William of Malmesbury (c.1090 c.1142) was a prolific historian and a trustworthy chronicler, described by Professor R. M. Thomson as 'the most learned European of his day' and 'England's greatest national and local historian since Bede'. A Benedictine monk, he spent his adult life at Malmesbury Abbey, where he assisted the Abbot in founding the library, and devoted his time to writing. The Latin text presented here, originally published in 1870 as part of the Rolls Series, is based on the manuscript at Magdalen College, Oxford. It is described with confidence by N. E. S. A. Hamilton as 'no...