Henry of Huntingdon was
born in Lincoln in about 1085. His father was a priest and Henry also
followed a career in the church and was attached to the household
of Robert Bloet, the Archbishop of Lincoln.
In 1109 Robert Bloet appointed
Henry as archdeacon of Huntingdon. Henry gained a reputation as a
writer and in about 1144 Alexander, Archbishop of Lincoln, suggested
that he should write A History of England.
The book covered the period from the Roman invasion in 43 BC to the
accession of Henry
II.
Huntingdon used a wide
variety of sources in his work and copied original documents into
his text. His book is full of dramatic stories and was extremely popular
with other historians. Henry of Huntingdon died in about 1155.
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