Malmesburry Does Not Lie
Maryani
I apologize for a very late post. I was confused with this class for quite some time and currently regained a bit of understanding. I am so glad that it is only two more days left until I learn from all of you.
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One hundred more pages to go. Fifty more pages to go. Five, four, three, two, and one. I am done and I am current!
With this approached I grabbed the copy of the Chronicles of the Kings of England, hoping that at least I will remember some name by skimming through its pages. Flying across the pages, soon I found the book is hard to read. Those small prints are just killing me. With almost zero comprehension I turn its page in frustration.
“History more especially; which by an agreeable recapitulation of past events, excites its readers, by example, to frame their lives to the pursuit of good, or to the aversion of evil.” ( 1, Pro, 94)
His words stroke me to the core. History was a boring and heavy burden for almost two and a half month. What should I do so that these past events will excite me? Nothing. Malmesburry has promised that he does not make a boring statement. His work will be just enough so that I will not be disgust with the lengthy explanation (I. 1. 17).
“Trust me”
Just like under the spell I trust Malmesburry to restart the journey.
“He was an admirable ruler at home, invincible in war, and a truly pious follower of the Christian Faith, for he extended its power to the utmost. And, to complete his felicity, after a reign of thirty-three years, he died in extreme old age, which men reckon to be their greatest happiness, leaving his three children his heirs.” (1.1. 16)
How could I miss these sentences? “To frame their lives to pursuit of good”, Malmesburry whispered softly. Like a snowball rolling down a steep hill, the phrase magnifies. Frame their lives. Egbert was a great father, a mighty warrior, a faithful Christian who went to his eternal home peacefully. (1.1.16) To pursuit of good. Life indeed is a pursuit of good. The scene of my death bed is going to be the proof of my journey. Who will surround me? In my funeral what will they say about me?
Malmesburry is right. His stylistic and almost poetic sentences are not boring at all. These are some of his genius phrases on death:
“Alfred, paying the debt of nature, was buried at Winchester.” (2.5.121)
“Edward, going the way of all flesh, rested in the same monastery with his father.”(2.5.128)
“Completing his earthly course, and that short one, Athelstan died at Gloucester.” (2.6.140)
Besides his impressive writing style, his thoroughness on the lives of the kings is the light to my dark path of Medieval wood. Certainly he fills the gap of Bede’s snap shot of these kings. But still I am travelling with a question, what happen to Britons? I cannot trace their story clearly. It begins with the Britons sail to Britain from Armorica (Bede, 10) and ends with, “And all the Britons, whom we call Welsh,”(Malmesburry, 2.5.123) with two names in between: Vortigern an Lucius.
As Malmesburry says, “If before, he knew only these things, let him not be disgusted because I have inserted them; if he shall know more, let him not be angry that I have not spoken to them; but rather let him communicate his knowledge to me.” (2.Pro.94) Therefore I turn to all of you for help to enlighten me about the Britons. For I believe that you must know more than I do because Malmesburry does not lie.
