William of Malmesbury's Chronicle of the Kings of England. From the earliest period to the reign of King Stephen / William of Malmesbury. With notes and illustrations. By J.A. Giles.

  • William of Malmesbury
Date:
1847
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: William of Malmesbury's Chronicle of the Kings of England. From the earliest period to the reign of King Stephen / William of Malmesbury. With notes and illustrations. By J.A. Giles. Source: Wellcome Collection.

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    THE TRANSLATOR’S PREFACE. The author whose work is here presented to the public in an English dress, has, unfortunately, left few facts of a per- sonal nature to be recorded of him ; and even these can only he casually gleaned from his own writings. It is indeed much to he regretted that he who wrote so well on such a variety of topics, should have told so little to gratify the curiosity of his readers with respect to himself. Every notice of such an ardent lover of literature as Malmesbury, must have been interesting to posterity, as a desire to be acquainted with the history of those who have contributed to our instruction or amusement seems natural to civilized man. With the exception indeed of the incidental references made by successive chroniclers, who borrowed from his history, there is nothing to be learned of him from extrinsic sources till the time of Leland, who indignantly observes, that even at Malmesbury, in his own monastery, they had nearly lost all remembrance of their brightest ornament. To himself then we are indebted for the knowledge of his being descended from both English and Norman parents ; his father having probably come hither at the conquest. The exact time of his birth cannot be ascertained ; though per- haps an approximation to it may be made. In the “ Com- mentary on Jeremiah,”* Malmesbury observes, that he “ had Ion since, in his youthful days, amused himself with writing hisfory, that he was now forty years of ageand, in another place, he mentions a circumstance which occurred “ in the • “ Olirn enim cum historias lusi, viridioribus annis rerumque laetiti® eongruebat rerum jocunditas. Nunc ®tas progression et fortuna deterior, aliud dicendi genus expostulant. Quadragenanus sum hodie, &c. Erol. in expos. Thren. Hierem. MS. Bodl. 868.
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