Preface to the paperback edition

Summary

This edition retains the overall structure of the first, with the exception of the insertion of an additional chapter (10), a slightly-revised version of ‘William of Malmesbury as Historian of Crusade’, first published in Reading Medieval Studies, 23 (1997), 121–34, of a new Appendix I on the date of William's birth, and of a Select Bibliography. The basic character also remains similar, although every effort has been made to eliminate outright error identified in the first edition, to update and upgrade its information on the basis of further researches by myself and others, and to carry out extensive rewriting with the aims of improved clarity and homogeneity. In other words, I hope that the present edition will read more like a single book and less like a collection of articles than the first.

It is probably fair to say that the first edition played a part in stimulating the considerable interest in, and re-estimate of William that has characterized the last fifteen years. In particular, a series of important articles by Neil Wright has further illuminated William's knowledge and use of ancient texts, and another series by John Gillingham has shed further light on his aims, views and methods as a historian. Simultaneously, elaborate editions of William's works, accompanied by translation and commentary, have been prepared for the Oxford Medieval Texts series. At the time of writing, those of the Gesta Regum Anglorum, Historia Novella and Saints’ Lives have appeared. That of the Gesta Pontificum Anglorum is in an advanced state of preparation, while in the meantime a good translation has been published separately.Work on an edition of the Commentary on Lamentations has just commenced.My own involvement in the first, third and fourth of these projects has altered and deepened my understanding of William's work and character in many ways, and has contributed materially to the new information and altered views which appear in the new edition of this book.

It is still true that a fully rounded picture of William will never be possible, for the reasons given in the first edition. Nonetheless, from the process of editing his major works has emerged a better conception of his mental world, and I hope that this is reflected in some recasting of the first chapter.