The anonymous biographer of Henry V, edited by Thomas Hearne as Thomae de E.mham vita et gesta Henrici Quinti (Oxford, 1727), and now generally known as ‘pseudo-Elmham’, relates that on the evening following his father's funeral the new king ‘quendam reclusum perfectae vitae virum apud Westmonasterium secreto adiit’, made to him a general confession of his past life, and received penance and absolution. J. H. Wylie, in his Henry V (1,199, n. 5) suggested with some hesitation that this was William of Alnwick; he promised to devote an appendix to the topic, but died without wriiing it. As the apparently simple issue is in fact somewhat complicated, a few paragraphs may be devoted to its presentation.

The difficulty is principally due to the existence of at least four contemporary Williams of Alnwick, who have been conflated by historians in varying degrees of strength. They are:

1. William of Alnwick, Premonstratensian canon of Alnwick, c. 1408; involved in the rebellion of 1407.

2. William of Alnwick, bishop of Norwich (1426–36) and Lincoln (1436–49).

3. William of Alnwick, monk of St Albans, prior of Wymondham 1420; archdeacon of St Albans, 1428–c. 1434; prior of Belvoir 1435.

4. William of Alnwick, recluse of Westminster and first confessor-general of the Bridgettines of Twickenham from c. 1416/7 to c. 1418.