William of Malmesbury

WILLIAM OF MALMESBURY: English his torian; b. in the south or the west of England about 1090; d. at Mahnesbury (38 m. n.w. of Salisbury) after 1142. He was brought up from childhood in Malmesbury Abbey, became a monk there, also li brarian and precentor, and in all probability spent his whole life in that abbey except for a possible brief period during which he may have lived at Glastonbury. He became'interested at an early age in the study of history; the perusal of the story of other nations made him dissatisfied with what was accessible on his own, and so he was led to the compo sition of the works on the history of England which have made his name famous. His principal works are Gesta regum Anglorum, with its sequel Hastoria novella, and Gesta pontificum Anglorum. The first writing of the first and third of these was finished by 1125, but between 1135 and 1140 he twice revised the first. The Gesta regum Anglorum bins 4t the beginning of English history, and in the revised form comes down to 1127-28. The materials have value from two points of view-as a "step forward in the working out of historiography," and in the "illus trations of character and of the foreign relations" of the period. Much of anecdote is interspersed, showing the writer's power as a narrator, but not adding to the historical worth of his work. The Historia novella continues the work just character ized, bringing it down to 1142, and holds a high place as a source for the history of the reign of Stephen. The Gesta pontiftcum Anglorum is also of high impor tance, being a basis for the early ecclesiastical his tory of England. Other works are: Vita S. Dun stani; Vita S. Wulfstani; De antiquitate Glanstoni ensis ecclesix; and collections of historical and legal material still extant in manuscript.

Bibliography: The two editions of the Gesta regum Ang lorum and Historia novella which are of importance are by W. Stubbs, in the Rolls Series, 2 vols., London, 1887 1889, and by T. D. Hardy, for the English Historical So ciety, 2 vols., London, 1840; the prefaces and prolegom ena to both these editions are of value for the life, and that of Stubbs for the inclusion of minor works or of se lections from minor works of William. English transla tions of the Gesta are by J. Sharpe, The History of the Kings of England . , London, 1815; J. A. Giles, in Bohn's Antiquarian Library, ib. 1847; and by J. Stevenson, Church Historians of England, vol. iii., part 1, ib. 1854. Of the Gesba pontiirum the best ed. is that by N. E. S. A. Hamilton in the Rolls Series, London, 1870, based on the author's autograph. The Vita S. Dunstani, ed. W. Stubbs, is in Memorials of St. Dunstan, Rolls Series, London, 1874.

For the life and estimate of the works the reader is referred first of all to the prefaces of the editions named above. Consult further: W. de Gray Birch, Life and Writings of William of Malmesbury, London, 1874; T. Wright , Biographia Bratannica literarfk, ii. 134-142, ib. 1846; Kate Norgate, England under the Angevin Kings, i. 183-193, ib. 1887; DNB, lxi. 351-354; Gross, Sources, consult Index; Potthast, Wegweiser, pp. 557-558; Lichtenberger, ESR, v. 788-789; KL, xii. 1611-12.