Editing Hereward the Wake (section)

==Primary sources==
Several primary sources exist for Hereward's life, but the accuracy of their information is difficult to evaluate. They are the version of the ''[[Anglo-Saxon Chronicle]]'' written at [[Peterborough Abbey]] (the "E manuscript" or ''[[Peterborough Chronicle]]''), the [[Domesday Book]] of 1086, the ''[[Liber Eliensis]]'' ([[Latin]] 'Book of Ely') and, by far the most detailed, the ''[[Gesta Herewardi]]''.

The texts are sometimes contradictory. For example, ''Gesta'' Chapter XXVIII places Hereward's attack on Peterborough Abbey after the Siege of Ely whereas the ''Peterborough Chronicle'' (1070) has it immediately before. This probably indicates, as the preface to the ''Gesta'' suggests, that conflicting [[oral traditions]] about Hereward were already current in [[the Fens]] in the late 11th and early 12th centuries. In addition, there may be some partisan bias in the early writers: the notice of Hereward in the ''Peterborough Chronicle'', for instance, was written in a [[monastery]], which he was said to have sacked, some fifty years after the date of the raid.<ref>Peterborough Abbey, in the five or six years after the 1116 library fire there.</ref> On the other hand, the original version of the ''Gesta'' was written in explicit praise of Hereward;<ref>''Gesta'' Chapter I</ref> much of its information was provided by men who knew him personally, and principally, if the preface is to be believed, a former colleague-in-arms and member of his father's former household named [[Leofric (fl. 1070)|Leofric the Deacon]].<ref>''Gesta'', Chapters I and XIX.</ref>

===''Gesta Herewardi''===
The ''Gesta Herewardi'' (or ''Herwardi'') is a [[Middle Latin]] text, probably written around 1109–31.<ref name=vanHouts>van Houts, Elisabeth, [https://books.google.com/books?id=wCPVQe8J5_MC&dq=gesta+herewardi+survives+in+one&pg=PA202 "Hereward and Flanders"], in ''[[Anglo-Saxon England (journal)|Anglo-Saxon England]]'' 28, 1999, pp. 202ff.</ref>
The 12th-century Latin text purports to be a translation of an earlier (and now lost) work in [[Old English]], with gaps in the damaged original filled out from [[oral tradition|oral history]]. The earliest surviving copy of the ''Gesta Herewardi'' is in a manuscript produced around the middle of the 13th century at [[Peterborough Cathedral|Peterborough Abbey]], along with other materials relating to the abbey. This 13th-century manuscript is known as the "Register of Robert of Swaffham".

What is known of the earlier history of the ''Gesta Herewardi'' comes from its prologue, according to which the original text was written in [[Old English]] by Leofric, a priest of Hereward's household, who became one of his companions in arms during Hereward's resistance to [[William the Conqueror]].<ref name=vanHouts/> Leofric's work may have been precipitated by Hereward's death.
The prologue also reports that the earlier, Old English version was badly damaged but not destroyed: the author of the ''Gesta Herewardi'' had been instructed by his superior to seek out the remains of Leofric's work and to translate it into Latin. This he did, but, owing to its damaged condition, he filled in the resulting [[Lacuna (manuscripts)|lacunae]] from oral history, at his superior's insistence.
It has been argued that the author of ''Gesta Herewardi'' was Richard of Ely, and that his superior was Bishop [[Hervey le Breton|Hervey of Ely]], who held that office from 1109 to 1131.<ref name=vanHouts/><ref name="Thomas">Thomas (1998) p. 214</ref>

The version of the ''Gesta Herewardi'' that exists today is a transcription of this work, which was incorporated into a book containing [[charters]] and other material relating to the abbey at [[Peterborough Cathedral|Peterborough]] known as the "Register of Robert of Swaffham", but variant descriptions such as "Robert of Swaffham's Book" are also found.<ref>Martin, Janet D., ''The Cartularies and Registers of Peterborough Abbey'', Northamptonshire Record Society, 1978, pp. 7–12.</ref> According to the historian Janet D. Martin, the book was created in "about 1250", and originally ended with the ''Gesta Herewardi'', but further material, unrelated to the Hereward story, was added in the 14th century.<ref>Martin 1978. Note that [[Geoffrey Gaimar]]'s early 12th-century ''Estoire des Engleis'', written in [[Anglo-Norman language|Anglo-Norman French]], also includes information regarding the deeds of Hereward the Wake, as do the Latin ''[[Liber Eliensis]]'', of the mid-12th century, and the slightly later Latin history of [[Peterborough Cathedral|Peterborough Abbey]] by [[Hugh Candidus]]: see e.g. Short, Ian (ed. & trans.), ''Geffrei Gaimar Estoire Des Engleis History of the English'', [[Oxford University Press|OUP]], 2009; ''Liber Eliensis'', Blake, E.O. (ed.), Camden Third Series, [[Royal Historical Society]], 1962 (in Latin) or Fairweather, Janet, ''Liber Eliensis: A History of the Isle of Ely from the Seventh Century to the Twelfth'', Boydell, 2005 (in English); and Mellows, W.T. (ed.), ''The Chronicle of Hugh Candidus a Monk of Peterborough'', OUP, 1949 (in Latin) or ''The Peterborough Chronicle of Hugh Candidus'' (3rd edn.), Mellows, W.T. (ed. & trs.), Peterborough Museum Society, 1980 (in English). Cf. the ''[[Anglo-Saxon Chronicle]]'', in e.g. Garmonsway, G.N., ''The Anglo-Saxon Chronicle'', Dent, Dutton, 1972 & 1975, pp. 205–8.</ref>

A serial edition of the ''Gesta Herewardi'' translated by W. D. Sweeting was published from 1895 as a supplement to ''Fenland Notes and Queries'':<ref>{{cite web |title=Fenland notes & queries v3 |url=https://archive.org/details/fenlandnotesquer3189pete/page/n437/mode/2up |website=Internet Archive |year=1889 |access-date=14 September 2021}}</ref> this was a quarterly magazine, published at [[Peterborough]], of which Sweeting was editor at the time. He used a transcription of the ''Gesta Herewardi'' by S. H. Miller to produce an edition in which the transcription and translation appear in parallel columns.<ref>Note that the preface to Miller and Sweeting's edition attributes authorship to [[Hugh Candidus]], without citing sources for this attribution.</ref>