in the same septenary couplet metre, and are closely similar in dialect, vocabulary, phrasing, choice of rhyme words, overall narrative technique, and 'outlook': a Christian piety which places them on the side of the oppressed and suffering individual, and in opposition to corrupt and wicked lords of whatever estate. They also have numerous actual lines in common. It has been argued that Robert, as well as being inspired by the South English Legendary, also revised a version of that text himself. Historical reliability The Chronicle was of considerable interest to contemporaries and antiquarian scholars. Although an early generation of antiquarians including Thomas Hearne found the chronicle interesting, its reputation later faded. Somewhat perversely, it was not until after the text was edited by William Aldis Wright that its neglect - "worthless as history" and "verse without one spark of poetry" according to its editor - became widespread. Historically, the text is of interest primarily for materials relating to the Second Barons' War, to which the author (or an author of a portion of the text) seems to have been a witness. The first part of the Chronicle translates materials from Geoffrey of Monmouth's Historia regum Britanniae, narrating fabulous British history. The majority of English/Anglo-Saxon history is compiled from the works of Henry of Huntingdon and William of Malmesbury, and the post-Conquest portions are translated from numerous sources densely interwoven with original text. Editions Wright, William Aldis ed., The Metrical Chronicle of Robert of Gloucester. 2 vols. Rolls Series 86 (London, 1887), https://archive.org/details/metricalchronicl01robe; http://quod.lib.umich.edu/c/cme/AHB1378.0001.001?rgn=main;view=toc (the longer version of the chronicle) An Anonymous Short English Metrical Chronicle, ed. by Ewald Zettl, Early English Text Society, o. s. 196 (London: Oxford University Press, 1935) (the shorter version of the chronicle) *Thomas Hearne edition of Chronicle at Google Books References External links Robert of Gloucester at The Columbia Encyclopedia. 13th-century English historians English chroniclers Year of birth unknown Year of death unknown Year of birth uncertain Middle English poems 13th-century poems