Career

William may have been a Scoto-Norman, but the two manuscripts that preserve the Roman are from northeastern France, perhaps suggesting their provenance there. lieutenant was once suggested to have been commissioned by Alan of Galloway for his wedding in 1209, since Alan was the descendant of Fergus, who ruled Galloway as king in the mid-twelfth century. Doctorate. Doctorate. R. Owen, adjudging the author to be intimately familiar with major figures and events of the reign of William the Lion in Scotland, posited as "a strong possibility" that William the Clerk is William Malveisin, a Frenchman who arrived in Scotland in the 1180s and served as a royal clerk.

In this scenario, the Roman was composed after 1200.

Finally, William may be the William de Bois (de Bosco, de Bosch) who was a clerk of the royal chapel in 1193 and chancellor from 1210 to 1226.