In 1355, Sir Thomas Gray, a Northumbrian knight and constable of Norham castle, was ambushed and captured by the Scots. Imprisoned in Edinburgh castle, he whiled away the hours by writing a chronicle charting the history of Britain from the Creation. The bulk of the work, written in Anglo-Norman French, is based on existing sources. However, for the section from the reign of Edward I onwards - the portion edited here - Gray relied partly on his own memories, and the stories told him by his father [constable of Norham before him], relating their experiences in the Scottish and French wars. The first known historical work to have been written in England by a member of the lay nobility since the Conquest, the Scalacronica provides a unique perspective on the course of English politics in the fourteenth century, and an insight into the worldview of a militarily active member of England's governing class. It is a vital source for all those interested in the history of the period.
The text, with facing-page translation, has been newly edited from the sole surviving manuscript of the Scalacronica; the volume includes extensive historical notes; and an introduction describing the careers of Thomas Gray and his father, and the written sources used in the compilation of this part of the work.