The Medieval Chronicle Society is an international and interdisciplinary organisation founded to facilitate the work of scholars interested in medieval chronicles, or more generally medieval historiography
Alongside annals, chronicles were the main genre of historical writing in the Middle Ages. Consequently they have always been of great importance to historians. The extent to which they are also of interest to students of medieval literature or of historical linguistics was only fully realised in the latter part of the 20th century. Since many chronicles are illustrated, they are also a fruitful object of study for art historians.
It was the desire for a forum in which these disciplines could operate together that led to the foundation of the society. The history of the society began with a series of triennial conferences initially in Utrecht, but later moving from place to place. These early conferences were hosted by Erik Kooper (English studies, Utrecht). It was at the second of these conferences, in 1999, that the society was formally founded.
The Medieval Chronicle Society gratefully acknowledges the sponsorship by the Liverpool Centre for Medieval and Renaissance Studies and the University of Liverpool’s School of English.
The medieval Chronicle Society publishes a yearbook – The Medieval Chronicle – with the proceedings of the annual conference. The yearbook is published by Rodopi. So far seven volumes have been published.
The Society has also been heavily engaged in the production of a major reference work – Encyclopedia of the Medieval Chronicle – which was published in 2010 at Brill under the auspices of the general editor, Graeme Dunphy.