William of Malmesbury
William of Malmesbury (
William was born about 1095 or 1096[2] in Wiltshire, England. His father was Norman and his mother English.[3] He spent his whole life in England and his adult life as a monk at Malmesbury Abbey in Wiltshire.[4]
Biography
Though the education William received at Malmesbury Abbey included a smattering of
In fulfilment of this idea, William completed in 1125
William wrote of William the Conqueror in Historia Anglorum:
He was of just stature, extraordinary[10] corpulence, fierce countenance; his forehead was bare of hair; of such great strength of arm that it was often a matter of surprise, that no one was able to draw his bow, which himself could bend when his horse was in full gallop; he was majestic whether sitting or standing, although the protuberance of his belly deformed his royal person; of excellent health so that he was never confined with any dangerous disorder, except at the last; so given to the pleasures of the chase, that as I have before said, ejecting the inhabitants, he let a space of many miles grow desolate that, when at liberty from other avocations, he might there pursue his pleasures. His anxiety for money is the only thing on which he can deservedly be blamed. This he sought all opportunities of scraping together, he cared not how; he would say and do some things and indeed almost anything, unbecoming to such great majesty, where the hope of money allured him. I have here no excuse whatever to offer, unless it be, as one has said, that of necessity he must fear many, whom many fear.[11]
William's first edition of the book was followed by the Gesta Pontificum Anglorum (Deeds of the English Bishops) in 1125. For this vivid descriptive history of abbeys and bishoprics, dwelling upon the lives of the English prelates saints, notably the learned wonder-working Aldhelm, abbot of Malmesbury, William travelled widely in England. He stayed at Glastonbury Abbey for a time, composing On the Antiquity of the Glastonbury Church for his friend, the abbot Henry of Blois who was also the Bishop of Winchester. (Among the first works to mention SS Fagan and Deruvian, its present form is notably marred by anachronistic forgeries and additions.)[citation needed]
At a point before the onset of
Beginning about 1140, William continued his chronicles with the Historia Novella, or "modern history", a three-book chronicle that ran from 1128 to 1142, including important accounts of the Anarchy of King Stephen's reign. This work breaks off with an unfulfilled promise that it would be continued: presumably William died before he could redeem his pledge.[5][12] William also wrote a history of his abbey and several saints' lives.[13]
Significance
William is considered by many, including
William's descriptions of religious communities, even though they "resort to the
Works
- (Willielmi Monachi Malmesburiensis): De Gestis Regum Anglorum, Libri V; Historiae Novellae, Libri II; De Gestis Pontificum Anglorum, Libri IIII., in Rerum Anglicarum Scriptores Post Bedam Praecipui, ex vetustissimis codicibus manuscriptis nunc primum in lucem editi (G. Bishop, R Nuberie & R. Barker Typographij Regii, London 1596). digitized ed. Migne, Patrologia Latina vol. 179.
- William of Malmesbury: Gesta pontificum Anglorum (Deeds of the English Bishops), Vol. I, Edited and Translated by M. Winterbottom and R.M. Thomson, ISBN 0-19-820770-0
- William of Malmesbury: Gesta pontificum Anglorum (Deeds of the English Bishops), Vol. II: General Introduction and Commentary, by R. M. Thomson, Oxford University Press, 2007. ISBN 0-19-922661-X
- William of Malmesbury: Gesta regum Anglorum (Deeds of the Kings of the English), Vol. I, Edited and Translated by R. A. B. Mynors, R. M. Thomson and M. Winterbottom, Oxford University Press, 1998. ISBN 0-19-820678-X
- William of Malmesbury: Gesta regum Anglorum (Deeds of the Kings of the English), Vol. II: General Introduction and Commentary, by M. Winterbottom and R. M. Thomson, Oxford University Press, 2002, ISBN 0-19-820709-3
- William of Malmesbury: Historia Novella (The Contemporary History), Edited by Edmund King, Translated by K. R. Potter, Oxford University Press, 1999. ISBN 0-19-820192-3
- William of Malmesbury, Chronicle of the Kings of England, translated by Rev. John Sharpe, edited by J. A. Giles, London: George Bell and Sons, 1904.
- William of Malmesbury: The Deeds of the Bishops of England [Gesta Pontificum Anglorum], Translated by David Preest, Boydell Press, 2002. ISBN 0-85115-884-6
- De antiquitate Glastoniensis ecclesiae (63–1126 AD) (The Ancient Church of Glastonbury).
- William of Malmesbury (2011). Liber super explanationem Lamentationum Ieremiae prophetae. CCCM. Vol. 244. Michael Winterbottom, Rodney M. Thomson (eds.). Turnhout: Brepols. ISBN 9782503548494.
Unprinted extant works
Among these are:
- Miracles of the Virgin
- Liber super explanationem lamentationum Yeremiae prophetae
- An abridgment of Amalarius' De divinis officiis
- De dictis et factis memorabilibus philosophorum
- An epitome of the Historia of Haymo of Fleury and some other works, historical and legal
- Lives of the English Saints
The manuscripts of these works are to be found partly in the British Library, partly in the Bodleian Library.[16]
Lost works
- A Vita Sancti Patricii and Miracle Sancti Benigni are mentioned in the prologue to the book on Glastonbury
- A metrical life of St Ælfgyfu is quoted in the Gesta pontificum
- Chronica tribus libellis are mentioned in the prologue to the Historia novella, and a fragment of them is apparently preserved in the British Library Lansdowne manuscripts 436.
- John Leland gave extracts from an Itinerarium Johannis abbatis, describing the journey of Abbot of Malmesbury John to Rome in 1140 (Leland, Collectanea, iii. 272).[16]
Notes
- ISBN 978-0-300-14372-0.
- ^ discusses the evidence for his age and thus his birth year
- .
- .
- ^ a b c d e Davis 1911, p. 675.
- ^ Thomson 1987:197–207.
- ^ William (of Malmesbury) (1847). Chronicle of the Kings of England: From the earliest period to the reign of King Stephen. H. G. Bohn. pp. 175 ff. Retrieved 31 October 2012.
- ^ Hollister 2001:4,
- ^ Hollister 2001:4.
- ^ William of Malmesbury, Chronicle of the Kings of England, ed. Giles, London 1847, p.308
- ^ Quoted in James Westfall Thompson and Edgar Nathanael Johnson, An Introduction to Medieval Europe, 1300–1500 (1937) p. 440
- ^ "William of Malmesbury Critical Essays - eNotes.com". eNotes. Retrieved 13 November 2017.
- ^ "William of Malmesbury". British Library. Retrieved 26 November 2022.
- ISBN 978-2-503-54250-8.
- ^ ISBN 978-0-19-085128-6.
- ^ a b Davis 1911, p. 676.
References
- Davis, Henry William Carless (1911). "William of Malmesbury". In Chisholm, Hugh (ed.). Encyclopædia Britannica. Vol. 28 (11th ed.). Cambridge University Press. pp. 675–676. This article incorporates text from a publication now in the
Further reading
- Rodney M. Thomson, William of Malmesbury, ISBN 1-84383-030-2
- Kirsten A. Fenton, Gender, Nation and Conquest in the Works of William of Malmesbury (Woodbridge, Boydell, 2008) (Gender in the Middle Ages).
- Discovering William of Malmesbury, edited by Rodney Thomson, Emily Dolmans, and Emily A. Winkler (Woodbridge: Boydell & Brewer, 2017)
External links
- Works by William of Malmesbury at Project Gutenberg
- Lewis E 247 Gesta regum Anglorum (Deeds of the English Kings); Historia regum Britanniae (History of the Kings of Britain) at OPenn
- Latin Chroniclers from the Eleventh to the Thirteenth Centuries: William of Malmesbury from The Cambridge History of English and American Literature, Volume I, 1907–21.
- Full text of "William of Malmesbury's Chronicle of the kings of England. From the earliest period to the reign of King Stephen"
- Battle of Hastings, 1066, excerpts.
- Account of the Battle of Lincoln in 1141, excerpts.
- Historia Novella, excerpts.
- Texts on Wikisource:
- Joseph Armitage Robinson
- Dictionary of National Biography. London: Smith, Elder & Co. 1885–1900. .
- Cousin, John William (1910), "William of Malmesbury", A Short Biographical Dictionary of English Literature, London: J. M. Dent & Sons – via Wikisource
- Herbermann, Charles, ed. (1913). Catholic Encyclopedia. New York: Robert Appleton Company. .