Ranulf Higden occupation writer
Biography
Higden was the author of the Polychronicon, a long chronicle, one of several such works of universal history and theology. It was based on a plan taken from Scripture, and written for the amusement and instruction of his society. It is commonly styled Polychronicon, from the longer title Ranulphi Castrensis, cognomine Higden, Polychronicon (sive Historia Polycratica) ab initio mundi usque ad mortem regis Edwardi III in septem libros dispositum. The work is divided into seven books, in humble imitation of the seven days of Genesis, and, with exception of the first book, is a summary of general history, a compilation made with considerable style and taste. Written in Latin, it was translated into English by John of Trevisa  (1387), and printed by Caxton (1480), and by others. For two centuries it was an approved work. It has been described as 'the most exhaustive universal history produced in medieval times and...the best seller of its age'. The first book consists of 60 chapters and provides a geographical survey of the world. It starts with a Prologue and a list of authors drawn upon, covers Asia, Africa and Europe and concludes with 23 chapters describing England. The first letters of these 60 chapters create an acrostic: presentem cronicam conpilavit Frater Ranulphus Cestrensis monachis. The following six books provide a history of the world: from Creation to Nebuchadnezzar (Book 2); to the birth of Christ (Book 3); to the arrival of the Saxons in England (Book 4); to the arrival of the Danes in England (Book 5); to the Norman Conquest (Book 6): to the conclusion in the reign of Edward III (Book 7).A Latin manuscript of 281 folios held by the Huntington Library in California ends initially in 1340 and is claimed to be a final version possibly written by Higden himself and edited by him up until about 1352. It belonged to St. Werburg's Abbey within his lifetime and was kept in the monastic library until the Abbey was dissolved in 1540. The Latin text of the Polychronicon was never printed before the 19th. century apart from one section on British history from Book 1 which was published in a compilation assembled by Gale in 1691. There are over 100 versions of the Latin or English versions published prior to 1800 held by libraries in the UK, Belgium, Ireland, the USA, France, Spain and the Vatican City
job profession career vocation employment