Orderic Vitalis

Orderic Vitalis (* 1075, † 1142 ) was a Norman chronicler. He wrote one of the great contemporary English and Norman historical works of the 11th and 12th century.

Orderic Vitalis was the eldest son of a French priest, Odeler of Orléans, who entered the service of Roger de Montgomerie, 1st Earl of Shrewsbury and received a church in Shrewsbury by his patron. As Orderic was five years old, his parents gave him to a school at the Church of Saints Peter and Paul in Shrewsbury, which was led by an English priest named Siward. At age eleven, he was accepted as a novice in the Norman monastery of Saint- Evroult -sur -Ouche, the Count Roger pursued earlier, but then had richly endowed. Ordericus said to this point a word of French, which still manifested itself in his writings, even years later.

His monastic superiors christened it with the name Vitalis order (after a member of the legendary Theban Legion ), because they found it difficult to express his Christian name. However, in his chronicle, he combines both name and adds even the epithet Angligena added.

His monastic life was uneventful. He was a deacon in 1093 and priest in 1107. He left the monastery on several occasions visited Croyland, Worcester, Cambrai ( 1105) and Cluny ( 1132 ). He soon turned to the writings and seems to have spent many years during the summer in the scriptorium.

His religious superiors instructed him 1099-1122 with the writing of a life story of St. Évroult. This work grew under his hands and on, until it became a general history of his time, the Historia Ecclesiastica. The rich monastery Saint- Évroult had extensive properties in England and a number of daughter monasteries in southern Italy, received regular visits from these countries and was also a popular retirement home for war-weary knight. This was Orderic, though not an eyewitness great events, often well informed.

Orderic gives lots of information that you will not find in other authors. He throws a great light on the customs and ideas of his time, sometimes he commented with surprising acumen the larger aspects and trends of history. His narrative breaks off in mid 1141, although he makes some concluding remarks to the year 1142. He reported that he his now old and unsafe. Presumably he survived this statement is not long.

The Historia Ecclesiastica is divided into three sections:

Expenditure

  • Auguste le Prévost (eds.): Orderici Vitalis angligenae, coenobii Uticensis monachi, Historiae libri ecclesiasticae Tredecim, Julien Renouard, Paris 1838-1855, 5 volumes ( digitized at Google Books :)
  • Marjorie Chibnall ( Translator's ): The Ecclesiastical History of Orderic Vitalis, 6 volumes, Oxford Medieval Texts, 1968-1980, ISBN 0-19-820220-2
  • The Battle of Brémule, excerpts, translated by Marjorie Chibnall.
  • About Henry I, excerpts translated by David Burr.
Novitiate Pope Innocent I Normandy William of Poitiers Carolingian dynasty Baldric of Dol William II of England Henry I of England Annals Stephen, King of England Lincoln, England The Cambridge History of English and American Literature Integrated Authority File
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