Thomas Walsingham

Background

He was born around 1376 and is supposed to have been a native of Walsingham, Norfolk, England.

Education

He was probably educated at the abbey of St Albans and at Oxford.

Career

He became a monk at St Albans, where he appears to have passed the whole of his monastic life except the six years between 1394 and 1400 during which he was prior of another Benedictine house at Wymondham, Norfolk. At St Albans he was in charge of the scriptorium, or writing room, and he died about 1422.

The Historia, which from the beginning to 1377 is largely a compilation from earlier chroniclers, was published by Matthew Parker in 1574 as Historia Angliae brevis. For the 44 Rolls " series it has been edited in two volumes by H. T. Riley (1863 - 1864).

Covering some of the same ground Walsingham wrote a Chronicon Angliae; this deals with English history from 1328 to 1388 and has been edited by SirM. Thompson for the " Rolls" series (1874). His other writings include the Gesta abbatum monasterii S. Albani and the Ypodigma Neustriae.

The Gesta is a history of the abbots of St Albans irom the foundation of the abbey to 1381. The original work of Walsingham is the period between 1308 and 1381, the earlier part being merely a compilation; it has been edited for the " Rolls " series by H. T. Riiey (1867 - 18C9).

The Ypodigma purports to be a history of the dukes of Normandy, but it also contains some English history and its value is not great. Compiled about 14. 19, it was dedicated to Henry V and was written to justify this king's invasion of France.

It was first published by Matthew Parker in 1574, and has been edited for the " Rolls " series by H. T. Riley (1876). Another history of England by Walsingham dealing with the period between 1272 and 1393 is in manuscript in the British Museum.

This agrees in many particulars with the Chronicon Angliae, but it is much less hostile to John of Gaunt, duke of Lancaster. Walsingham is the main authority for the history of England during the reigns of Richard II, Henry IV and Henry V, including the rising under Wat Tyler in 1381.

He shows considerable animus against John Wycliffe and the Lollards.

Achievements

• Walsingham's most important work is his Historia Anglicana, a valuable piece of work covering the period between 1272 and 1422. Some authorities hold that Walsingham himself only wrote the section between 1377 and 1392, but this view is controverted by James Gairdner in his Early chroniclers of Europe (1879).

Works

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  • Thom? Walsingham, quondam monachi S. Albani, historia anglicana. Edited by Henry Thomas Riley. Volume 2. A.D. 1381-1422

    (This Elibron Classics title is a reprint of the original ...)

  • Gesta abbatum monasterii Sancti Albani, a Thoma Walsingham, regnante Ricardo Secundo, ejusdem ecclesi? pr?centore, compilata. Edited by Henry Thomas Riley. Volume 1. A.D. 793-1290

    (This Elibron Classics title is a reprint of the original ...)

  • Thomae Walsingham, Quondam Monachi S. Albani, Historia Anglicana V2: A.D. 1381-1422 (1864) (Latin Edition)

    (This scarce antiquarian book is a facsimile reprint of th...)

  • Ypodigma Neustriae (Latin Edition)

    ( This is a reproduction of a book published before 1923....)

  • Chronica Monasterii S. Albani: Gesta Abbatum Monasterii S. Albani... (Italian Edition)

    (This is a reproduction of a book published before 1923. T...)

  • Gesta Abbatum Monasterii Sancti Albani... (Latin Edition)

    (This is a reproduction of a book published before 1923. T...)

  • Gesta Abbatum Monasterii Sancti Albani: A. D. 1290-1349: Introduction. Sectio Secunda, Continuata. Sectio Tertia, a Thoma Walsingham Conscripta. 1867. (Latin Edition)

    (This is a reproduction of a book published before 1923. T...)

  • Thomæ Walsingham . . . Historia Anglicana, ed. by H. T. Riley 1864 Hardcover

    (Lang:- English, Pages 597. Reprinted in 2015 with the hel...)

Religion

He was a Benedictine historian.

Views

Walsingham was a painstaking collector of facts rather than an historian, though he sometimes manipulated his facts with ulterior objects, as is illustrated by the contradictory accounts he gave of the characters of Richard II and John of Gaunt. Tanner mentions a manuscript in the library of St. John's College, Oxford, as attributed to Thomas Walsingham.

References

• The St Albans Chronicle: The Chronica maiora of Thomas Walsingham: Volume II 1394-1422 (Oxford Medieval Texts)
• Thomae Walsingham, quondam monachi S. Albani, Historia Anglicana 2 Volume Set (Cambridge Library Collection - Rolls)
• The Chronica Maiora of Thomas Walsingham (1376-1422)
• Gesta abbatum monasterii Sancti Albani: A Thoma Walsingham, regnante Ricardo Secundo, compilata (Cambridge Library Collection - Rolls) (Volume 3)
• Thomæ Walsingham, quondam monachi S. Albani, historia anglicana: Volume 1. A.D. 1272-1381
• Thomae Walshingham, quondam monachi S. Albani historia Anglicana (Cambridge Library Collection - Rolls) (Volume 2)
• Gesta abbatum monasterii Sancti Albani: A Thoma Walsingham, regnante Ricardo Secundo, compilata (Cambridge Library Collection - Rolls) (Volume 2)
• Gesta abbatum monasterii Sancti Albani Volume 1 (Latin Edition)
• Thomas Walsingham: De Archana Deorum
• . Thomas Walsingham Quondam Monachi S.
• The St Albans Chronicle: The Chronica Maiora of Thomas Walsingham, Volume I: 1376-1394 (Oxford Medieval Texts)
• The Classicist Writings of Thomas Walsingham (Writing History in the Middle Ages)
• Pterophoridae of California and Oregon
• Ypodigma Neustriae: A Thoma Walsingham, quondam monacho monasterii S. Albani, conscriptum (Cambridge Library Collection - Rolls)