Ranulf was born in Chester (Cheshire) England in
1280. A learned young man, he entered monastic life in
1299 at the Abbey of St. Werburgh, a Benedictine
community near Chester.
While a Benedictine monk, Ranulf became a
renowned historian and theologian, best known for his
seminal compilation of world history, “Polychronicon”. In
Polychronicon, Ranulf organized the history of the world
into seven books—modeled on the seven days God took
to create the world. He used over forty historical
references to create a map of recorded human history and
geography.
Ranulf worked on the Polychronicon until the early
1340s, but other monastic scholars worked actively over
the next hundred years to update his life’s work.
Polychronicon was a unique historical recollection
known to include fantastic stories of miracles and other
supernatural events. At the time, however, it was a well
known and respected historical text that presented a
coherent summary of historical, geographic and scientific
knowledge in the 14th-century.
Ranulf Higden died in 1364 near where he was born in
Western England. Although one can assume he died
without heirs, he remains one of our family’s most
prominent medieval intellectuals and his legacy should be
an inspiration to future HFA scholarship recipients.

The above was written by Frank X Higdon and appeared in the March 2022 issue of the Higdon Family Newsletter.