Dictionary of National Biography, 1885-1900/Birchington, Stephen
BIRCHINGTON, STEPHEN (fl. 1382), historical writer, probably derived his name from a village in the isle of Thanet. He became a monk of Christ Church, Canterbury, in 1382, though it is said that he was closely connected with that house before. For some time he held the offices of treasurer and warden of the manors of the monastery. The year of his death is not recorded. He wrote ‘Vitæ Archiepiscoporum Cant.,’ edited by Wharton in his ‘Anglia Sacra,' and, according to his editor’s belief, another and longer hook on the ‘Lives of the Archbishops,' which has not been preserved. In the same codex with the manuscript of the ‘Vitæ' Wharton found three other histories, viz. ‘De Regibus Anglorum,’ ‘De Pontificibus Romanis,’ and ‘De Imperatoribus Romanis,' which he also assigns to Birchington.
[Wharton’s Anglia Sacra, Pref. i.]