Table Of ContentOXFORD MEDIEVAL TEXTS
General Editors
D. E. GREENWAY B. F. HARVEY
M. LAPIDGE
W I L L I A M OF P O I T I E R S
G E S T A G V I L L E L M I
T H E D E E D S OF W I L L I A M
The
G E S T A G V I L L E L M I
of William o f Poitiers
EDITED AND TRANSLATED BY
R. H. C. D AVISf
A N D
M ARJO RIE C H IB N A LL
CLA REN D O N PRESS • OXFORD
1998
Oxford University Press, Great Clarendon Street, Oxford 0X2 6dp
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© Marjorie Chibnall 1998
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British Library Cataloguing in Publication Data
Data available
Library of Congress Cataloguing in Publication Data
Gulielmus, Pictaviensis.
[Gesta Guillelmi. English (5 Latin]
The Gesta Guillelmi of William of Poitiers/edited and translated
by R. H C. Davis and Marjorie ChibnalL
p. cm.—(Oxford medieval texts)
English and Latin parallel text.
Includes bibliographical references and indexes.
I. William I, King of England, 1027 or 8-1087. 2- Great Britain—
History—William I, 1066-1087. 3• Great Britain—Kings and rulers—
Biography. 4. Nobility—France—Normandy—Biography.
5. Conquerors—Great Britain—Biography. 6. Military history.
Medieval. 7. Normans—England—History. I. Davis, R. H. C. (Ralph
Henry Carless), içt8- . II. Chibnall, Marjorie. III. Title.
IV. Senes.
DA 197. G813 1998
942.02'i'092—dc2i 97-15372
[B]
ISBN 0-19-820553-8
13 5 7 9 10 8642
Typeset by Joshua Associates Ltd., Oxford
Printed in Great Britain on acid-free paper by
Biddles Ltd., Guildford (5 King's Lynn
P R E F A C E
A n e w edition of the Gesta Guillelmi of William of Poitiers was
first planned by R. H. C. Davis. At the time of his death he had
carried out a prolonged, but unsuccessful, search in European
libraries for the lost manuscript, and had completed a literal
translation. His research had also produced several important
papers on the author and his work. Mrs Eleanor Davis most
kindly made all her husband’s papers available to me. The text
now published is, inevitably, based on the 1619 edition of
Duchesne. I have revised and rewritten the translation. The
notes and introduction in their final form are mine; and though
I have used R.H.C.D.’s work, in particular his published papers,
where possible, the responsibility for any errors must be wholly
mine.
I owe a particular debt to Pierre Bouet, of the University of
Caen, for making available to me the concordance of the Gesta
Guillelmi which he had prepared with the collaboration of J. Potier
and Ph. Fleury. My thanks are due to Elisabeth van Houts for
lending me the proofs of Volume II of the GND of William of
Jumièges before publication, and for many helpful suggestions; to
Diana Greenway, who showed me parts of the Introduction to her
edition of Henry of Huntingdon in proof; and to David Bates, for
information about the charters of William I. The 1952 edition of
Raymonde Foreville has proved invaluable, particularly for the
identification of classical references.
At its best the Latin of the eleventh-century schools was still
true to its classical roots; but it was a living language, open to new
influences. Not a great deal of it has survived. So the task of any
editor and translator is far from easy. I have been fortunate in
having the generous and learned help of Michael Lapidge and
J. W. Binns over the problems of editing and translating, and to
both I am deeply grateful.
All three general editors and the learned staff of Oxford
VI PREFACE
University Press have been characteristically patient and helpful
in suggesting improvements and bringing the volume to comple
tion.
Clare Hall, Cambridge M.C.
October, 1996
CONTENTS
ABBREVIATED REFERENCES ix
INTRODUCTION
1. The author xv
2. The Gesta Guillelmi xix
3. The sources used by William of Poitiers xxvii
4. The battle of Hastings xxxii
5. The use of the Gesta Guillelmi by Orderic Vitalis xxxv
6. The language of the Gesta Guillelmi xxxix
7. Textual tradition xliii
8. Previous editions xlv
9. Editorial practice xlvi
G E S T A G V I L L E L M I
Sigla i
Part i 2
Part 2 100
INDEX OF QUOTATIONS AND ALLUSIONS 189
GENERAL INDEX 191
ABBREVIATED R EFER EN C ES
ASC Anglo-Saxon Chronicle: Two of the Saxon Chroni
cles parallel, ed. C. Plummer and J. Earle, 2 vols.
(Oxford, 1892-9). Translation: The Anglo-Saxon
Chronicle, ed. D. Whitelock, D. C. Douglas, and
S. Tucker (London, 1961)
Barlow, Confessor F. Barlow, Edward the Confessor (London, 1970)
Bates, Normandy D. Bates, Normandy before 1066 (London, 1982)
Battle Proceedings of the Battle Conference on Anglo-
Norman Studies, i-iv (1979-82), ed. R. Allen
Brown (Woodbridge, 1983-9); from v (1983)
published as Anglo-Norman Studies
Bayeux Tapestry The Bayeux Tapestry, ed. F. M. Stenton
(London, 1957)
Brevis relatio Brevis relatio de origine Willelmi Conquestoris, ed.
J. A. Giles, Scriptores rerum gestarum Willelmi
Conquestoris, Caxton Society, iii (London, 1845)
Brooks, Canterbury N. Brooks, The Early History of the Church of
Canterbury (Leicester, 1984)
Brown, Dover Castle R. A. Brown, Dover Castle (2nd edn., HMSO,
1974)
Brown and Cumow R. A. Brown and P. Cumow, The Tower of
London (HMSO, 1984)
BSAN Bulletin de la Société des Antiquaires de Normandie
Camden T. Smith, Camdeni et illustrium virorum ad
Camdenum epistolae praemittitur Camdeni vita
(London, 1691)
Carmen The Carmen de Hastingae Proelio of Guy Bishop of
Amiens, ed. C. Morton and H. Muntz (OMT,
1972)
Chibnall, ‘Geoffroi’ M. Chibnall, ‘La carrière de Geoffroi de
Montbray’, in Les évêques normandes du X Ie
siècle, ed. P. Bouet and F. Neveux (Caen, 1995),
PP- 279-93-
Councils and Synods Councils and Synods and Other Documents relating
to the English Church, /. A.D. 871-1204, ed. D.
Whitelock et al., 2 vols. (Oxford, 1981)
CP The Complete Peerage of England, Scotland,
Ireland . . ., by G. E. C., rev. V. Gibbs et al,
13 vols, in 14 (London, 1910-59)
X ABBREVIATED REFERENCES
David, Curthose C. W. David, Robert Curthose, Duke of Normandy
(Cambridge, Mass., 1920)
Davis, ‘William of R. H. C. Davis, ‘William of Poitiers and his
Poitiers’ History of William the Conqueror’, in The
Writing of History in the Middle Ages: Essays
Presented to Richard William Southern, ed.
R. H. C. Davis and J. M. Wallace-Hadrill
(Oxford, 1981), pp. 71-100
Dorey, Latin Biography Latin Biography, ed. T. A. Dorey (London, 1967)
Douglas, Conqueror D. C. Douglas, William the Conqueror (London,
1964)
Duchesne André Duchesne, Historiae Normannorum scrip-
tores antiqui (Paris, 1619)
Dudo De moribus et actis primorum Normanniae ducum
auctore Dudone Sancti Quintini decano, ed. J. Lair,
Mém. Soc. Ant. Norm, xxiii (Caen, 1865)
Dunbabin J. Dunbabin, ‘Geoffrey of Chaumont, Thibaud
of Blois and William the Conqueror’, Battle, xvi
(1994), 101-16
Eadmer, HN Eadmeri Historia Novorum in Anglia, ed. M. Rule
(RS, 1884)
EHR English Historical Review
Encomium Encomium Emmae reginae, ed. A. Campbell,
Camden 3rd ser., lxxii (London, 1949)
Fauroux Recueil des actes des ducs de Normandie (91 /-
1066), ed. M. Fauroux, Mém. Soc Ant. Norm,
xxxvi (Caen, 1961)
Flori, L'essor J. Flori, L'essor de la chevalerie xi‘-x iï siècles
(Geneva, 1986)
Foreville Guillaume de Poitiers, Histoire de Guillaume le
Conquérant, ed. R. Foreville, Les classiques de
l’histoire de France au moyen âge (Paris, 1952)
Foreville, ‘Synod’ R. Foreville, ‘The synod of the province of
Rouen in the eleventh and twelfth centuries’, in
Church and Government in the Middle Ages, ed.
Christopher Brooke et al. (Cambridge, 1976),
*9-39
Freeman E. A. Freeman, The History of the Norman
Conquest of England, 6 vols. (Oxford, 1867-79)
FW Florentii Wigomiensis monachi chronicon ex chron
icis, ed. B. Thorpe, 2 vols., Eng. Hist. Soc.
(London, 1848-9)
GC Gallia Christiana (Paris, 1715-1865)
