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William of Newburgh or Newbury (from ; 1136? – 1198?), also known as William Parvus, was a 12th century English historian
English historians in the Middle Ages

English historians in the Middle Ages helped to lay the groundwork for modern historical historiography, providing vital accounts of the early history of England, Wales and Normandy, its cultures, and revelations about the historians themselves....
 and Augustinian canon from Bridlington
Bridlington

Bridlington is a town and civil parish in the East Riding of Yorkshire, England. It has a population of over 33,000 and is twinned with Millau, France and Bad Salzuflen, Germany....
, Yorkshire
Yorkshire

Yorkshire is a Historic counties of England of northern England and the largest in Great Britain. Because of its great size, over time functions were increasingly undertaken by its subdivisions, which have been subject to History of local government in Yorkshire....
.

His major work was Historia rerum Anglicarum or Historia de rebus anglicis ("History of English Affairs"), a history of England from 1066 to 1198. The work is valued by historians for detailing The Anarchy
The Anarchy

The Anarchy or The Nineteen Year Winter refers to a period of history of England during the reign of the Normans King, Stephen of England, which was characterised by civil war and unsettled government....
 under Stephen of England
Stephen of England

Stephen often known as Stephen of Blois was a grandson of William I of England. He was the last Norman dynasty King of England, from 1135 to his death, and also the Count of Boulogne jure uxoris....
. It is written in an engaging fashion and still readable to this day, containing many fascinating stories and glimpses in to 12th-century life.






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William of Newburgh or Newbury (from ; 1136? – 1198?), also known as William Parvus, was a 12th century English historian
English historians in the Middle Ages

English historians in the Middle Ages helped to lay the groundwork for modern historical historiography, providing vital accounts of the early history of England, Wales and Normandy, its cultures, and revelations about the historians themselves....
 and Augustinian canon from Bridlington
Bridlington

Bridlington is a town and civil parish in the East Riding of Yorkshire, England. It has a population of over 33,000 and is twinned with Millau, France and Bad Salzuflen, Germany....
, Yorkshire
Yorkshire

Yorkshire is a Historic counties of England of northern England and the largest in Great Britain. Because of its great size, over time functions were increasingly undertaken by its subdivisions, which have been subject to History of local government in Yorkshire....
.

His major work was Historia rerum Anglicarum or Historia de rebus anglicis ("History of English Affairs"), a history of England from 1066 to 1198. The work is valued by historians for detailing The Anarchy
The Anarchy

The Anarchy or The Nineteen Year Winter refers to a period of history of England during the reign of the Normans King, Stephen of England, which was characterised by civil war and unsettled government....
 under Stephen of England
Stephen of England

Stephen often known as Stephen of Blois was a grandson of William I of England. He was the last Norman dynasty King of England, from 1135 to his death, and also the Count of Boulogne jure uxoris....
. It is written in an engaging fashion and still readable to this day, containing many fascinating stories and glimpses in to 12th-century life. He is a major source for stories of Medieval revenants, those souls who return from the dead, and the only source for the bishop-pirate Wimund
Wimund

Wimund was a bishop who became a sea-faring war-lord adventurer in the years after 1147. His story is passed down to us by English historians in the Middle Ages William of Newburgh in his Historia rerum anglicarum, Book I, Chapter 24 entitled "Of bishop Wimund, his life unbecoming a bishop, and how he was deprived of his sight"....
.

The nineteenth-century historian Edward Augustus Freeman expressed the now-outdated opinion that William was "the father of historical criticism". Newburgh saw his own work as being based on reliable sources, unlike Geoffrey of Monmouth
Geoffrey of Monmouth

Geoffrey of Monmouth was a clergyman and one of the major figures in the English historians in the Middle Ages and the popularity of tales of King Arthur....
's History of the British Kings, of which Newburgh was critical, saying "only a person ignorant of ancient history would have any doubt about how shamelessly and impudently he lies in almost everything". He criticized Geoffrey for writing a history that conflicted with the accounts found in the writing of Bede
Bede

Bede , , was a monasticism at the Northumbrian monastery of Saint Peter at Monkwearmouth, today part of Sunderland, England, and of its companion monastery, Saint Paul's, in modern Jarrow , both in the Kingdom of Northumbria....
.

Because belief in souls returning from the dead was common in the 12th century, Newburghs Historia briefly recounts stories he heard about revenant
Medieval revenant

A revenant is a visible ghost or animated corpse that was believed to return from the grave to terrorize the living. The word "revenant" is derived from the French, revenir, "to return"; in French, "revenant" means "returning"....
s, as does the work of Walter Map
Walter Map

Walter Map was a English historians in the Middle Ages using Latin. Map has only one main work attributed to him for certain, De Nugis Curialium....
, his southern contemporary. Although they form a minor part in each work, these folklore accounts have attracted attention within occultism. He also described the arrival of green children
Green children of Woolpit

The Green Children of Woolpit were two strange children who reportedly appeared in the village of Woolpit in Suffolk, UK, in the 12th century. Accounts are given in the chronicles of Ralph of Coggeshall and William of Newburgh....
 from "St. Martin's Land" (I.27) and other mysterious, wondrous occurrences. While he says that these have an apparent signification, he does not explain what that meaning might be.

He also composed a lengthy Marian exposition on the Song of Songs and three sermons on liturgical texts and Saint Alban.

Sources

  • Online excerpts, as part of The Church Historians of England, volume IV, part II; translated by Joseph Stevenson
    Joseph Stevenson

    Joseph Stevenson was an England Catholic archivist.Though his parents were Presbyterians, he was educated at University College, Durham under the historian, James Raine, and afterwards at the University of Glasgow....
     (London: Seeley's, 1861). Spelling modernized 1999 by Scott McLetchie.
  • The History of 'William of Newburgh' (1066-1194), Joseph Stevenson (Translator), LLanerch Press, 1996, ISBN 1-86143-013-2, This is believed to be the Seeley's 1861 version as seen above, without Scott McLetchie's spelling updates.
  • Chronicles of the Reigns of Stephen, Henry II and Richard I. Edited by Richard Howlett. Rolls Series
    Rolls Series

    The Rolls Series, official title The Chronicles and Memorials of Great Britain and Ireland during the Middle Ages, is a major collection of British and Irish historical materials and primary sources, published in the second half of the nineteenth century....
     no. 82. London, 1884-9. Books 1-4 of William's history appear in volume 1, book 5 in volume 2. Most recent complete source.
  • The History of English Affairs, Book I (Medieval Latin Texts), by William, P.G. Walsh, M.J. Kennedy, 1988, ISBN 0-85668-304-3, Book I only.


Footnotes

  • Edward Augustus Freeman, Contemporary Review, vol. XXXIII (1878), p. 216.
  • Historia rerum Anglicarum, , Retrieved Jan. 2005
  • see Medieval revenants#References


External links

  • from The Cambridge History of English and American Literature
    The Cambridge History of English and American Literature

    The Cambridge History of English and American Literature. Originally published in 1907-1921, the 18 volumes include 303 chapters and more than 11,000 pages, edited and written by a worldwide panel of 171 leading scholars and thinkers of the early twentieth century....
    , Volume I, 1907–21.
  • from the Medieval Sourcebook