Knighton, Henry

▪ British historian

died c. 1396

      English chronicler and an Austin (Augustinian) canon at the Abbey of St. Mary of the Meadows in Leicester. He is important for his vivid picture of the religious reformer John Wycliffe and the rise of the Lollards and for his favourable account of the generally unpopular John of Gaunt, Duke of Lancaster.

      Knighton's work is partly a history (i.e., retrospective) and partly a chronicle of contemporary events. The historical portion is composed of two distinct sections: one, covering the period 1066–1337, is a compilation, with occasional emendations, of earlier works, mainly the Polychronicon of Ranulf Higden (d. 1364); the other, from 1337, is Knighton's own work. His death prevented him from finishing the history, which ends abruptly with events of 1366. The chronicle of the years 1377–95, long regarded as a continuation of Knighton's history by another Leicester canon, was in fact Knighton's original contribution. It was first printed in 1652.

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