William the Clerk (fl. c. 1200 – c. 1240) was an Old French

Old French

Old French was the Romance dialect continuum spoken in territories that span roughly the northern half of modern France and parts of modern Belgium and Switzerland from the 9th century to the 14th century...

 poet who names himself at the end of his only known work: the Arthurian Roman de Fergus

Roman de Fergus

The Roman de Fergus is an Arthurian romance written in Old French probably at the very beginning of the 13th century, by a very well educated author who named himself Guillaume li Clers...

, a parody

Parody

A parody , in current usage, is an imitative work created to mock, comment on, or trivialise an original work, its subject, author, style, or some other target, by means of humorous, satiric or ironic imitation...

 of the romances

Romance (genre)

As a literary genre of high culture, romance or chivalric romance is a style of heroic prose and verse narrative that was popular in the aristocratic circles of High Medieval and Early Modern Europe. They were fantastic stories about marvel-filled adventures, often of a knight errant portrayed as...

 of Chrétien de Troyes

Chrétien de Troyes

Chrétien de Troyes was a French poet and trouvère who flourished in the late 12th century. Perhaps he named himself Christian of Troyes in contrast to the illustrious Rashi, also of Troyes...

, notably Perceval, the Story of the Grail

Perceval, the Story of the Grail

Perceval, the Story of the Grail is the unfinished fifth romance of Chrétien de Troyes. Probably written between 1181 and 1191, it is dedicated to Chrétien's patron Philip, Count of Flanders...

.

William's may have been a Scoto-Norman

Scoto-Norman

The term Scoto-Norman is used to described people, families, institutions and archaeological artifacts that are partly Scottish and partly Norman...

, but the two manuscripts that preserve the Roman are from northeastern France

France

The French Republic , The French Republic , The French Republic , (commonly known as France , is a unitary semi-presidential republic in Western Europe with several overseas territories and islands located on other continents and in the Indian, Pacific, and Atlantic oceans. Metropolitan France...

, perhaps suggesting their provenance there. It was once suggested to have been commissioned by Alan of Galloway for his wedding in 1209, since Alan was the descendant of Fergus

Fergus of Galloway

Fergus of Galloway was King, or Lord, of Galloway from an unknown date , until his death in 1161. He was the founder of that "sub-kingdom," the resurrector of the Bishopric of Whithorn, the patron of new abbeys , and much else besides...

, who ruled Galloway as king in the mid-twelfth century. Beate Schmolke-Hasselmann rejected this view and proposed that the Roman was commissioned by Dervorguilla

Dervorguilla of Galloway

Dervorguilla of Galloway was a 'lady of substance' during the 13th century, wife from 1223 of John, 5th Baron de Balliol, and mother of the future king John I of Scotland. The name Dervorguilla or Devorgilla was a Latinization of the Gaelic Dearbhfhorghaill...

, heiress of Galloway, and her husband, John I de Baliol, to promote the claim of their son, Hugh, to the Scottish throne, a claim derived from their ancestor Fergus Mor mac Eirc. This dates the work later than their marriage, which took place around 1223, and prior to John's death in 1268, most likely between 1237 and 1241.

D. D. R. Owen, adjudging the author to be intimately familiar with major figures and events of the reign of William the Lion in Scotland, posited as "a strong possibility" that William the Clerk is William Malveisin, a Frenchman who arrived in Scotland in the 1180s and served as a royal clerk. In this scenario, the Roman was composed after 1200.

Finally, William may be the William de Bois (de Bosco, de Bosch) who was a clerk of the royal chapel in 1193 and chancellor from 1210 to 1226.