Wilhelm of Jumièges

Representation of Wilhelm in a medieval manuscript

Wilhelm von Jumièges ( Guillaume de Jumièges ; * before 1027, † after 1070) was a Norman historian who spoke Latin .

He was a contemporary of the Norman conquest of England and is one of the first authors to bring up the events of 1066. Little is known of himself, as he appears as a monk in Jumièges Abbey only through his epistle dedicated to Wilhelm the Conqueror . As he also reports, eyewitnesses to some events from the reign of Duke Richard III. († 1027), one can assume that he was born around the year 1000. He entered the monastery at a young age, probably in the first third of the 11th century, and was educated by Thierry de Mathonville . According to Ordericus Vitalis , it was nicknamed Calculus ("pebble"). He died after 1070, but his death is not documented.

Wilhelm von Jumièges was a Norman and wrote from a Norman point of view. He compiled a history of the Dukes of Normandy from 1050 to 1060. These Gesta Normannorum Ducum ("Deeds of the Dukes of the Normans") are based on the historical work De moribus et actis primorum Normannorum ducum (About the manners and deeds of the first dukes of Normandy), which Dudo of Saint-Quentin wrote between 1015 and 1026. This work, commissioned by Duke Richard I († 996) and completed during the reign of his son, Duke Richard II († 1026), was taken up again in the 1050s by Wilhelm von Jumièges and worked through, shortened and by the The reigns of Dukes Richard II, Richard III, Robert I († 1035) and Wilhelm II, later called William the Conqueror, have been added.

William of Jumièges finished his work around 1060, but resumed it when William the Conqueror became King of England , adding the story of the Norman occupation of England up to 1070. The Gesta Normannorum Ducum were then supplemented again in the 12th century by the chroniclers Ordericus Vitalis and Robert von Torigni .

Works

• Gesta Normannorum ducum , ed. by Jean Marx, Paris, A. Picard, 1914
• The Gesta Normannorum Ducum of William of Jumièges, Orderic Vitalis and Robert of Torigni , ed. u. trans. by Elisabeth MC van Houts, Clarendon Press, Oxford, 1995.
• Histoire des Normands: des origines jusqu'à l'année 1137 , ed. by François Guizot, Nathalie Desgrugillers, Clermont-Ferrand, Paleo, 2004 ISBN 2849090980

literature

• Johannes Steenstrup, Jens Worsaae: Les invasions Normandes en France: étude critique . Albin Michel, Paris 1969
• A. Renoux: Wilhelm von Jumièges . In: Lexicon of the Middle Ages . Volume 9, Col. 171-172.
• Michael Menzel :  Wilhelm von Jumièges. In: Biographisch-Bibliographisches Kirchenlexikon (BBKL). Volume 13, Bautz, Herzberg 1998, ISBN 3-88309-072-7 , Sp. 1242-1244.

Web links

• Gesta Normannorum ducum , edition by François Guizot, Paris, Brière, 1826