books ix., x., xi,, xii., and xiii., are complete, except the four or five last leaves.

"I feel certain that this valuable manuscript is really an autogragh, as the monks of St. Evoult believed it to be from the circumstance of its having been inserted in a catalogue taken shortly after the death of Ordericus Vitalis. Among many reasons that might be offered in justification of this opinion, I shall confine myself to these: the manuscript is not illustrated; it is written on common parchment, in small sheets; it is in general very clear, but there are places in which it has been corrected; and since the twelfth century, that is a few years only after the death of the author, it passed for having been written with his own hand a short time before. I insist the more on these points, because at the period when this manuscript saw the light the abbey possessed very skilful copyists who have left magnificent copies of some of the Fathers of the church, and several other works, all transcribed with great beauty on the finest vellum, and in a folio shape. Assuredly therefore, if they had made a transcript of Ordericus, it would have had all the embellishments which the historian of their own community of St. Evroult, and the achievements of the Normans, so justly merited.

"M. La Croix du Maine is the first of our bibliographers who called attention to Ordericus Vitalis. He remarks, with justice, that good manuscripts of this historian have been always scarce; that even John Bale does not mention him in his list of English authors, nor do other compilers of biography and literary history. It appears from what La Croix du Maine says further, that he had in his possession a fine manuscript of Ordericus, which he intended to publish; but this intention was never carried into effect.

"It was not till the year 1619 that the learned Andrew Duchesne published his Ordericus Vitalis in the collection to which he gave the title of, Historia Normannorum scriptores antiqui. The thirteen books of the Ecclesiastical History are the most important work contained in this valuable collection, now become scarce and dear they fill 606 pages of the volume. Duchesne printed his edition from the manuscript of J. Bigot: unfortunately he omitted to collate it with the other manuscripts to which he might have had access, and more especially with the autograph in the library of St. Evroult. He even increased the confusion by taking no pains with the marginal dates he affixed, so that events quite different in point of time and character are often marked with the same date.

"These deficiencies, which were generally acknowledged, induced Bessin, the Benedictine, to whom we are indebted for the Concilia Rotomagensis Provinciæ, fol. 1717, to undertake a new and better edition of Duchesne's Ordericus. With this view, he

had made a great number of corrections on a copy of the edition of 1619 by collating it with a manuscript then the property of M. Mareste, advocate-general to the chamber of accounts of Normandy. He had besides, in 1722, the valuable assistance of Charles du Jardin, prior of the abbey of St. Evroult, who had made great proficiency in calligraphical studies. All was ready for the press, and the bookseller, Behourt, was on the point of undertaking the work, when the death of Bessin, which happened in 1726, put an end to this useful publication, and the project was no further thought of. I have had the advantage of the labours of Bessin and Du Jardin, and the volume they prepared for publication has been of essential service; but still I found that even after the care it had received from these learned and indefatigable Benedictins, there was much to reap, and I trust I have been able to do so with some profit.

"The learned and judicious authors of that great work, the Collection of the Historians of France, did not omit including in it so important a writer as Ordericus; they have accomplished this successfully by dividing their extracts in the following manner :

Extracts from books i., iii., v., vi., and vii., in tome ix., pp. 10 to 18; from books i., iii. vii., in tome x., in pp. 234 to 236; from books i., iii., iv., v., vi., and vii., in tome xi., pp. 221 to 248; and from books i. and iv. to xiii., in tome xii, pp. 285 to 770.

"Dom Bouquet made the first of these extracts; those contained in tome xii., which are the longest and the most interesting, are the work of M. Briae, who has not incurred the censures justly applied to his predecessor.

"After these learned labours, there still remained some useful objects to be obtained.

"As I have before remarked, I did not fail to take advantage of what had been accomplished by Bessin and Du Jardin; but besides this, I have made use of some new observations procured from St. Evroult, have made a collation of the different manuscripts with extreme care, which I have since repeated at Rouen, with the assistance of two accomplished Normans, whose learning is only equalled by their obliging disposition, M. Auguste Le Prevost, who is in possession of very valuable collections, relating to the history of Normandy, and M. Theodore Liquet, who has been kind enough to communicate to me the manuscript of the library at Rouen, of which he is the keeper.

"Some important corrections and numerous additions have been the fruits of these labours. Besides, a long study of the antiquities, the history, and the geography of Normandy has placed at my disposal a vast mass of information, which I trust will throw some light on our author's statements. The number of explanatory notes appended at the bottom of the pages form

the best proof of the pains I have for twenty years bestowed on this undertaking. Still, however, I dare not flatter myself that I have cleared up all the obscurities, filled up all the gaps, and ascertained exactly all the names of places and proper names. The difficulties have been enormous; but I have used all the means in my power to overcome them.

"However this may be, it may be asserted with truth that, of all our ancient provinces, there is none in comparison with Normandy, which has been the scene of such celebrated events, and given birth to such distinguished men, none which can boast so many and such excellent historians; and that of all these historians, Ordericus Vitalis is the most important, while, though continually quoted, his work has never been translated, nor even correctly published."

F. G.

THE PREFACE

OF

ORDERICUS VITALIS.

FORMER writers, from early times, carefully remarking the occurrences of the passing age, have noted the good or evil which befell mankind for a warning to others; and while thus continually aiming to benefit posterity, they heaped volume upon volume. We see, for instance, that this was done by Moses, Daniel, and the other sacred writers; and we discover the same object in the works of Dares of Phrygia, Pompeius Trogus, and other gentile historians; of Eusebius, Orosius, who wrote the History

1

3

1 Considering the age in which Ordericus Vitalis lived, we need not be surprised at finding him place Dares of Phrygia at the head of the writers of profane history. A Trojan priest of that name is said to have composed an account of the Trojan War; the history, however, attributed to him is a spurious composition, and its origin may be placed somewhere between the fifth and eighth centuries; but it was so much in vogue in the middle ages, that a translation in French verse was current in the eleventh century.

2

Pompeius Trogus, a Roman historian, flourished in the time of Augustus. He wrote a history of the Macedonian empire, of which we have only an Epitome by Justin.

'Eusebius (Pamphilus) became bishop of Cæsarea, A.D. 313, and died

B

of the World;' of Bede the Englishman, Paul of Monte Cassino, and the rest of the ecclesiastical writers. I peruse their accounts with delight, I praise and admire the elegance and usefulness of their works, and recommend the learned of our age to imitate their invaluable remains. But, without presuming to dictate to others, at least I contend against self-indulgence in enervating sloth, and, rousing myself to exertion, desire to undertake some work which may be acceptable to my immediate superiors. In my account of the restoration of the monastery of St. Evroult,* written by the command of Abbot Roger, I adhered faithfully to the simple truth, choosing to speak frankly of the great men of this perverse age, whether good or bad, and relying solely on my honesty of purpose, without making any pretensions to a polished style or the gifts of eloquence.

3

My present object is to treat of what passes under our

about 338. He has left a number of works, displaying great learning and ability, the best known being his "Ecclesiastical History," which has met with three Latin translators, and an English translation from the original Greek is published in the "Ecclesiastical Library," uniformly with the present series.

1 Orosius (Paul), a Spanish ecclesiastic, born at Tarragona, who flourished in the fifth century. By the advice of St. Augustine, he undertook his "History of the World," here called the "Ormesta ;" an unintelligible word, unless, as some commentators have conjectured, it is a corruption of Hormisdas, an additional name of Orosius.

2 Better known as Paul the Deacon; he died in the monastery of Monte Cassino, about A.D. 799.

Simplicibus summitatis.-Duchesne.

The former word is omitted in the Latin text of the French edition, though the sense of it is expressed in M. Du Bois' translation. Ordericus means his monastic superiors.

The popular name of this abbey, derived from its founder St. Evroult, is adopted in the present translation. Ordericus Vitalis calls it "Uticense cœnobium," or "Uticum," that is, the Abbey of the Ouche. It was in the diocese of Lisieux in Normandy, near the limits of the present departments of the Eure and the Orne.