Polychronikon

Part of speech: noun

Definitions

1. A massive medieval history of the world compiled in Latin by the monk Ranulf Higden in the fourteenth century
2. A sweeping universal chronicle that gathers events from across the ages into one long historical account
3. The great fourteenth-century world history by Ranulf Higden, a compendium of chronicles from creation to his own time

Etymology: Polychronicon is the Latin title of a universal history compiled in the 1350s by Ranulf Higden, a monk of St Werburgh's Abbey in Chester. The name is Greek in origin, combining "polys" (many) and "chronos" (time), so it means something like "many times" or "many chronicles." Higden's work traces the world from the Creation to his own day, arranging events across the ages and across the nations of the world. The chronicle proved remarkably popular. It was translated into English in the 1380s by John Trevisa, and the translation was printed by William Caxton in 1482, one of the earliest books printed in England. Caxton's edition also added a continuation that carried the story forward, which helps explain why the work circulated so widely among English readers.

Synonyms: chronicle, annals