A former prior of Belvoir, Roger of Wendover (d.1236) established himself as a chronicler at St Albans. This three-volume work, edited by Henry G. Hewlett (1832-97) and published between 1886 and 1889, comprises the latter part of the larger Flores opus. Volume 1 begins with Henry II's reign and covers the period 1154-1204. It marks the start of where Wendover can claim direct responsibility for the Latin text, his own observations now finding a place alongside predecessors' compilations from various earlier sources. Hewlett is critical of Wendover's indiscriminate appetite for miracles and readiness to accept rumour as fact, but commends his candour where it is not clouded by ecclesiastical bias. His true importance, however, is as a key influence on his historiographical successor, Matthew Paris, whose political outlook and interests he helped to shape.
