 The Chronicle is not unbiased : there are occasions when comparison with other medieval sources makes it clear that the scribes who wrote it omitted events or told one @-@ sided versions of stories ; there are also places where the different versions contradict each other . Taken as a whole , however , the Chronicle is the single most important historical source for the period in England between the departure of the Romans and the decades following the Norman conquest . Much of the information given in the Chronicle is not recorded elsewhere . In addition , the manuscripts are important sources for the history of the English language ; in particular , the later Peterborough text is one of the earliest examples of Middle English in existence . 
