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Illustration on p382
The Chronicle of John of Worcester, England, 1131-1141 AD
The visions of Henry I in

prima visio	Que didici scripsi saluer nos gratia xpis
Secunda visio

Corpus Christi College MS. 157

The visions or nightmares of Henry I are some of the best-known images from any of the Corpus manuscripts, and amongst the most frequently-requested for publication. In his coronation charter of 1100, Henry I promised to do away with the corruption and abuses that had oppressed the people during the reign of William II. Henry ignored his own pledge, and by the 1130s, all sectors of society were disenchanted with Henry’s harsh policies and his abuse of power.
The pictures illustrating Henry’s dreams or visions appear in the section for 1131, although the text was composed retrospectively and subsequently revised around 1140-1. Judging by how tightly the text is arranged around the images, it’s likely that the drawings were completed first.

In these pages, John records that he met the royal physician Grimbald at Winchcombe, and heard from him about Henry I’s dreams. Very unusually, Grimbald appears in the first three drawings, seated on the left. He holds representative objects, and uses gestures associated with the rhetorical declamatio. Thus Grimbald becomes the narrator, a trusted witness and both visual and textual interpreter of the king’s dreams. This device lends authenticity to John of Worcester’s retelling of an episode in the king’s private life, and this visual representation of an authority figure appears to be a unique occurrence in the illumination of English historical manuscripts.

In three of the images, the sleeping king is confronted by representatives of each order of society, the rustici, milites and clerici. In the first, angry peasants present the king with a petition; this may be the first representation of ‘revolting peasants’ in western art. The second image finds Henry terrorised by four bloodthirsty knights, and in the third he is challenged by a group of bishops and monks who are enraged by his plundering of their churches. The text relates how Henry woke in dread and cried out after each dream, reaching for his weapons to defend himself. It describes his fear for his own safety in the face of his illusory attackers, and Grimbald’s proposal that Henry do penance to bring an end to his nightmares. The final image depicts the king in a stormy sea-crossing, where in fear of death he finally vows to suspend the land tax known as Danegeld (a promise later broken by King Stephen), to undertake a pilgrimage to Bury St Edmund’s, and to reinstate good government throughout the realm.

Text by Julie Blyth, Assistant Librarian