GUGLIELMO DI NEWBURGH

Image from page 751
Image from page 751

WILLIAM of Newburgh. – English ecclesiastical writer and chronicler, also called W. parvus (little), born in 1136 at Bridlington (county of York) and died at Newburgh near Coxwold about the end of the 12th century or the beginning of the following one.

He had entered as a child the Augustinian Canons of Newburgh. Already an old man, about 1196 he began his *Historia rerum Anglicarum* (also called *Hist. Anglicana*), a work in 5 books covering the period 1066–1198 and which, although often inaccurate in chronology and based on otherwise known sources, is of particular importance especially for the reign of Henry II. The information is topographically reliable, given the trustworthiness of the sources used. For his impartiality and the keen insight with which he considers and judges human events, W. deserves a notable place among the historians of the 12th century. Three sermons are also attributed to him.

BIBL.: Ed.: The best edition of the *Hist. rer. Anglie.* is by R. Howlett in *Chronicles of the reigns of Stephen etc.*, with the continuation of an anonymous writer up to 1298, drawn from the *Annales Funesienses*, I, London 1884, pp. 3–408; II, ibid. 1885, pp. 415–508; R. Pauli, preface and partial edition in *MGH, Scriptores*, XXVII, pp. 221–48. Sermons: ed. Th. Arnold, *Scriptores hist. Anglie.*, XI, Oxford 1719. Studies: H. E. Salter, *William of N.*, in *The English Historical Review*, 22 (1907), pp. 510–14; R. Jancke, *Guilelmus Neuburgensis. Ein pragmatischer Geschichtsschreiber des 12. Jahrhunderts*, in *Jenaer historische Arbeiten*, ed. A. Cartellieri and W. Judeich, I, Bonn 1912.