Chronicler - Definition and Overview

Generally a chronicle (Latin chronica) is historical account of facts and events in chronological order. The typical examples of a Chronicle include: the chronicle of Jerome, the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle, and the Chinese Annals of Spring and Autumn.

Scholars categorize the genre of chronicle into two subgroups: live chronicles, and dead chronicles. A dead chronicle is one where the author gathers his list of events up to the time of his writing, but does not record further events as they occur. A live chronicle is where one or more authors add to a chronicle in a regular fashion, recording contemporary events shortly after they occur. Because of the immediacy of the information, historians tend to value live chronicles over dead ones.

The term often refers to a book written by a chronicler in the Middle Ages describing historical events in a country, or the lives of a nobleman or a clergyman, although it is also applied to a record of public events. Various contemporary newspapers or other periodicals have adopted "chronicle" as part of their name.

List of notable chronicles

• Anglo-Saxon Chronicle
• Annals of Spring and Autumn
• Kano Chronicle
• Russian Primary Chronicle
• Chronicon Slavorum
• Galician-Volhynian Chronicle
• Croyland Chronicle
• Chronicle of Henry of Livonia
• Chronicon Lethrense
• Sanguo Zhi
• Annals of Inisfallen
• Annals of the Four Masters

Chronicles are two canonical books of the Old Testament. See Books of Chronicles.