oa The Chronicle of Ralph of Coggeshall: Publication and Censorship in Angevin England

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The chronicle that was written by Ralph, abbot of the Cistercian abbey of Coggeshall in England, is one of the few contemporary chronicle sources for the reigns of Kings Richard (1189-1199) and John (1199-1216), and is the unique source for some famous events in English history. There are several early manuscripts, including one, Cotton Vespasian D. x in the British Library, that contains numerous corrections, additions, and interfoliations of an authorial nature. This chapter identifies a group of interconnected manuscripts as having been made at Coggeshall and argues that they show Ralph to have been a keen compiler and publisher. He is himself identified here as the principal hand of the Cottonian manuscript of his chronicle, a hand that shows considerable deterioration over time. The question of Ralph’s responsibility for the text is important since a large expurgation of annals relating to the central, painful years of John’s reign would suggest something in the way of self-censorship, apparently carried out towards the end of Ralph’s life. Evidence is presented for this lost material, which has historiographical significance. Various historical texts are communicated by the manuscripts produced during Ralph’s abbacy or are otherwise attested as lost copies. These texts were received at Coggeshall, edited, and then transmitted as part of a dossier of historical material. It is owing entirely to the monks of Coggeshall - directed, it would seem, by Abbot Ralph - that they owe their survival.