diff --git a/CHANGES.md b/CHANGES.md
index bb34267af3..c94736ea9a 100644
--- a/CHANGES.md
+++ b/CHANGES.md
@@ -1,3 +1,77 @@
+# Synapse 1.98.0rc1 (2023-12-05)
+
+Synapse 1.98.0 will be the last Synapse release in 2023; the regular release cadence will resume in January 2024.
+
+Synapse will soon be forked by Element under an AGPLv3.0 licence (with CLA, for
+proprietary dual licensing). You can read more about this here:
+
+ - https://matrix.org/blog/2023/11/06/future-of-synapse-dendrite/
+ - https://element.io/blog/element-to-adopt-agplv3/
+
+The Matrix.org Foundation copy of the project will be archived. Any changes needed
+by server administrators will be communicated via our usual announcements channels, 
+but we are striving to make this as seamless as possible.
+
+### Features
+
+- Synapse now declares support for Matrix v1.7, v1.8, and v1.9. ([\#16707](https://github.com/matrix-org/synapse/issues/16707))
+- Add `on_user_login` [module API](https://matrix-org.github.io/synapse/latest/modules/writing_a_module.html) callback allowing to execute custom code after (on) Auth. ([\#15207](https://github.com/matrix-org/synapse/issues/15207))
+- Support [MSC4069: Inhibit profile propagation](https://github.com/matrix-org/matrix-spec-proposals/pull/4069). ([\#16636](https://github.com/matrix-org/synapse/issues/16636))
+- Restore tracking of requests and monthly active users when delegating authentication via [MSC3861](https://github.com/matrix-org/synapse/pull/16672) to an OIDC provider. ([\#16672](https://github.com/matrix-org/synapse/issues/16672))
+- Add an autojoin setting for server notices rooms, so users may be joined directly instead of receiving an invite. ([\#16699](https://github.com/matrix-org/synapse/issues/16699))
+- Follow redirects when downloading media over federation (per [MSC3860](https://github.com/matrix-org/matrix-spec-proposals/pull/3860)). ([\#16701](https://github.com/matrix-org/synapse/issues/16701))
+
+### Bugfixes
+
+- Enable refreshable tokens on the admin registration endpoint. ([\#16642](https://github.com/matrix-org/synapse/issues/16642))
+- Consistently bypass rate limits when using the server notice admin API. ([\#16670](https://github.com/matrix-org/synapse/issues/16670))
+- Fix a bug introduced in Synapse 1.7.2 where rooms whose power levels lacked an `events` field could not be upgraded. ([\#16725](https://github.com/matrix-org/synapse/issues/16725))
+- Fix `GET /_synapse/admin/v1/federation/destinations` [admin API](https://matrix-org.github.io/synapse/latest/usage/administration/admin_api/index.html) returning null (instead of 0) for `retry_last_ts` and `retry_interval`. ([\#16729](https://github.com/matrix-org/synapse/issues/16729))
+
+### Improved Documentation
+
+- Add schema rollback information to documentation. ([\#16661](https://github.com/matrix-org/synapse/issues/16661))
+- Fix poetry version typo in [contributors' guide](https://matrix-org.github.io/synapse/latest/development/contributing_guide.html). ([\#16695](https://github.com/matrix-org/synapse/issues/16695))
+- Switch the example UNIX socket paths to `/run`. Add HAProxy example configuration for UNIX sockets. ([\#16700](https://github.com/matrix-org/synapse/issues/16700))
+- Add documentation for how to validate the configuration file with `synapse.config` script. ([\#16714](https://github.com/matrix-org/synapse/issues/16714))
+
+### Internal Changes
+
+- Clean-up unused tables. ([\#16522](https://github.com/matrix-org/synapse/issues/16522))
+- Reduce a little database load while processing state auth chains. ([\#16552](https://github.com/matrix-org/synapse/issues/16552))
+- Add a Postgres `REPLICA IDENTITY` to tables that do not have an implicit one. This should allow use of Postgres logical replication. ([\#16658](https://github.com/matrix-org/synapse/issues/16658), [\#16730](https://github.com/matrix-org/synapse/issues/16730))
+- Reduce database load of pruning old `user_ips`. ([\#16667](https://github.com/matrix-org/synapse/issues/16667))
+- Reduce DB load when forget on leave setting is disabled. ([\#16668](https://github.com/matrix-org/synapse/issues/16668))
+- Ignore `encryption_enabled_by_default_for_room_type` setting when creating server notices room, since the notices will be send unencrypted anyway. ([\#16677](https://github.com/matrix-org/synapse/issues/16677))
+- Correctly read the to-device stream ID on startup using SQLite. ([\#16682](https://github.com/matrix-org/synapse/issues/16682))
+- Reoranganise test files. ([\#16684](https://github.com/matrix-org/synapse/issues/16684))
+- Remove old full schema dumps which are no longer used. ([\#16697](https://github.com/matrix-org/synapse/issues/16697))
+- Raise poetry-core upper bound to <=1.8.1. This allows contributors to import Synapse after `poetry install`ing with Poetry 1.6 and above. Contributed by Mo Balaa. ([\#16702](https://github.com/matrix-org/synapse/issues/16702))
+- Add a workflow to try and automatically fixup linting in a PR. ([\#16704](https://github.com/matrix-org/synapse/issues/16704))
+
+
+### Updates to locked dependencies
+
+* Bump cryptography from 41.0.5 to 41.0.6. ([\#16703](https://github.com/matrix-org/synapse/issues/16703))
+* Bump cryptography from 41.0.6 to 41.0.7. ([\#16721](https://github.com/matrix-org/synapse/issues/16721))
+* Bump idna from 3.4 to 3.6. ([\#16720](https://github.com/matrix-org/synapse/issues/16720))
+* Bump jsonschema from 4.19.1 to 4.20.0. ([\#16692](https://github.com/matrix-org/synapse/issues/16692))
+* Bump matrix-org/netlify-pr-preview from 2 to 3. ([\#16719](https://github.com/matrix-org/synapse/issues/16719))
+* Bump phonenumbers from 8.13.23 to 8.13.26. ([\#16722](https://github.com/matrix-org/synapse/issues/16722))
+* Bump prometheus-client from 0.18.0 to 0.19.0. ([\#16691](https://github.com/matrix-org/synapse/issues/16691))
+* Bump pyasn1 from 0.5.0 to 0.5.1. ([\#16689](https://github.com/matrix-org/synapse/issues/16689))
+* Bump pydantic from 2.4.2 to 2.5.1. ([\#16663](https://github.com/matrix-org/synapse/issues/16663))
+- Bump pyo3 (0.19.2→0.20.0), pythonize (0.19.0→0.20.0) and pyo3-log (0.8.1→0.9.0). ([\#16673](https://github.com/matrix-org/synapse/issues/16673))
+* Bump pyopenssl from 23.2.0 to 23.3.0. ([\#16662](https://github.com/matrix-org/synapse/issues/16662))
+* Bump ruff from 0.1.4 to 0.1.6. ([\#16690](https://github.com/matrix-org/synapse/issues/16690))
+* Bump sentry-sdk from 1.32.0 to 1.35.0. ([\#16666](https://github.com/matrix-org/synapse/issues/16666))
+* Bump serde from 1.0.192 to 1.0.193. ([\#16693](https://github.com/matrix-org/synapse/issues/16693))
+* Bump sphinx-autodoc2 from 0.4.2 to 0.5.0. ([\#16723](https://github.com/matrix-org/synapse/issues/16723))
+* Bump types-jsonschema from 4.19.0.4 to 4.20.0.0. ([\#16724](https://github.com/matrix-org/synapse/issues/16724))
+* Bump types-pillow from 10.1.0.0 to 10.1.0.2. ([\#16664](https://github.com/matrix-org/synapse/issues/16664))
+* Bump types-psycopg2 from 2.9.21.15 to 2.9.21.16. ([\#16665](https://github.com/matrix-org/synapse/issues/16665))
+* Bump types-setuptools from 68.2.0.0 to 68.2.0.2. ([\#16688](https://github.com/matrix-org/synapse/issues/16688))
+
 # Synapse 1.97.0 (2023-11-28)
 
 Synapse will soon be forked by Element under an AGPLv3.0 licence (with CLA, for
diff --git a/changelog.d/15207.feature b/changelog.d/15207.feature
deleted file mode 100644
index 17790d62eb..0000000000
--- a/changelog.d/15207.feature
+++ /dev/null
@@ -1 +0,0 @@
-Adds on_user_login ModuleAPI callback allowing to execute custom code after (on) Auth.
\ No newline at end of file
diff --git a/changelog.d/16522.misc b/changelog.d/16522.misc
deleted file mode 100644
index 26059b108e..0000000000
--- a/changelog.d/16522.misc
+++ /dev/null
@@ -1 +0,0 @@
-Clean-up unused tables.
diff --git a/changelog.d/16552.misc b/changelog.d/16552.misc
deleted file mode 100644
index 73a0376df0..0000000000
--- a/changelog.d/16552.misc
+++ /dev/null
@@ -1 +0,0 @@
-Reduce a little database load while processing state auth chains.
diff --git a/changelog.d/16636.feature b/changelog.d/16636.feature
deleted file mode 100644
index a363eaafaf..0000000000
--- a/changelog.d/16636.feature
+++ /dev/null
@@ -1 +0,0 @@
-Support MSC4069: Inhibit profile propagation.
\ No newline at end of file
diff --git a/changelog.d/16642.bugfix b/changelog.d/16642.bugfix
deleted file mode 100644
index e83c8b4f9d..0000000000
--- a/changelog.d/16642.bugfix
+++ /dev/null
@@ -1 +0,0 @@
-Enable refreshable tokens on the admin registration endpoint.
diff --git a/changelog.d/16658.misc b/changelog.d/16658.misc
deleted file mode 100644
index baee042f2f..0000000000
--- a/changelog.d/16658.misc
+++ /dev/null
@@ -1 +0,0 @@
-Add a Postgres `REPLICA IDENTITY` to tables that do not have an implicit one. This should allow use of Postgres logical replication.
\ No newline at end of file
diff --git a/changelog.d/16661.doc b/changelog.d/16661.doc
deleted file mode 100644
index 74f8fc84b8..0000000000
--- a/changelog.d/16661.doc
+++ /dev/null
@@ -1 +0,0 @@
-Add schema rollback information to documentation.
diff --git a/changelog.d/16667.misc b/changelog.d/16667.misc
deleted file mode 100644
index 51aeca9243..0000000000
--- a/changelog.d/16667.misc
+++ /dev/null
@@ -1 +0,0 @@
-Reduce database load of pruning old `user_ips`.
diff --git a/changelog.d/16668.misc b/changelog.d/16668.misc
deleted file mode 100644
index 9ed004d6e4..0000000000
--- a/changelog.d/16668.misc
+++ /dev/null
@@ -1 +0,0 @@
-Reduce DB load when forget on leave setting is disabled.
diff --git a/changelog.d/16670.bugfix b/changelog.d/16670.bugfix
deleted file mode 100644
index f1369abc06..0000000000
--- a/changelog.d/16670.bugfix
+++ /dev/null
@@ -1 +0,0 @@
-Consistently bypass rate limits when using the server notice admin API.
diff --git a/changelog.d/16672.feature b/changelog.d/16672.feature
deleted file mode 100644
index 05ecf22207..0000000000
--- a/changelog.d/16672.feature
+++ /dev/null
@@ -1 +0,0 @@
-Restore tracking of requests and monthly active users when delegating authentication to an [MSC3861](https://github.com/matrix-org/synapse/pull/16672) OIDC provider.
diff --git a/changelog.d/16673.misc b/changelog.d/16673.misc
deleted file mode 100644
index 8b274ede71..0000000000
--- a/changelog.d/16673.misc
+++ /dev/null
@@ -1 +0,0 @@
-Bump pyo3 (0.19.2→0.20.0), pythonize (0.19.0→0.20.0) and pyo3-log (0.8.1→0.9.0).
diff --git a/changelog.d/16677.misc b/changelog.d/16677.misc
deleted file mode 100644
index 20c37851c3..0000000000
--- a/changelog.d/16677.misc
+++ /dev/null
@@ -1 +0,0 @@
-Ignore `encryption_enabled_by_default_for_room_type` setting when creating server notices room, since the notices will be send unencrypted anyway.
diff --git a/changelog.d/16682.misc b/changelog.d/16682.misc
deleted file mode 100644
index 071715e83a..0000000000
--- a/changelog.d/16682.misc
+++ /dev/null
@@ -1 +0,0 @@
-Correctly read the to-device stream ID on startup using SQLite.
diff --git a/changelog.d/16684.misc b/changelog.d/16684.misc
deleted file mode 100644
index 6fb55c08a5..0000000000
--- a/changelog.d/16684.misc
+++ /dev/null
@@ -1 +0,0 @@
-Reoranganise test files.
diff --git a/changelog.d/16695.doc b/changelog.d/16695.doc
deleted file mode 100644
index 6cb284c501..0000000000
--- a/changelog.d/16695.doc
+++ /dev/null
@@ -1 +0,0 @@
-Fix poetry version typo in [contributors' guide](https://matrix-org.github.io/synapse/latest/development/contributing_guide.html).
diff --git a/changelog.d/16697.misc b/changelog.d/16697.misc
deleted file mode 100644
index 02fd236ab4..0000000000
--- a/changelog.d/16697.misc
+++ /dev/null
@@ -1 +0,0 @@
-Remove old full schema dumps which are no longer used.
diff --git a/changelog.d/16699.feature b/changelog.d/16699.feature
deleted file mode 100644
index 7ede50f326..0000000000
--- a/changelog.d/16699.feature
+++ /dev/null
@@ -1 +0,0 @@
-Add an autojoin setting for the notices room so users get joined directly instead of receiving an invite.
diff --git a/changelog.d/16700.doc b/changelog.d/16700.doc
deleted file mode 100644
index 0d55ad338a..0000000000
--- a/changelog.d/16700.doc
+++ /dev/null
@@ -1 +0,0 @@
-Switch the example UNIX socket paths to /run. Add HAProxy example configuration for UNIX sockets.
diff --git a/changelog.d/16701.feature b/changelog.d/16701.feature
deleted file mode 100644
index 2a66fc932a..0000000000
--- a/changelog.d/16701.feature
+++ /dev/null
@@ -1 +0,0 @@
-Follow redirects when downloading media over federation (per [MSC3860](https://github.com/matrix-org/matrix-spec-proposals/pull/3860)).
diff --git a/changelog.d/16702.misc b/changelog.d/16702.misc
deleted file mode 100644
index d97d0a11be..0000000000
--- a/changelog.d/16702.misc
+++ /dev/null
@@ -1 +0,0 @@
-Raise poetry-core upper bound to <=1.8.1. This allows contributors to import Synapse after `poetry install`ing with Poetry 1.6 and above. Contributed by Mo Balaa.
diff --git a/changelog.d/16704.misc b/changelog.d/16704.misc
deleted file mode 100644
index 4dafb27fd8..0000000000
--- a/changelog.d/16704.misc
+++ /dev/null
@@ -1 +0,0 @@
-Add a workflow to try and automatically fixup linting in a PR.
diff --git a/changelog.d/16707.feature b/changelog.d/16707.feature
deleted file mode 100644
index 707502d344..0000000000
--- a/changelog.d/16707.feature
+++ /dev/null
@@ -1 +0,0 @@
-Synapse now declares support for Matrix v1.7, v1.8, and v1.9.
diff --git a/changelog.d/16714.doc b/changelog.d/16714.doc
deleted file mode 100644
index 511d2b6022..0000000000
--- a/changelog.d/16714.doc
+++ /dev/null
@@ -1 +0,0 @@
-Add documentation for how to validate the configuration file with synapse.config script.
diff --git a/changelog.d/16725.bugfix b/changelog.d/16725.bugfix
deleted file mode 100644
index 42dc249fb9..0000000000
--- a/changelog.d/16725.bugfix
+++ /dev/null
@@ -1 +0,0 @@
-Fix a bug introduced in Synapse 1.7.2 where rooms whose power levels lacked an `events` field could not be upgraded.
diff --git a/changelog.d/16729.bugfix b/changelog.d/16729.bugfix
deleted file mode 100644
index 50e72ac1f8..0000000000
--- a/changelog.d/16729.bugfix
+++ /dev/null
@@ -1 +0,0 @@
-Fix GET /_synapse/admin/v1/federation/destinations returning null (instead of 0) for `retry_last_ts` and `retry_interval`.
diff --git a/changelog.d/16730.misc b/changelog.d/16730.misc
deleted file mode 100644
index baee042f2f..0000000000
--- a/changelog.d/16730.misc
+++ /dev/null
@@ -1 +0,0 @@
-Add a Postgres `REPLICA IDENTITY` to tables that do not have an implicit one. This should allow use of Postgres logical replication.
\ No newline at end of file
diff --git a/debian/changelog b/debian/changelog
index 5ec8771604..b4626f741e 100644
--- a/debian/changelog
+++ b/debian/changelog
@@ -1,3 +1,9 @@
+matrix-synapse-py3 (1.98.0~rc1) stable; urgency=medium
+
+  * New Synapse release 1.98.0rc1.
+
+ -- Synapse Packaging team <packages@matrix.org>  Tue, 05 Dec 2023 13:08:42 +0000
+
 matrix-synapse-py3 (1.97.0) stable; urgency=medium
 
   * New Synapse release 1.97.0.
diff --git a/pyproject.toml b/pyproject.toml
index eeede837d0..a3eb6111e0 100644
--- a/pyproject.toml
+++ b/pyproject.toml
@@ -96,7 +96,7 @@ module-name = "synapse.synapse_rust"
 
 [tool.poetry]
 name = "matrix-synapse"
-version = "1.97.0"
+version = "1.98.0rc1"
 description = "Homeserver for the Matrix decentralised comms protocol"
 authors = ["Matrix.org Team and Contributors <packages@matrix.org>"]
 license = "Apache-2.0"