ABSTRACT
Edward ordered the election of someone ‘more faithful’ but the commons strongly objected, eventually agreeing to the election of a successor by a representative body of citizens. While a growing number of secular clerks and laymen wrote histories during the reign of Edward III, the number of chroniclers who were members of religious orders diminished, and, although in general the quality of secular and lay historiography improved, that of the monastic chronicle deteriorated. The practice of keeping a chronicle as part of the archives of a religious house had more or less lapsed before the end of the reign: it seems likely that this reflects a general decline in monastic morale and esprit de corps. In 1346, John records, Edward III granted the monks a charter of privilege in return for their twice weekly prayers for the success of his French campaign.
