Tudor Chronicler or Sixteenth-Century Diarist? Henry Machyn and the Nature of His Manuscript
The Diary of Henry Machyn (1848) is apparently an eyewitness account of events in London between July 1550 and August 1563, in the style of a chronicle continuation. Historians have rarely made use of its rich detail: its existence poses the problem of whether to presume that the "diary" a...
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| Format: | Electronic Article |
| Language: | English |
| Check availability: | HBZ Gateway |
| Journals Online & Print: | Drawer...
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| Fernleihe: | Fernleihe für die Fachinformationsdienste |
| Published: |
Sixteenth Century Journal Publishers, Inc.
2002
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| In: |
The sixteenth century journal
Year: 2002, Volume: 33, Issue: 4, Pages: 981-998 |
| Online Access: |
Volltext (lizenzpflichtig) Volltext (lizenzpflichtig) |
| Summary: | The Diary of Henry Machyn (1848) is apparently an eyewitness account of events in London between July 1550 and August 1563, in the style of a chronicle continuation. Historians have rarely made use of its rich detail: its existence poses the problem of whether to presume that the "diary" as a literary model was known and used by a semiliterate merchant tailor, or to look further for a more reliable historical context. Those who choose the latter course are frustrated by the lack of available evidence, have discovered only doubts about the manuscript, and conclude that even the attribution is uncertain. However, newly discovered archival material puts the questions of authorship and the original extent of the manuscript beyond doubt and allows the work to be placed in the context of mid-sixteenth-century chronicle writing as well as in the context of the author's life. It also elaborates on Machyn's connections with antiquarian and heraldic contemporaries, his religious conservatism, and his personal motives for writing the work. |
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| ISSN: | 2326-0726 |
| Contains: | Enthalten in: The sixteenth century journal
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| Persistent identifiers: | DOI: 10.2307/4144118 |