Johannes Carion was a German astrologer and court historian to Elector Joachim of Brandenburg, with published works on astronomy and astrology. This volume of Chronicles was his best known work, first published in Wittenberg in 1532, and then translated posthumously into Latin (1543) and English (1550). The Latin edition and subsequent versions were largely rewritten by Philp Melanchthon, the Lutheran theologian and intellectual  mainstay of the Protestant Reformation, and others. This first English edition was produced by the Flemish translator and publisher Walter Lynne, who traded from Billingsgate near St Paul’s London, with contributions by Johann Funcke, a German theologian, who is credited with bringing the work up to date from 1532 to 1550. Lynne dedicated the work to Edward VI, describing it as his duty to render the work into English in order to benefit all those who could read no other language.