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The manuscript from which the work of Thomas of Monmouth is printed here—and it is the only copy of his work which is known—formed part of a Library bequeathed about the year 1700 to the Parish of Brent Eleigh in Suffolk by a certain Mr Edward Colman, sometime of Trinity College, Cambridge. The collection included some nine MSS, and among them were two of no ordinary interest. One was the Gospel-book of St Margaret of Scotland, which was purchased by the Bodleian Library in 1887; the other was the volume containing the Life of St William. Seven out of the nine MSS are now in the University Library at Cambridge, for which they were bought from the Trustees of the Brent Eleigh Library in 1889. An eighth is in the Fitzwilliam Museum: the other, as has been said, is at Oxford.

I had been myself, to some extent, instrumental in procuring the books for Cambridge: and it was with extreme pleasure that on examination I discovered, first that here was a copy of Thomas of Monmouth's Life of St William, and next, that no other copy seemed to be known.

Into the other steps preliminary to the appearance of the present edition it is not necessary to enter. To communicate my discovery to Dr Jessopp was an obvious step; when his help was once secured I felt sure that Thomas would be presented to the public under the best possible auspices.

Something must be said, however, of the volume itself. It is a small folio numbered Add. 3037 in the University Library. It is written in a fine hand (or two hands), on good parchment, in double columns of 31-32 lines each and consists of two volumes bound in one. Its date I should place somewhat before 1200. It retains its original wooden boards, formerly fastened by a strap and pin. The collation is as follows:

*2 (1 stuck to the cover, 2 gone): a⁸—k⁸: I⁸ II⁸ III⁸ (2 mutilated) IV⁸—VII⁸ VIII⁸ (wants 4, 5, 6) IX⁸—XI⁸: 166 leaves remain out of 170.

The contents are as follows:

I. 1. Thomas of Monmouth's Life of St William of Norwich.

This ends on f. 77 a.

2. Isaaci Abbatis Stellensis Epistola de officio missae, ad Dominum Johannem Archiepiscopum Lugdunensem . . . . . f. 77 b

Domino et patri in Christo semper uenerabili et digne amando J. dei gratia Pictauensi Episcopo frater Ysaac dictus abbas stelle salutem.

Ending on f. 80 b.: fideliter et feruenter reminiscitur. Explicit epistola domini Ysaac abbatis de officio missae.

This tract is printed in Migne, Patrol. Lat. cxciv. The author's date is 1169.

3. An extract beginning:

(S)maragdus preciosus lapis est in sua natura.

Ending: et in Cristi doctrina confortant.

II. 1. Vita S. Wulurici anachoretae by John, abbot of Ford . . . . . . . . . . f. 1

See on this Hardy's Catalogue of Materials, ii. 267.

2. Vita S. Godrici de Finchale . . . . f. 39 b

This is an abbreviated form of the Life. It occurs anonymously in Harl. 322.

In the present MS it is ascribed to " Walterus," but in Stevenson's edition (Surtees Society, 1847) of Reginald's long Life of St Godric, this shorter Life is described as a preliminary and shorter form of Reginald's book by Reginald himself. It is thus arranged in our MS.

f. 39 b. Explicit uita b. Wulurici anachorete. Incipit prefatio domini Walteri in abreuiatione uite b. Godrici de finchal.

Ut satisfacerem.

Expl. prefatio. Inc. argumentum.

Sanctissimus heremita Godricus.

f. 40. Capitula (Ixxv) agreeing with those given by Stevenson.

f. 41 b. Incipit uita.

Uirtutes et uitam.

Ends on f. 85 (88): followed by fifty-two hexameters, in a smaller hand, beginning:

Stephane, tu tanti mensuram nominis imple

Et sta pro phano ne tu dicare prophanus

and ending:

Quicquid obest et in hanc radicem mitte securim

Ne radice ingens in peius pullulet arbor.

The verso is blank.

The condition of the MS is very good, save that it has, in the earlier pages in particular, suffered from damp at the left-hand upper corner. This will account for certain bracketed supplements which appear in the text.

From what monastery it came I am quite unable to suggest. There is an old (xivth or xvth century) table of contents on the fly-leaf which is in parts illegible, but runs thus, so far as I can read it:

Volumen. |

De Vita et passione sci Wille^mi martiris norwic.

[added in cent, xvi: per Thomam monumetensem monachum dedicat. willelmo episcopo Norvicensi].

Epistola dompni Ysaac abbatis Stellensis de officio misse ad domnum lohannem.

Epistole . ii. lohannis de forda . Item vita sci Wlfrici anachorite eiusdem.

Vita sci Godrici finchale cum miraculis [added in margin: per Walterum].

Item liber qui dicitur:

Rudis equitas et ius et idiomata (?) que iuris versatur (?) et sunt proprietates collecte sub compendio de codicis et digestorum.

This last tract is gone.

Here too, in a hand of the xviith century, is the uame Fane Edge, which is found in most of the other MSS from Brent Eleigh.

I will here note, before passing to the discussion of the text of our MS, and other kindred topics, that the present edition is printed from an excellent transcript made by Mr A. Rogers of the University Library. I have collated the printed proofs with the manuscript.

The Text.

The date of the last miracle which Thomas records is 1172. Bishop Turbe died in January of 1174, and all seven books were written when Thomas wrote the Prologue, dedicating the book to him. The date of the composition is, then, most likely 1172-3. The date of the MS is, to my thinking, rather before than after 1200: all the tracts in it must have been composed before 1180. We are, then, dealing with a copy very near in time to the autograph of the author; and as we should expect, the text is in consequence extremely good. Moreover, our copy has been very carefully corrected. I had at first fancied that the corrections might have been in Thomas's own hand; but a subsequent examination does not tend to confirm that view. All that we can say is that the copy from which ours was made cannot in all likelihood have been separated by more than one step from Thomas's own: and it is quite likely to have been transcribed from the autograph itself. This likelihood is increased by the consideration that there cannot have been many copies of the book made, and most probably all that existed were made at Norwich.

One other point remains to be noticed. The MS, as a general rule, is singularly free from corruptions: but in the only document which is copied into the text from another source,—namely, the letter of the monk of Pershore which occurs in the last chapter but one of the whole work,—three or four bad mistakes occur. Had our MS been the work of a copyist at all far removed from the date of Thomas's autograph, mistakes similar to these would, I think, have crept into other parts of the text. Their absence from it proves that we are dealing with a near descendant of the author's copy.

The History of the Book.

I begin the investigation of this subject by laying before the reader the locus classicus on the Life of St William, namely his Legend as given by John Capgrave in the Nova Legenda Angliae. The portions italicised are those which are verbally borrowed from Thomas of Monmouth.

1. Sanctus enim Willelmus ex patre Wenstano et matre Elwina rurali opere uitam agentibus ac necessariis uitae subsidiis admodum abundantibus natus est. Impraegnanti autem matri et dormienti uisio tab's accidit: uidebat piscem qui lucius dicitur, pinnas rubicundas et tamquam sanguine aspersas duodecim Jiabentem, quern cum in sinum posuisset, uidebatur piscis se mouere, et paullatim adeo succrescere ut iam sinus ipsum comprehendere non posset: assumptisque subito alis sursum uolauit, nubesque transiens, ajierto sibi coelo, in ipsum se recepit. Cumque patri suo sacerdoti, plurimam exponendarum uisionum peritiam liabenti, cuncta per ordinem retulisset, ait: Noueris, filia, te impraegnari, filiumque parituram, qui in terris honorem maximum consequetur, et sujjer altitudinem nubium eleuatus, in coelum duodennis exaltabitur.

2. Nato itaque puero et ablactato, cum pater eius Wenstanus affines ad conuiuium iuuitasset, poenitentialis quidam brachia ferreis innexus nexibus, quasi ad eleemosynam conuiuantibus intererat: qui cum puerulum manibus quasi applaudendo teneret, puer puerili simplicitate, ferreos admirans nexus, eos palpauit: et ecce subito uincula rumpuntur in partes dissilientes.

Cum autem septennis puer esset, coepit adeo abstinentiae amator existere, ut tribus in liebdomade feriis ieiunaret: nonnullos uero pane contentus transigebat dies: ecclesiam frequentabat, psalmos et orationes dicebat, et quaecumque Dei erant summa uenerabatur reuerentia. Tandem apud Norwicum cuidam pellipario in arte ilia traditur insttiiendus.

3. Tandem in quodam festo Paschae, ludaei in urbe morantes puerum subdole hospitia eorum intrare alliciunt, subitocpie rapiunt, et uariis modis Ulusum per utrasque fauces ad posteriorem colli partem reductis corrigiis firmissimo astringunt nodo. Postmodum uero breui funiculo auricularis fere digiti Jiabente grossitudinem, arrepto, trinumque in eo certis locis assignantes nodum, caput illud innocens a fronte in occiput circumcingunt. Medium quippefronti nodum extremosque olios hinc et inde temporibua imprimentes, utrarumque partium capitibus ad occiput strictissimo confecto ibi nodo, quod supererat funiculi ctrcum collum itidem hinc et inde ad anteriora colli sub mento contrakentes reducunt; ibique ittud insolitum tormenti genus in quinto nodo consummant.

4. Capite quoque post hoc raso, infinitis illud spinarum punctionibus milnerant, innocentemque a terra siiblatum patibulo extinguere contendebant. Sinistro eius lateri usque ad cordis intima uulnus acerbum infligunt, et ut sanguinem per totum corpus refluentem reprimerent, a capite deorsum feruentissimam aquam infuderunt. Sicque martyr gloriosus [xvii. Kal. Mai.] migrauit ad Dominum. Die quoque Paschae corpus in sacco ponitur, ut extra uillam ad siluam deductum secretius in ea sepeliretur. Cumque siluam intrarent, obuiauit eis burgensis quidam Norwici nomine Eiluerdus, qui paullisper gradum continuit: quo tenderent, quidue deferrent, inquisiuit: et propius accedens, nianusque iniiciens, humanum esse corpus deprehendit. Uli uero se deprehensos expauescentes, et prae timore nihil Jiabentes quod dicerent, siluae densitatem fugiendo ingressi sunt, corpusque linea cordella in arbore suspenderunt.

5. Ineuntes autem Judaei consilium Vicecomitem adeunt, et si ope sua liberari a tanto periculo possent, centum marcas argenti pollicentur. Eiluerdus confostim accersitus, iubente Vicecomite et cogente fide et iuramento constringitur, quod uita comite ludaeos non infamaret, et usque ad extremum uitae suae diem uisa non detegeret. Euolutis etenim annis quinque, Eiluerdus, ad extremum uitae perueniens, ab ipso sacro puero Wilhelmo per uisum admonetur ut quae uiderat quibus uellet reuelare non timeret: factumque est ita. His infra urbem gestis, ecce ignea de coelo lux subito emicuit, quae usque ad martyris locum tractim se porrigens, oculis multorum diuersis in locis effulsit. Videbatur autem lux ilia in duos diuisa radios scalae longissimae tenere formam, ab imo in altum se porrigentis ad orientem.

6. Sabbato enim Sancto Paschae monialis quaedam cum quibusdam aliis ante solis ortum iter arripiens siluae densitatem deuota ingreditur, intuensque eminus ad radicem quercus iacentem puerum tunicatum, calceatum, capite rasum: et foemineo correpta timore propius accedere non praesumpsit. Aspexit autem super ilium coruos duos, qui uoracitatis rabiem explere gestientes rostro eum discerpere certatim attentabant: sed nullatenus tangere neque se sustinere ualentes, huic et inde a latere cadebant. His uisis mulier Deo gratias agens, ad domum regressa, quae uiderat palam cunctis enarrauit. Turba igitur cateruatim ad siluam properat, poenarumque signis ac re gesta euidenter consideratis, ludaeos a reatu non immunes ajfirmant, et corpus sanctum sepulturae cum gaudio tradunt.

7. Monachi quidam ramusculum, qui tempore estiuo in claustro floribus roseis uernans iam effloruei-at, ad caput sepulcri Sancti Martyris circa festum S. Michaelis transplantarunt: qui continue terrae radicitus adhaesit, et reuirescentibus foliis non sine magna omnium admiratione refloruit, uniuersis floribus usque ad festum S. Edmundi in ramusculo perseuerantibus. Tuncque uehemens imbrium et uentorum exorta procella omnes praeter unum excussit, qui usque ad natalem in ramusculi summitate recens perdurauit.

8. Fuit uir quidam diuturna infirmitate detentus totoque imbecillis corpore iacens: ingrauescente tandem morbi angustia in extasim raptus Angelo duce per loca diuersa, horrida et amoena, deducitur: innumerabilem uero turbam diuersis cruciari poenis: nonnullos quos in uita cognouerat, uidit: qui famuiaria quaedam et secreta ei tradentes intersignia quibusdam adhuc uiuentibus per ipsum mandando notificant, eosdem illis praeparatos cruciatus, nisi ab his et illis poenitentes criminibus desistant. Florigeram amoenissimamque ingreditur regionem, innumeram ibi hominum copiam in gloriae inaestimabilis gaudio positam cernit, et inde per uiam diuersis constratam floribus digrediens ante sedentem in throno Dominum tandem adductus constitit, atque in coruscae lucis fulgore deflxo intuitu uidit Dominum, throno aureo sedentem, lapidibus pretiosis ornato, et sanctorum millia ante eum.

9. Vidit quoque a dextris in maiestate sedentis B. Virginem Mariam et ad pedes Domini puerum conspicit quasi duodennem, scabello aureo residentem: cuius habitum niue candidior et uultus splendidior sole, et in capite eius corona fulgebat aurea, pretiosissimis undique lapidibus insignita: cui pariter congratulabantur Sanctorum chori eumque maxime uenerabantur ordines angelici, quibus uisis angelo ait: Quis est hie, Domine, cui tantus honor impenditur? Et ille: Hie est cui honor debetur perpetuus, quern, in derisum Dominicae passionis et opprobrium his sacris diebus ludaei Noruicenses peremerunt, eiusque debetur meritis quod ad sepulcrum illius remedium suscipias sanitatis. Et his dictis inde corttinuo aissumitur, et suo corpori restituitur. Remeante uero anima subito omne corpus contremuit, et rediuiuus apparuit et cunctis seriatim quae uiderat enarrauit; Noruicum adiit, et sanitatem sine mora recepit.

10. Multa insuper miracula pro suo Marty re glorioso Dominus ostendere dignatus est: inter quae caecos quatuor, mutos quinque, hydropicos duos, daemoniacos tres et epilepticos, contractos, surdos, naufragio periclitantes, compeditos, gibbosos, ac alios uariis inorbis aut periculis afflictos, sanauit, liberauit ac soluit.

To this shall be appended the English version which appears in Wynkyn de Worde's Newe Legende of Englande, f. cv. a sqq.

Seynt Wyllyam the chylde / and martyr was borne in Englonde / and when his moder was wyth chylde of hym she sawe in a vysyon a fysshe called a luce w xii red fynnys lyke as it had been sparkelyd with blode / and when she had put the fysshe into her bosom she thought it grewe so moch that her bosome coulde not holde it / and sodeynly it flewe aboue the Cloudys into heuen / and a preest that had great grace in expoudynge of vysyons / sayde she shulde haue a blessyd Chylde that in the age of xii yerys shuld goo into Heuyn / And when he was a yonge chylde it happenyd hym to touch y e Iros of a man that was fetteryd / And anon the Irons felle of. And when he was but vii. yere olde he wolde faste thre dayes in y e weke / and wolde be at the Chyrche in prayer / And after at norwych he was put to a skynner to enfourme / where on an Estre daye he was taken pryvely by the Jues / and they in despyte of oure Lorde mockyd hym / and cruelly martyryd hym / they thruste all y blode oute of his Hedde with cordys / and then they dyd shaue his Hedde and pryckyd it with thornys / and put hym vpon a Crosse and thruste hym into the lefte syde greuously / and so by great Martyrdome he went to our Lorde the -vii- kalendas of Maye / and that doon they caiyed hym towardes a wood to hyde hym / And a Crysten man came by them and perseyuyd that they caryed a deed man / wherfore they feryd moche and pryuely hunge hym vp in a Tree in the Wode with a corde / and wente to the Sheryf e and for a . C . marke / the Sheryfe causyd the man to be sworne that he shulde neuer dyscouer it whyle he lyuyd / and v yerys after when he shulde dye Seynt wyllyam apperyd to hym / and bade hym that he shulde dyscouer hit ferynge nothynge / (f. cv b) / And so he dyd / and then a lyghte fro heuyn shewyd vppo the place where he laye / And after on an Eester euyn his Bodye was founde by a Nonne in the wode lyenge at y e Roote of an Oke in his Cote hosed / and shodde / and his Hedde shauen / and there were by hym two Crowes that attemptyd to haue Torne hym / and etyn hym / But they hadde no power therto / and then hee was takyn vp with all the people / and buryed with great Joye / A man that had ben longe syke was ledde in a vysyon by an Aungell into a goodlye place full of plesaunte Flourys / and there he sawe our Lorde syttynge in a Trone / and innumerable of Aungellys / and Seyntys aboute hym / and on his ryght hande in great magestye was the Sete of oure blessyd Ladye / and at the Feet of our Lorde he sawe a Chylde aboute the age of -xii- yerys syttynge in a sete of golde and a Crowne of Golde vppon his hedde his Face shynynge bryghte as the sonne / and Aungellys dyd honour to hym / Then he askyd of the Aungell who he was / and the Aungell sayde this is he that in derysyon and opprobrye of the passyon of our Lorde the Jues of Norwyche dyd put to deth / and by hym he sayde he shulde be made hoole / And so he vanysshed awaye / and when his spyryte was come agayne to the Bodye he went to Norwyche and was made hoole as the Aungell sayde / and many other myracles / our lord hath shewyd for this blessyd Chylde foure that were blynde / fyue that were mute / two of the dropsye / thre vexyd with Deuylls / and men of the fallynge sykenes / dome (? some) perysshynge in the see feterd and deformyd / and of dyuerse other sykenesse were helyd and delyuered by thys gloryouse martyr.

It is clear that Capgrave's sole source for the above is Thomas of Monmouth. The references I have added shew that he had the whole book before him, and the variants from our text are nowhere important. One mistake he has fallen into. He places the martyrdom on the seventeenth of the Kalends of May. The English says the seventh. But this is in reality the date of the translation of the body from Thorpe Wood to the cloister: and it has suffered corruption. The date as given by Thomas (T. xviii.) is the eighth of the Kalends of May (Ap. 24).

In R. Whytford's Martiloge, written for Syon Monastery and reprinted for the Henry Bradshaw Society from Wynkyn de Worde's edition of 1526, the feast is put on the 15th of April.

Our next witness is Leland. In his Collectanea, iv. 27 (25 in marg.) he enumerates a few books In Biblioiheca Christicolarum Nordovici, i.e. in the library of the Priory. There are eight in all, and the eighth is thus described:

Vita S. Gulielmi Nordouicensis a Thoma mouacho Monumetensi ad Gulielmum episcopum Nordouicensem scripta. Prologus carmine scriptus est: Martyris egregii. Cetera scribuntur soluta oratione.

The metrical Prologue probably never was in our MS, of which the first quire is complete: a fly-leaf, however, is gone, which may have contained it.

In the Commentarii de Scriptoribus Britannicis (c. 288), and in Bale (ii. 94) this notice is amplified, and appears thus:

Thomas Monemuthensis professione monachus, qui suo saeculo inter literates nomen laudesque emeruit. ludaei, perfidum genus hominum et sanguinem sitiens Ohristianum, in Britannia suae stirpis radices alte fixerant. Horum grex pessimus Ventam Icenorum precario incolebant, ea urbis regione et insula ubi Abrahami aula etiam nunc de nomine nota extat. Inter caetera quae ibidem scelera multa designauerunt, illud imprimis inipium, quod Hugonem quondam, puellum ingenuum, morti in Christi contumeliam tradiderint; deprehensi sceleris conscii et in crucem acti. Nee longo post tempore ludaei urbe omnino expulsi. Claruit miraculis Hugonis sepulchrum. Ergo, ne Hugonis Martyris uita et mors obscura aliquando essent posteritati, rogatus Thomas Monemuthensis, charum ciuibus Ventanis et Deo pignus edito immortale fecit libello.

The blunder of substituting Hugh for William is corrected in the Trinity MS. of Leland, and in Bale and Pits. Bale adds the following matter:

De apostolis legimus quod uiui miracula fecerint. At Papistae sub Antichristi regno ex mortuis cadaueribus, uero quod maius est, ab eorum tumbis, seu ligneis seu lapideis, miracula decerpere et extorquere possunt. Ne huiusmodi igitur portenta deessent in adimplendis idololatriis, Thomas iste manum adhibuit, ac scripsit ad Guilhelmum de Turibes Nordouicensem episcopum,

Vitam Guilhelmi martyris Lib. 7. Reuerendae sanctitatis patri et dom.

Miracula eiusdem Guil. Lib. 1

atque alia quaedam. Claruit Thomas anno Christi 1160, sub rege Henrico secundo. Elvuina huius Guilhelmi mater (inquit Thomas) Vulvuardum sacerdotem genitorem habuit. Et soror eius Liuina, Godvuinum presbyterum maritum, qui genuit ex ea Alexandrum diaconum uxoratum, qui debebat in ministerio succedere patri.

From this it is clear that Bale had our book before him, and was not dependent upon Leland alone for his information. This is also apparent from a passage in Bale's scurrilous Actes of English Votaryes (1550), which I here append, as copied from the original edition (f. Ixxxii b).

Prestes marryage at Norwyclie, praysed and scorned.

Saint Wyllyam of Norwyche, a martyr, whych was ther shryned in Christes church abbeye, in the yeare of our lorde a .M. a .C. and xliiij. was crucify ed of the Jewes d welly ng than in a place yet called Abrahams hawle. Elwina thys S. Wyllyams mother had a prest to her father whose name was called Wulwarde, whyche was a man famouse, the story e sayth, both in a good lyfe and learnynge, plentuously hauynge the gyft of expowwyng secrete misteryes. Her other syster Liuina beynge also thys prestes doughter, was ioyned in lawfull marryage to another preste called Goodwin. Thys prest had a sonne called Alexandre, whych was a marryed deacon, and loked after the decease of hys father, to enioye hys benefyce by inherytaunce. Eyther must thys legende of S. Wyllyam, writte of Thomas Monmouth a monke of the same abbeye, be a wycked thynge for allowyng these two prestes marryages, eyther els that cytie of Norwyche hath had most wycked and tyranouse rulers in this our tyme, etc.

In both these passages of Bale there is one fact mentioned which does not occur in our text of Thomas. This is the statement that Alexander the deacon, son of Godwin Sturt, was married, and that he looked to succeed his father in his benefice.

The only mention of Alexander in our text is on p. 38 (i. xiii.) where he is called " Godwin's son, at that time a deacon." It is quite possible that Bale's text had a further clause here, which was either the insertion of a contemporary, or else has dropped out of our MS. There seems no reason to suspect the genuineness of the statement.

Another point to be noticed is this, that Bale speaks of seven books of the Life and one of the Miracles of St William. It is just possible that there may have been a supplementary eighth book of miracles, which we have lost: but that the seven books we have are all that Thomas contemplated writing is shown by his own words in the Prologue (p. 7). Bale does not give the opening words of the book of Miracles; and most likely it is a blunder, for the seven books are described as the Life of St William, whereas, of course, he dies in the fifth chapter of the first book, and the rest of the treatise is welmigh all occupied with miracles.

It seems, then, that Capgrave, Leland, and Bale knew Thomas of Monmouth's book. But outside their testimony and later than their time, no trace of it is discoverable. Alike to Boston, Tanner and Blomefield it is unknown, and, moreover, none of the chroniclers who notice St William's death appear to have seen it. Indeed, from the geographical distribution of our witnesses to it, it seems clear that the book had little or no circulation outside East Anglia: for Capgrave (or John of Tinmouth) and Bale are both East Anglians: Leland saw his MS at Norwich Priory: and our MS comes to light in a Suffolk Library.

I have not thought it worth while to reproduce or enumerate all the mentions of William's martyrdom which occur in mediaeval chronicles. The earliest is in the Saxon Chronicle; and this places the event in 1137. I am quite unable to suggest a reason for this mistake; for a mistake it undoubtedly is.