Thomas of Elmham – författare

Thomas of Elmham (1364-1427?) was treasurer of St Augustine's Abbey, Canterbury, when he compiled this work, which he called the Speculum Augustinianum, around 1414. He planned to give a complete history of the Abbey, and the chronological table covers the period from 597 to 1414, but the main text ends in 806, with a collection of documentary sources from the period 1066 to 1191 appended. His failure to complete the work was probably due to his appointment as Prior of the Cluniac House at Lenton in Nottinghamshire. Elmham made great use of documentary sources in the Abbey's famous library, reproducing and editing original charters, as well as using the work of earlier historians of the House, though, unfortunately, many of the sources he uses were forgeries or corrupt transcripts, produced to support the Abbey's claims to royal and ecclesiastical privileges. This edition by Charles Hardwick was published in 1858.