WILLIAM OF SHOREHAM (DE SCHORHAM). - English priest, b. near Sevenoaks in Kent toward the end of the 13th century. In 1313 he became rector of Chart Sutton in the same county. The year of his death is unknown. He is probably the author of the first complete English version of the book of Psalms, which is found in a manuscript with various poems, some of which bear his name in the colophon.

The Psalms are written in the Mercian dialect (of central England), not in that of Kent, but this does not seem a sufficient reason to doubt William's authorship. The Psalms also contain 11 canticles, in addition to the Athanasian Creed. The poems were published by the Percy Society in 1849, and the Psalms, edited by Prof. Bülbring, appeared in 1891. William's work has great devotional value and is not lacking in notable literary merits, though not eminent ones.

Bibliography2 works

BIBL.: A. W. Ward-A. R. Waller, Cambridge History of Engl. Liter., I. Cambridge 1907, p. 353; M. Ott, William of Shoreham, in Cath. Enc., 15 (1912), p. 638.

Enrico Rope

@incollection{ec6_guglielmo_di_shoreham_de_schor, author = {Rope, Enrico}, title = {Guglielmo di Shoreham (De Schorham)}, booktitle = {Enciclopedia Cattolica}, volume = {VI}, pages = {1269}, note = {Cited by column}, publisher = {Ente per l’Enciclopedia Cattolica e per il Libro Cattolico}, address = {Città del Vaticano}, year = {1951}, url = {https://azioneromana.com/article/guglielmo-di-shoreham-de-schorham} }

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William of Shoreham (De Schorham)

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