King Formal Post 4 - The Written Words of William
Laura King
Laura King
HIS 504
Summer Term 2012
Word Count: 500
The Written Words of William
One cannot help but smile at the antidotes that William of Malmesbury graciously gives his readers who may be growing weary of the tales of the many kings of England. While discussing Ethelbert, William feels the need to draw in the connections to the Franks and relate their own history. Or while making it through the not-as-exciting-life-as-his-father life story of William Rufus, William gives us a break with tales from the Crusades. William has a distinct awareness for his audience, an audience who reads, not just listens, to his historical account. Not many centuries before William is writing, England was a different kind of culture, experiencing learning in a different manner. The people were an oral people gathering around the fires in the mead hall, singing the tales and stories, such as Beowulf. But as Christianity became more seeped into the culture, traditions changed. Songs of the old heroes as well as some new were still sung, however, through the work of monks of those times, Christianity, a culture of the Word, greatly developed the written culture of England.
Unfortunately, with this shift came a loss of an element of beauty within the written word. This is demonstrated in the Anglo Saxon Chronicles, a work commissioned by Alfred the Great that merely lists the significant events that occurred each year. But for William, history must be more than just the mere facts. He follows in a tradition along with Bede when he states, “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 aversion from evil.” (Gesta Regum Anglorum, Book II, Prologue). Not only does history teach us how to live wisely through either the good or bad lives of the saints but William believe this must be accomplished by “an agreeable recapitulation” or a well-written story. His preface to the entire work explains his purpose more fully. While commentating on Elward’s Latin translation of the Chronicles, William writes that Elward was “a noble and illustrious man, who attempted to arrange these chronicles in Latin, and whose intention I could applaud if his language did not disgust me.” (Gesta Regum Anglorum, Preface) It upsets William that a history would be written in an ugly, boring manner. William writes for his reader and he deeply believes that there must be connection between the content of his writing, the lives of good men, to the actual text, something that will keep the reader’s interest and change their lives. Good style should match good history. Boring fables written in low peasant speech merely listing off facts will not engage the reader and affect their lives for the better. Untimely those tales fail. William believes history will serve its purpose when the historian, aware of his audiences’ attention, teaches them the history of good men in order to build them up, presenting these tales in a beautiful and pleasing manner equal to the lives these saints lived.
