native  tongue.  To  the  fabulous  legends  of
antiquity  he  added  a  record  of  more  recent
events,  with  some  of  which  he  was  contempo-
rary. As  a  relator  of  events,  he  is  tolerably
succinct  and  perspicuous ;  and  wherever  the
flMst  is  of  any  importance,  he  shows  a  watchful
attention  to  keep  the  reader's  memory  distinct
with  regard  to  chronology,  by  making  the  date
of  the  year  rhyme  to  something  prominent  in
the  narration  of  the  fact.
Our  first  known  versifier  of  the  fourteenth
century  is  Robert,  commonly  called  de  Brunne.
FonrtMath  ^^  "^^  hoTD.  (accordiug  to  his  editor
'^*'*^-  Heame)  at  Malton,  in  Yorkshire;
lived  for  some  time  in  the  house  of  Bixhill,  a
Gilbertine  monastery  in  Yorkshire  ;  and  after-
wards became  a  member  of  Brunne,  or  Browne,
a  priory  of  black  canons  in  the  same  county.
His  real  surname  was  Mannyng;  but  the
writers  of  history  in  those  times  (as  Ueame
observes)  were  generally  the  religious,  and
when  they  became  celebrated,  they  were  de-
signated by  the  names  of  the  religious  houses
to  which  they  belonged.  Thus,  William  of
Malmsbury,  Matthew  of  Westminster,  and
John  of  Glastonbury,  received  those  appella-
tions from  their  respective  monasteries  *.  De
Brunne  was,  as  far  as  we  know,  only  a  trans-
lator. His  principal  performance  is  a  Rhym-
ing Chronicle  of  the  History  of  England,  in
two  parts,  compiled  from  the  works  of  Wace
and  Peter  de  Langtoftf.  The  declared  object
of  his  work  is  ^  Not  for  the  lerid  (learned)  but
for  the  lowed  (the  low).
