 Nine manuscripts survive in whole or in part , though not all are of equal historical value and none of them is the original version . The oldest seems to have been started towards the end of Alfred 's reign , while the most recent was written at Peterborough Abbey after a fire at that monastery in 1116 . Almost all of the material in the Chronicle is in the form of annals , by year ; the earliest are dated at 60 BC ( the annals ' date for Caesar 's invasions of Britain ) , and historical material follows up to the year in which the chronicle was written , at which point contemporary records begin . These manuscripts collectively are known as the Anglo @-@ Saxon Chronicle . 
