A Short Biographical Dictionary of English Literature/Ordericus Vitalis

by John William Cousin

Ordericus Vitalis (1075-1143?). -- Chronicler, b. near Shrewsbury, was in childhood put into the monastery of St. Evroult, in Normandy, where the rest of his life was passed. He is the author of a chronicle, Ecclesiastical History of England and Normandy (c. 1142) in 13 books. Those from the seventh to the thirteenth are invaluable as giving a trustworthy, though not very page 291clear, record of contemporary events in England and Normandy. It was translated into English in 1853-55.