The Peterborough Chronicle
Middle English Reading 1
Chapter 2 · The Peterborough Chronicle
📜 The Peterborough Chronicle
The first real text of the course is one sentence, and it is a hard one to label. It comes from a chronicle written by monks as the English language was changing underneath them. Read it with the routine from Middle English Reading 1, Chapter 1, and notice how often the grammar tables of Middle English Grammar 1 fit, and how often they do not.
Where it comes from
- The copied part. After a fire in 1116 destroyed the monastery's library, monks copied a Winchester chronicle, up to about 1120. That part is largely late Old English.
- First continuation, 1122 to 1131. A mix of Old and Middle English vocabulary, with simplified syntax.
- Second continuation, 1132 to 1154. Early Middle English forms, with grammatical gender almost completely lost. Scholars speculate that it was dictated, or written from the memories of one elderly monk.
- She. The article says the feminine pronoun she (as scæ) is first recorded in this chronicle, but does not say which year or entry. Chapter 5 of Middle English Grammar 1 gave no date for the arrival of she; this is the first one I have found.
- Dialect. The article, as the page tool gave it, names the language stage but not a dialect, so I name none.
The text
Þa the suikes undergæton ðat he milde man was and softe and god, and na iustise ne dide, þa diden hi alle wunder
then / when the traitors understood that he mild man was and soft and good, and no justice not did, then did they all wonders
"When the traitors understood that he (Stephen) was a gentle man, and soft and good, and did not execute justice, they committed all manner of atrocity."
Source: Wikipedia, Peterborough Chronicle, the quotation tagged 1137, and the translation printed beside it (given in two parts by the page tool, joined here). The word-for-word gloss is mine and unverified.
Walking through it
- Verbs. undergæton is a past plural, "understood". was is the past of be (Middle English Grammar 1, Chapter 7). dide is the past of do, and diden its plural; Chapter 7 gave didde and didden, so these are spelling variants of the same words (my reading).
- The plural past ending. Chapter 6 gave the plural of strong past tenses as -en. Here undergæton ends in -on instead. The sources did not say why, and the sentence does not tell us, so I note it as older-looking spelling and nothing more.
- Pronouns. he is the masculine subject (Chapter 5). hi, "they", is not in the pronoun table of Chapter 5, which listed heo / he for the Old English line. I read hi as another spelling of that line, but that is my guess.
- The article. the in the suikes is the reduced article, spelled with th (Chapter 3).
- Nouns. suikes ("traitors") has the strong plural -es (Chapter 2). wunder ("wonders", here "atrocity") has no plural ending at all. Chapter 2 said its source was silent on endingless plurals, so I draw no rule from this one word.
- Adjectives. alle ends in -e before a plural noun, as Chapter 4 predicts. milde also ends in -e but follows a singular man and no the or demonstrative, so Chapter 4's rule does not predict it. I cannot explain it from the sources. softe has the same ending; god has none.
- Negatives. ne dide has ne before the verb, the first stage of Chapter 8, which was the most common pattern (60.5%) in the 1150 to 1250 period. The sentence also has na iustise ("no justice") before it. Chapter 8's sources did not describe sentences with more than one negative word, so I do not say whether this is normal.
- Borrowing. iustise is "justice", one of the French law words listed in Chapter 9.
New words
| Middle English | Meaning | Modern English relative |
|---|---|---|
| suikes | traitors | (none I can verify) |
| undergæton | understood (past plural) | understand |
| milde | gentle, mild | mild |
| softe | soft | soft |
| iustise | justice | justice |
| wunder | wonders, atrocity | wonder |
Try It Yourself
Say the answer first, then click to check.
1. What years does the Peterborough Chronicle run to?
Show answer
1154.
2. What event followed the fire of 1116?
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The monks copied a Winchester chronicle, up to about 1120.
3. Which forms of be and do are in the sentence?
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was, and dide / diden.
4. What plural ending does suikes carry?
Show answer
The strong plural -es.
5. Why does alle end in -e?
Show answer
It modifies a plural noun, wunder, as Chapter 4's rule says.
6. Does Chapter 4's rule predict the -e on milde?
Show answer
No. It follows a singular noun with no article or demonstrative. The sources do not explain it.
7. Which negative stage is ne dide?
Show answer
ne before the verb, with no not: the first stage.
8. Which word is a French law word?
Show answer
iustise, "justice".
9. Why is hi "they" only a guess?
Show answer
It is not in the pronoun table of Chapter 5, which gave heo / he for the Old English line.
10. What does the article say is first recorded in this chronicle, and what does it not say?
Show answer
The pronoun she (as scæ); it does not say which year or entry.