The Metrical Chronicle of Robert of Gloucester

This ballad chronicle, published in two volumes in 1887, is attributed to Robert of Gloucester (fl. c.1260-c.1300), both because it is written in Gloucestershire dialect, which makes it a valuable source for students of Middle English, and because the writer was probably an eyewitness to the contemporary events he mentions in the text, such as the siege of Gloucester Castle and the Battle of Evesham during the so-called Second Barons' War (1264-7). These are by far the most interesting portions of the poem, since much of the preceding historical narrative is derived second-hand from earlier Latin chroniclers. Volume 2, edited by the scholar William Aldis Wright (1831-1914), contains the second half of the chronicle and includes, as appendices, additions to the text and variations found in the various manuscript sources, as well as a glossary and index to both volumes.