Book contents
- Frontmatter
- Contents
- Acknowledgements
- Abbreviations
- 1 History and Ethics: The Framework of an Enquiry
- 2 Ethics: From Classical Philosophy to Monastic Practice
- 3 Ethical Thought in the Works of William of Malmesbury
- 4 The Reading of Ethics and the Ethics of Reading: History as a Vehicle for Moral Education
- 5 The Gesta Regum Anglorum, Books I and II
- 6 The Norman Kings
- 7 History, Ethics – and Truth?
- Bibliography
- Index
1 - History and Ethics: The Framework of an Enquiry
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 05 May 2013
- Frontmatter
- Contents
- Acknowledgements
- Abbreviations
- 1 History and Ethics: The Framework of an Enquiry
- 2 Ethics: From Classical Philosophy to Monastic Practice
- 3 Ethical Thought in the Works of William of Malmesbury
- 4 The Reading of Ethics and the Ethics of Reading: History as a Vehicle for Moral Education
- 5 The Gesta Regum Anglorum, Books I and II
- 6 The Norman Kings
- 7 History, Ethics – and Truth?
- Bibliography
- Index
Summary
William of Malmesbury: history versus monastic obligations?
In the past, when I amused myself with histories, the charm of the subject suited my greener years and happy lot. Now advancing age and worsening circumstances demand a different kind of work. The ideal will be something able to warn me off the world and set me on fire towards God. Hitherto I have lived for myself, enough and more than enough. Henceforth I must live for my Maker.
With these deprecating words, the ageing Benedictine monk William of Malmesbury (1085/90–1143) described his past activities as a historian. The quotation is found in the preface of William's Commentary on Lamentations, his only foray into the field of biblical commentary, probably written between 1130 and 1135. His labelling of his earlier work as ‘historias ludere’ is, in a quantitative sense, an extreme understatement: at the time of writing this prologue, William could look back at an impressive historical production. About a decade earlier, he had put the finishing touches to his monumental twins the Gesta Regum Anglorum and the Gesta Pontificum Anglorum, each of which would have been impressive for a man probably not yet out of his thirties. In addition, William had collected and produced copies of a great number of works of all ages and genres. However, while William's remarks fail to do justice to the scale of his historical efforts, they seem to reveal a certain tension in his attitude to the literary production of his life's prime – in stark contrast to the obvious pride that shines through in his earlier historiographical works.
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- Information
- William of Malmesbury and the Ethics of History , pp. 1 - 20Publisher: Boydell & BrewerPrint publication year: 2012