Orderic Vitalis

This volume, the fruits of a conference at Durham in 2011, makes an important contribution to studies of one of the greatest chroniclers writing in the early twelfth century. Edited by Charles C. Rozier, Daniel Roach, Giles E.M. Gasper and Elisabeth van Houts, the chapters, all of high quality, fall naturally into groups: those dealing with Orderic’s life and career at Saint-Évroul, and those analysing his writings, especially his masterpiece, The Ecclesiastical History. Orderic’s inclusion of moving autobiographical passages in his History has long attracted attention. He tells his readers that he was a son of Odelerius, a clerk in the household of Roger of Montgomery. He was educated first at Shrewsbury and then sent at the age of ten to the distant abbey of Saint-Évroul, where he spent the rest of his life as a Benedictine monk. Elisabeth van Houts discusses what can be learned about the author’s family background and the possible reasons why his father sent him away, and across the Channel, rather than somewhere closer to home. Charles Rozier considers his duties at Saint-Évroul, suggesting that he was probably librarian and cantor, and draws attention to his interest in liturgy, musical traditions and computus

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