This history of England in Anglo-Norman verse was extremely popular during the first half of the fourteenth century. Composed by Pierre de Langtoft (died c.1305), an English chronicler and Augustinian Canon, it was intended for the French-reading aristocracy. Part of the Rolls Series of publications of historical documents, the work was edited by Thomas Wright (1810–77), an antiquarian and historian with a special interest in Old English, Middle English and Anglo-Norman. Wright was also a member of many learned societies, including the Society of Antiquaries and the Académie des Inscriptions et Belles-Lettres of Paris. This volume, published in 1868, begins with the coronation of Henry II and ends with the death of Edward I. Langtoft openly shares his virulently nationalistic and anti-Scottish views in the large part of the text devoted to the Scottish Wars of Independence.
