Description

This is the first book devoted entirely to William of Malmesbury (c.1090-c.1143), England's greatest historian after Bede, and provides a comprehensive interpretation of William's intellectual achievement. Although best known in his own time, as now, for his historical writings, William was also a biblical commentator, hagiographer and classicist, and acted as his own librarian, bibliographer, scribe and editor of texts. He was probably the best-read of all 12th-century men of learning. R.M. Thomson has already published several papers on William: here he draws the threads of his research together, looking at the man and his times and his work as man of letters, considering the earliest books from Malmesbury Abbey library, William's reading, and his 'scriptorium'. Important in its own right, he finds that William's achievement also prompts wider reflection on Benedictine learning and the writing of history in the 12th century, and on England's contribution to the '12th-century renaissance'. In this new edition, the text has been thoroughly revised, and the bibliography updated to reflect ongoing research. There is a new chapter on William as historian of the First Crusade. RODNEY M. THOMSON is Professor Emeritus and Honorary Research Associate in the School of History and Classics, University of Tasmania. He has published several other books with Boydell & Brewer, including descriptive catalogues of the MSS of Lincoln, Hereford and Worcester Cathedrals.