Richard Grafton and his Chronicle

Four hundred years ago, a London printer named Richard Grafton brought out the first real English history of England, and set an example that was to be followed, through the centuries, by many whose names are remembered while Grafton’s is either forgotten or vaguely recollected as that of someone who quarrelled with Stow. Yet the man himself is worth more than a moment’s consideration, and a little reflection will show something of the nature, and the size, of his achievement.

The exact date of his birth is not recorded, but it would seem to have occurred round about 1500, making him the near-contemporary of the lawyer and chronicler Edward Hall, who was born in 1498 or 1499. Both men were strongly affected by the Reformation in England, since its principal manifestations were the change in the headship of the Church and the public use of the Scriptures in English.