John of Hexham was an English

England

England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west, with the North Sea to the east and the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...

 chronicler, known to us merely as the author of a work called the Historia XXV. annorum, which continues the Historia regum

Historia Regum

The Historia Regum is a historical compilation attributed to Symeon of Durham, which presents material going from the death of Bede until 1129. It survives only in one manuscript compiled in Yorkshire in the mid-to-late 12th century, though the material is earlier...

attributed to Symeon of Durham

Symeon of Durham

Symeon of Durham was an English chronicler and a monk of Durham Priory. When William of Saint-Calais returned from his Norman exile in 1091, Symeon was probably in his company...

, and contains an account of English events from 1130 to 1153.

From the title, as given in the only manuscript, we learn John's name and the fact that he was prior of Hexham

Hexham Abbey

Hexham Abbey is a place of Christian worship dedicated to St Andrew and located in the town of Hexham, Northumberland, in northeast England. Since the Dissolution of the Monasteries in 1537, the Abbey has been the parish church of Hexham.-History:...

. It must have been between 1160 and 1209 that he held this position; but the date at which he lived and wrote cannot be more accurately determined. Up to the year 1139 he follows closely the history written by his predecessor, Prior Richard

Richard of Hexham

Richard of Hexham was an English chronicler. He became prior of Hexham about 1141, and died between 1155 and 1167.He wrote Brevis Annotatio, a short history of the church of Hexham from 674 to 1138, for which he borrowed from Bede, Eddius and Symeon of Durham...

; thenceforward he is an independent though not a very valuable authority. He is best informed as to the events of the north country; his want of care, when he ventures farther afield, may be illustrated by the fact that he places in 1145 King Stephen's

Stephen of England

Stephen , often referred to as Stephen of Blois , was a grandson of William the Conqueror. He was King of England from 1135 to his death, and also the Count of Boulogne by right of his wife. Stephen's reign was marked by the Anarchy, a civil war with his cousin and rival, the Empress Matilda...

 siege of Oxford

Oxford

The city of Oxford is the county town of Oxfordshire, England. The city, made prominent by its medieval university, has a population of just under 165,000, with 153,900 living within the district boundary. It lies about 50 miles north-west of London. The rivers Cherwell and Thames run through...

, which really occurred in 1142.

Even for northern affairs his chronology is faulty; from 1140 onwards his dates are uniformly one year too late. Prior Richard is not the only author to whom John is indebted; he incorporates in the annal of 1138 two other narratives of the Battle of the Standard

Battle of the Standard

The Battle of the Standard, sometimes called the Battle of Northallerton, in which English forces repelled a Scottish army, took place on 22 August 1138 on Cowton Moor near Northallerton in Yorkshire. The Scottish forces were led by King David I of Scotland...

, one in verse by the monk Serlo of Wilton

Serlo of Wilton

Serlo of Wilton was a 12th century English poet, a friend of Walter Map and known to Gerald of Wales. He studied and taught at the University of Paris. He became a Cluniac and then a Cistercian monk, and in 1171 he became abbot of L'Aumône; he died in 1181...

, another in prose by Abbot Aelred of Rievaulx; and also a poem, by a Glasgow

Glasgow

Glasgow is the largest city in Scotland and third most populous in the United Kingdom. The city is situated on the River Clyde in the country's west central lowlands...

 clerk, on the death of Somerled

Somerled

Somerled was a military and political leader of the Scottish Isles in the 12th century who was known in Gaelic as rí Innse Gall . His father was Gillebride...

.

The one manuscript of John's chronicle is a late 12th-century copy; Cambridge, Corpus Christi College, MS 139

Cambridge, Corpus Christi College, MS 139

Cambridge, Corpus Christi College, MS 139 is a northern English manuscript compiled in c. 1170. Apart from preliminary additions , it contains two separate volumes, comprising 180 folios in total. The original first volume has 165 folios in twenty gatherings, about half of which are occupied by the...

. The best edition is that of Thomas Arnold in Symeonis monachi opera, vol. 2 (Rolls Series

Rolls Series

The Rolls Series, official title The Chronicles and Memorials of Great Britain and Ireland during the Middle Ages, is a major collection of British and Irish historical materials and primary sources, published in the second half of the 19th century. Some 255 volumes, representing 99 separate...

, 1885). There is an English translation in Joseph Stevenson

Joseph Stevenson

Joseph Stevenson was an English Catholic archivist.-Biography:Though his parents were Presbyterians, he was educated at University College, Durham under the historian, James Raine, and afterwards at the University of Glasgow...

's Church Historians of England, vol. 4 (London, 1856).