Ordericus Vitalis was born
at Atcham, near Shrewsbury, in 1075. His father, Odelerius, was a
Norman
and his mother was English.
At the age of ten he was sent to an abbey at St. Evroul in Normandy.
He later wrote that his father was "weeping when he gave me,
a weeping child, into the care of the monk Reginald, and sent me away
into exile for love of God, and never saw me again."
Ordericus Vitalis eventually
came to England and built his own monastery at Shrewsbury. Later he
returned to Normandy where he spent the rest of his life. Between
1123 and 1141 he wrote The Ecclesiastical
History which mainly dealt with the rule of William
the Conqueror.
Inspired by the work of
Bede,
Ordericus Vitalis used original documents, interviews and literary
sources to write his history books. In his work he criticized the
violence and greed of the Norman conquerors. He also attacked the
English for being degenerate who benefited from Norman rule. Ordericus
Vitalis died in about 1143.
The
Normans: Classroom Activities
(1)
Ordericus Vitalis, The Ecclesiastical History (c. 1142)
William
the Conqueror... realised that death was imminent... The wise king
ordered all his treasures to be distributed among the churches and
the poor.
(2)
Confession made by William
the Conqueror
on his deathbed in 1087. Quoted by Ordericus
Vitalis
in The Ecclesiastical History (c. 1142)
I tremble
my friends/ when I reflect on the grievous sins which burden my conscience,
and now, about to be summoned before the awful tribunal of God, I
know not what I ought to do. I was bred to arms from my childhood,
and am stained from the rivers of blood I have shed... It is out of
my power to count all the injuries which I have caused during the
sixty-four years of my troubled life.
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