Although written as a continuation of the Polychronicon, or universal chronicle, of Ranulf Higden, it is generally treated as a separate chronicle in its own right. In the spring of 1401, when he was at the height of his influence, he began writing the chronicle for which he is primarily remembered. Trained as a lawyer at the University of Oxford, he briefly rose to prominence in the service of the archbishop of Canterbury and King Henry IV of England following the latter’s usurpation of the throne in 1399. The chronicler Adam Usk was born in the parish of Usk in South Wales around 1350 and died there in early 1430, but the life he led was far from parochial, involving intrigue, betrayal, great danger, and considerable achievement.
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