margins of the text reference is made to Saint Patrick, Saint Columba, and Saint Brigid. The other two saints; Columba and Brigid, are also mentioned in chapter four.[7]

The Caxton Polychronicon is a significant text to the history of printing, as Caxton printed the first book in England. Caxton promoted the ideals of cultural significances of vernacular English by spreading it to a literate class.[8] By using a Bastard style font and use of vernacular English the Caxton Polychronicon is a bridge for England between Gutenberg’s printing and the later for modern printing works. It offers an insight into the world of late 15th-century printing before true mass printing arrived.

Notes
[1] Kathleen Tonry, “Reading History in Caxton’s Polychronicon,” Journal of English and Germanic Philology 111, no. 2 (2012): 176.
[2] D.C. Greetham, Textual Scholarship: An Introduction (New York: Garland Pub., 1994), 233.
[3] Elizabeth L. Eisenstein, “Some Conjectures about the Impact of Printing on Western Society and Thought: A Preliminary Report,” The Journal of Modern History 40, no. 1 (March 1968): 3.
[4] Lister M. Matheson, "Printer and Scribe: Caxton, the Polychronicon, and the Brut," Speculum 60, no. 3 (July 1985): 601-602
[5] Greetham, Textual Scholarship, 103.
[6] Kathleen Tonry, “Reading History in Caxton’s Polychronicon,” Journal of English and Germanic Philology 111, no. 2 (2012): 174.
[7] "Prolicionycion Text," Prolicionycion [sic], 2005, http://quod.lib.umich.edu/e/eebo/A03319.0001.001?view=toc.
[8] Patricia Clare Ingham, "Losing French," in Caxton's Trace: Studies in the History of English Printing, ed. William Kuskin (Notre Dame, IN: University of Notre Dame, 2006): 283.

Bibliography

Eisenstein, Elizabeth L. "Some Conjectures about the Impact of Printing on Western Society and Thought: A Preliminary Report." The Journal of Modern History 40, no. 1 (March 1968): 1-56. doi:10.1086/240164. 

Greetham, D. C. Textual Scholarship: An Introduction. New York: Garland Pub., 1994. 

Ingham, Patricia Clare. "Losing French." In Caxton's Trace: Studies in the History of English Printing, edited by William Kuskin, 275-98. Notre Dame, IN: University of Notre Dame, 2006. 

Matheson, Lister M. "Printer and Scribe: Caxton, the Polychronicon, and the Brut." Speculum 60, no. 3 (July 1985): 593-614. doi:10.2307/2848177. 

"Prolicionycion Transcription." Prolicionycion [sic]. 2005. http://quod.lib.umich.edu/e/eebo/A03319.0001.001?view=toc. 

Tonry. "Reading History in Caxton's Polychronicon." The Journal of English and Germanic Philology 111, no. 2 (April 2012): 169-98. doi:10.5406/jenglgermphil.111.2.0169.