Chronicle of Laon

c. 1218

An anonymous universal chronicle written at Laon in northern France. It tells in detail the conversion of Waldo of Lyon and reports that Pope Alexander III approved his poverty and restricted his preaching.

The chronicler is unknown; the work is cited by the place where it was written. Robinson, who translated the passage on Waldo, describes it as an anonymous chronicle written about 1218, that is some forty-five years after the conversion it dates to 1173.

The writer admires Waldo’s renunciation, tells it as an edifying story with scenes and speeches, and ends by condemning his followers for disobedience. He writes decades after the events. His year for the Lateran council, 1178, is a year earlier than the date given with the council’s canons in Tanner’s edition, March 1179.

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