Tudor Chronicles

Presentation by Demeter Fanni

Hall' s
Chronicle
•Hall’s Chronicle or The Union of the Noble and Illustre
Famelies of Lancastre and York
•published posthumously in 1548 by Hall’s friend Richard
Grafton, later editions up until early 20th c.

•The vnion of the two noble and illustre famelies of Lancastre

[and] Yorke, beeyng long in continual discension for the croune of
this noble realme with all the actes done in bothe the tymes of the
princes, bothe of the one linage and of the other, beginnyng at the
tyme of kyng Henry the fowerth, the first aucthor of this deuision,
and so successiuely proceadyng to the reigne of the high and
prudent prince kyng Henry the eight, the vndubitate flower
and very heire of both the sayd linages.

 from Henry IV (“the beginnying and rote of the great

discord and deuision”) to Henry VIII / from the York-
Lancaster hostility to the death of Henry VIII
• logical end: the marriage of Henry VII to Elizabeth of
York in January 1486
• his addition of Henry VIII’s “triumphant reigne” –
an unnecessary extension
ISSUES OF AUTHORSHIP

• verbatim passages from Richard Grafton’s History of Richard III +

some reliance Polydore Vergil’s Anglica Historia  extent of
collaboration + potential appropriation/borrowing is uncertain

• evidence for Grafton’s authorship: “[Hall’s Chronicle) introduces

every reign with a grand flourish of imposing sentences, and then
proceeds copying the texts of his sources but frequently interrupting
it with sententious moralising.”
vs.
a less extreme + prosaic account of Henry VIII’s reign – a shift in
authorship from Hall to Grafton

• Grafton as a printer to Edward VI – approving of Henry VIII and

the Protestant reformation opposing the interests of Princess Mary
and Elizabeth
+ far deeper insight into the perils of writing of Henry
VIII’s reign
• despite the pseudonym – the Chronicle publicly burned with Mary’
accession, Grafton imprisoned
TUDOR MYTH & TUDOR CLAIM TO THE THRONE

• The myth served to glorify the Tudor period= 16th c. vs. the age of anarchy = 15th c.
with the Wars of the Roses (York Lancaster)
• Sources of the myth:
• Polydore Vergil’s Anglica Historia – accounts on Richard III (his
monstrous portrayal)
• Sir Thomas More’s History of King Richard III
• Continued + further developed in:
• Edward Hall's Union of the Noble and Illustre Families of Lancaster and
York (1548),
• Raphael Holinshed’s + its collaborators’ Chronicles of England, Scotland
and Wales
• Henry IV’s usurpation of Richard II  almost a century of disorder  Wars of the
Roses  Richard III  restoration by Henry Tudor

• Henry VII – as a Beaufort excluded form any claim to the throne by Henry IV
• With Henry VI’s and his only son’s deaths (1471)  Henry Tudor left with any
ancestral claim to the house of Lancaster
• With Richard III’s takeover – the York party split
• After defeating Richard III in 1485 – Henry Tudor claimed the throne by title of
inheritance and by the judgement of God in battle
OBJECTIVITY

• “Hall and Holinshed have been identified as polemicists responsible

for creating and sustaining the “Tudor myth,” essentially, in
other words, providing historical justification for Henry VII’s
usurpation of the throne and thus a source of legitimation for the
dynasty as a whole.”

• Different perspectives of contemporary readers vs. critics of today

 John Donne: “More than ten Hollensheads, or Halls, or
Stowes / Of triviall household trash he knowes” (97–98)
= series of observations without any noticable scrutiny for systematic
presentation
vs.
• Modern view:
1. a method of presentation “that allows for the creation of a fresh
political and imaginative space” (qtd. in Breen 6)
 “middle-class perspective to the production of historical
narrative” – forum for political dissension  political sway of
the aristocrates
2. advocates the Protestant reformation and the Tudor’s claim to
the Crown / “to invent a Protestant English history”
HALL’S STYLE

• sternly didactic

• its characters are themselves

‛chronographers’  later monarchs

= addressed as readers – to deduce a

moral lesson

• a taste for medieval types of

historiography in the 16th c.

• “History was regarded as a

storehouse of moral examples,

in typically medieval fashion. To

Edward Hall it was 'the key to

induce virtue and repress vice’

Holinshed's
Chronicle
• Chronicles of England, Scotland and Ireland (1577)

• histories from first inhabitation to the mid-16th

century

• 2,835 small folio pages, preliminaries and indices

• Joint accomplishment of about 8 authors

• Hall’s Chronicle – primary source for Holinshed

• A private / most ambitious enterprises of the 16th c. –

Reyner/Reginald Wolfe (prominent London printer) –
then Holinshed took over

• Second edition (1587) by Abraham Fleming (clergyman)

– major additions on the lives of Tudors + more
accurate + exhaustive

• Contemplation on natural wonders

• More moralistic on human nature

REASONS FOR NEGLECT

• lack of “narrative cogency” typical of the best historiographies on the

continent
• several authors (about 8)  lack of unity
• like any other chronicle – mostly an uncritical palimpsest
• more novel Renaissance models (e.g.: Polydore Vergil’s Anglicae
Historiae)

COUNTERARGUMENT

• Annabel Patterson’s view: to restore to its rightful prestige in “the

cultural discourse of late Elizabethan and early Stuart England”
as it is ...
 multivocal
‣ the incorporated accounts with a shift in perspectives – e.g.:
alienated vs. supportive stance of the Elizabethan regime –
double tension of voice
‣ history as a series of morality plays  the truth revealed only
through all the voices featured (stock figures, subjects) + the
community’s final approval
 MULTIVOCALITY

• “It was a remarkably multi-vocal view of British history not only

because of the contrasting choices of style and source material but
also because the contributors responded very differently to the
politics and religion of their own age.”

• Relentless support of the religious and political status quo in

England despite its polyvocality

• The most prominent achievement of Tudor historiography – its

relevance to the period
 traditional view: an intention to exalt the Tudor regime?

vs.

modern critic’s view: “liberal” and “democratic”

• Most important source for contemporary playwrights, poets

PROVIDENTAL THEORY OF HISTORICAL
CAUSATION IN HOLINSHED’S CHRONICLE

• 1587’ additions – Holinshed’s implicit

providential theory is more evident
• No mere punishment for the wicked BUT
guidance by God to predestined ends
• The chronicler must insist on the providential
force and God’s judgement = humanist
historiographic tradition
• Providential theory of history
‣ Providence seen as retribution/God’s
justice executed=history
‣ God’s will seen as predetermined mostly
to a mysterious end
• Raphael Holinshed thought that
chronicles (which 'next unto the holy
scripture .. . do carry credit') were “full of
profitable lessons.”
Polydore Vergil' s
Anglica Historia
• Polydore Vergil – an Italian-born
renaissance scholar/earliest Tudor
historian
• Humanism= existing medieval trends
celebrated / continuation of the medieval
rhetorical tradition
• Anglica Historia – main source of the
Tudor myth (accounts on Richard III’s
portrayal)
• Major effect on Hall’s and Holinshed’s
histories
• Henry VII’s commission for a
comprehensive history
• 1531 – first version dedicated to Henry VIII
• further editions – had to alter politically
risky passages (e.g.: disenchanted with
Henry VIII – had to moderate his reproach
METHOD AND STYLE

• Classical Latin – perfected over the

successive editions
• Relatively new critical approach –
comparison of sources  aim for
accuracy + originality
• Fabricated speeches on his own – as if
spoken by historical figures
• Accused of bias and innacuracy by
Riccardians and other historians of today
• Still deemed relatively critical by that
contemporary standards – as for his
Roman Britain—ca. 1400s section
• Objectivity of the 15th c. political history
marred by his inclusion of “divine
retribution” and providence / moralising
tendencies
 WORKS CITED

Benbow, R. Mark. “The Providental Theory of Historical Causation in Holinshed’s Chronicles: 1577 and 1587.” Texas Studies in
Literature and Language, vol. 1, no. 2, 1959, pp. 264–76.

Breen, Dan. "Early Modern Historiography." Literature Compass, 2005, pp. 1–14.

Cobban, Alan B. "Polydore Vergil Reconsidered: The Anglia Historia and the English Universities." Viator, vol. 34, 2003, pp. 364–391.

Djordjevic, Igor. Holinshed's nation: ideals, memory, and practical policy in the Chronicles. Routledge, 2016.

Gilvary, Kevin. "The Chronicles of Hall and Holinshed: Published under Pseudonyms?." Brief Chronicles, vol. 4, 2012, pp. 1–21.

Gransden, Antonia. Historical Writing in England: c.1307 to the Early Sixteenth Century. Vol. 2. Routledge, 1996.

Kewes, Paulina, Ian W. Archer, and Felicity Heal, eds. The Oxford handbook of Holinshed's chronicles. OUP Oxford, 2012.

Zaller, Robert. "King, commons, and commonweal in Holinshed's Chronicles." Albion, vol. 34, no. 3, 2002, pp. 371–390.

https://scalar.usc.edu/works/henry-v/chronicles-the-early-modern-history-book-lafave
https://intriguing-history.com/the-chronicles-of-edward-hall/
https://thehistoryofengland.co.uk/resource/polydore-vergil-and-historia-anglia/
https://tudortimes.co.uk/daily-life/6-holinsheds-chronicle