Rochester, 885 AD
Rochester, 885 ADThe King’s asking of John to write an account of the sea battle set a precedent. Far from taking it as a burden, John, in his usual exuberant manner, saw reporting as an opportunity to improve the work of the Winchester chroniclers.
“Frankly, I’m not impressed,” he told me after consigning his report. “The annalists allowed me to browse through their earlier efforts. You know, about the first years of the kingdom. Can you guess what I discovered, Gwyn?”
I had to admit that I could not.
“Of course, it’s one thing to set down the events unfolding before our eyes but completely another to write about those of hundreds of years ago. Even so”—he screwed up a comical, unconvinced face—“where they lack documents, the scribes resort to legends and folktales.
