Ordericus Vitalis
English history from the Norman invasion onward is usually found to contain at least one reference to Ordericus Vitalis. He was born in Atcham, Shropshire, England as the oldest son of Oder, a French monk of Orleans. Ordericus' father had entered into the service of Roger de Montgomerie, who was the first Earl of Shrewsbury. From the age of five years, Ordericus began his religious schooling in Shrewsbury under the tutelage of an English monk named Siward.
Ordericus became an Oblate in Saint Evroul Abbey in Normandy at age 11 years when his parents paid 30 marks for his admission. he expresses the conviction that they imposed this exile upon him from an earnest desire for his welfare. Oder's [father of Ordericus]respect for the monastic life is attested to by his own entry, a few years later, into a monastery which the earl had founded at his persuasion. Orderic, on the other hand, felt for some time, as he stated, like Joseph in a strange land. He did not know a word of French when he reached Normandy. His book, though written many years later, shows that he never lost his English cast of mind or his attachment to the country of his birth. Monks in Normandy had difficulty pronouncing his birth name and so he was given Vitalis [from the Theban legions of Christian Martyrs] to which added to the title of his great chronicle the epithet Angligena ("English-born"). Ordericus becam a Deaon in 1093, a Priest in 1107 but he left his cloister to visit England and other parts of Normandy and France. Orderic's first literary efforts were a continuation of Williiam of Jumieges "Gesta normannorum ducum", a broad history of the Normans and their dukes from the founding of Normandy. His own works were led by his "Historia Ecclesiastica "(Ecclesiastical History), which he built up over the History years. Sadly, Ordericus did most of his work by copying from the Gesta Normanorum Ducum when it came to the history of the Norman invasion and took note of the many charters written by the Royal Family and the Norman Counts [later English Earls] that were in vogue at the time. It should be noted that Ordericus wrote his work on the Normans some 50-60 years after the events and that most of his work was copied from rather than proven from. Still his History grew under his hand until it became a general history [athough error ridden] of his own [1100ad onward] time
At St Evroul, visitors from England used the Abbey as a rest stop, it was constantly entertaining visitors from southern Italy, where it had established new Abbeys. Ordericus, though he witnessed no great events, was well-informed about them. In spite of an over-done style, he somehow managed to have his history accepted in religious circles. His work is badly arranged and he moves from place to place without explanation, sometimes mentioning things without showing sources and it is sometimes hard to believe his efforts due to the numerous errors he includes.. Yet he does show in some areas, what life was like during his time It becomes obvious that he had a hidden dislike for the Norman conqueror and his English side shines through on several occasions. His work practically ends in mid 1141, though he added some finishing touches in 1142. He finally states that he was then old and he probably he did not survive long past that year.
Charters and Histories 1066-1142.
Orderic, in his History, has created minor hiccups for Historians during the 19th and twentieth centuries. Several historian with some Latin knowledge have attempted to rewrite history by following the errors made by Ordericus Vitalis and by trying to make them appear correct. This has sadly damned more than one of them and several others have placed their reputations in the hands of an uncertain fate.
A Brief Outline
of the lives of
GUNDRAD,
and
WILLIAM EARL DE WARENNE,
with
A Copy and Literal Translation
of the
Latin Epitaph on the Tombstone of Gundrad,
in the
Church of Southover,
Lewes, Sussex.
By the Rev. John Scobell, M.A.,
Rector of Southover.
Lewes:
MDCCCXLV
[1845]
Brief Outline
of
The Life of Gundrad,
Gundrad was the fourth Daughter of William the Conqueror. Her mother, Queen Maud, was
daughter of the fifth Earl of Flanders, and grand-daughter of Robert, King of France, son
of Hugh Capet. She was born in the Dutchey of Normandy, and after her Father had attained
the Crown, came, it is probable, first into England with her Mother in 1067, previous to
the Queen's Coronation, being then about 16 or 17 years old.
Not long after she married William de Warenne, a Nobleman of Normandy, who was also the
first Earl of Surrey in England, and who, related to the Duke of Normandy by descent, had
held a distinguished command in the memorable and eventful battle of Hastings. No nobleman
received greater marks of favor from the Conqueror than his son-in-law, William de
Warenne. Lands and Lordships in almost every part of England were conferred upon him. In
Sussex, he held the whole Rape of Lewes. He rebuilt and enlarged the Saxon Castle of
Lewes, and after his marriage with the Daughter of the Conqueror, made it their chief
residence.
About the year 1070, Earl William de Warenne and his wife Gundrad left England,
intending to proceed to Rome. Finding, however, the country in a state of war, and it was
unsafe to
prosecute their journey, they turned aside, and took up their abode for some time at a
Monastery at Cluny, in Burgundy, on the banks of the Garonne, in which the discipline and
black habit of St Benedict were adopted. The monks of Cluny were hospitable and
charitable. The most regular devotions, bodily labour, and strict self-denial were
enjoined by the rules of their Order. A favourable impression was produced upon the minds
of Gundrad and the Earl; and having previously intended to form a religious House near to
their Castle of Lewes, they now determined that the Monks to be there established, should
be of this Order, and in connexion with this Cluniac Monastery.
They, in consequence, requested of the Abbot of Cluny, that he would send three or four
Monks for the forming of the intended Monastery; promising to endow it, and to found it at
the site of the Church of St Pancras, Southover, under the Castle of Lewes, which,
originally a Saxon Church and constructed of wood, the Earl had already rebuilt with
stone.
The Abbot of Cluny, although at first averse to the petition, objecting to the
distance and danger, eventually yielded to their request, and sent over Lanzo, the first
Prior, and three other ecclesiastics with him. The deeds for all those grants and
charters, those lands and privileges, which Gundrad and Earl Warenne had promised,
received soon after the royal confirmation. Thus they became the Founders of the Priory of
Lewes, commencing in the sixth, and completing it in the twelfth year after the conquest.
Its walls embraced an area of 32 acres. This great Cluniac Priory rapidly advanced in
riches and eminence, and down to the end of the 15th Century was the spot
chosen, not only by succeeding Earls of Warenne, but by numerous other noble Individuals
for the place of their burial.
Gundrad and her Husband had issue, William and Rainold, the Progenitors of the Earls
that followed.
They occasionally resided at Castleacre, in Norfolk, where also they had built a
castle, founded a second Cluniac Monastery, and had large possessions; and there (May 27),
in the year of our Lord 1085, she died in childbirth, being, as is calculated, about 35
years of age; two years after the Queen her Mother; two years before her Father the Conqueror;
and three years before her Husband. She was buried in the Chapter House of the Church of
St Pancras, within the Priory at Lewes,- and there, in the year 1088, the body of William
de Warenne also was laid, ten years after it's foundation.
In 1538 the destruction of the Priory was completed: with all it's possessions, it was
then surrendered by Crowham, the last Prior, to the Crown, and bestowed upon Thomas Lord
Cromwell. By his agent, as a letter from one of them, still extant in the British Museum,
witnesses, this venerable pile was "hewed," "cut away," "plucked
down," and "pulled to the ground," "with as much diligence and saveing
as might be." "We brought from London 17 persons, three carpenters, two smiths,
two plummers, and one that keepeth the furnace. Every one of these attendeth to his own
office: ten of them heweth the walls, about the which are the three carpenters. These make
props to underset where the others cut away; the others break znd cut the walls. These men
are exercised much better than the other men we find in the countrie. Wherefore we must
bothe have more men and other things also that we have need of. A Tuesday they began to
cast the lead, and it shall be done with such diligence and saveing as may be; so that our
trust is that your Lordship shall be much satisfied with what we doe."
Two hundred and thirty-seven years after this scene of desolation and dilapidation, the
black marble slab which had formerly covered the remains of Gundrad in the Chapter House
of St Pancras Church, within the Priory of Southover,* beautifully carved and bordered
with Latin verses in her honour, cut in the rim and down the middle, was discovered by Dr
Clarke, of Buxted, in the Church of Isfield, about seven miles distant, being there made
use of as a tombstone over one of the Shirley Family; and at his suggestion, and through
his exertions, it was in 1775 restored as
*The late F. Beltz, Esq., Norroy King of Arms, whose name and memory will long live at
the Herald's Office, once informed me that he had seen and examined a slab of marble of
similar design, character of workmanship, and quality of stone, in Normandy, to the memory
of Queen Maud, the Mother of Gundrad, who, it is known, was interred (1083) in the Church
of St Mary at Caen, within the Nunnery which she had there founded near as possible to its original site, and removed to the Parish Church of Southover,
immediately adjoining the ruins of the Priory.
Seventy years after this discovery, on the morning of Tuesday Oct 28th,
1845, in forming a cutting for the Lewes and Brighton Railway through the grounds formerly
occupied by the Priory, the workmen came upon several compartments, each about six feet
square, and formed by transverse dwarf walls, such as might be supposed to have supported
the stone floors of the Chapter House. Two of these squares immediately adjoining each
other, were covered with slabs of Norman stone; these being removed, in each there
appeared a leaden cist, or coffer, ornamented externally by a large net work of interlaced
cords moulded in the lead, about three feet long, a foot wide, and eight inches deep, each
containing the bones of a human body. On the upper side of one cist was inscribed the name
GVNDRADA, and on the other WILLIELMVS. The letters are old - resembling in character, and
in some forms of abbreviation, those on the tombstone of Gundrad, and most distinctly
legible. It is obvious from the length of these coffers, that their bones had been
transferred to them from some previous tombs, and that long after their first burial,
being found in a state of decay, they were, from love and veneration, and for the sake of
greater security, placed in these leaden chests.*
The teeth are numerous and perfect. The bones are found to be of firm texture; hard,
solid bones, and in a high state of preservation, especially those of Gundrad. Several of
the bones of Earl Warenne are missing; the lead at the bottom of this cist had become
greatly impaired, almost destroyed, and some of them, upon their disinterment by the
workmen, may have fallen through. Those of Gundrad are as nearly complete and perfect as
possible, and judging from the length of them, the bodies must have been above the middle
stature: that of Gundrad probably about 5 ft 7 in or 8 in, and that of Earl Warenne
upwards of six feet.
*"Whose bones were since taken up and laid into a coffer." - Speed -
"Raigne of William Rufus"
Of the genuine antiquity of these relics there cannot be the slightest doubt. The
actual remains of the royal Daughter and Son-in-Law of the Conqueror have been torn from
their resting places and exhibited to the gaze of the world 760 years after their first
interment.
These illustrious relics are now also deposited in the Church of Southover, and there
the Remains of the Dead, and the Tombstone to her honour are brought together again; and
again Gundrad and Earl Warenne lie, side by side, in the consecrated House of God.
Copy of the Latin Verses on the Tombstone of Gundrad.
Stirps Gundrada Ducum decus evi nobile germen;
Intulit ecclesiis Anglorum balsama morum;
Martha fuit miseris fuit ex pietatis et equi;
Pars obiit Marthe Superest pars magna Marie;
O pie Pancrati testis pietatis et equi;
Te facit heredem tu elemens suscipe Matrem;
Sexta kalendarum Junii lux obvia carnis
Fregit Alabastrum
Literal Translation
Gundrad, the issue of a race of Dukes, the ornament of her age, a noble scion, brought
into the Churches of the English the Balsams of her moral virtues.
A Martha she was to the distressed; for piety a Mary.
Martha's part has gone its course, Mary's great part survives.
O pious Pancras, witness of her Piety and Equity, you she makes her heir, do you, meek
Man, sustain your Mother.
That adverse morn, the sixth before the day of the Calends of June, broke in pieces the
sweet-scented alabaster Vessel of the Flesh.
Translated into English Verse
Gundrad, of her age the grace,
Noble Branch, of noble race,
Comforted our Church of God,
By the virtuous ways she trod.
To the Poor, a Martha she;
Mary, too, in Piety.
Martha's office now is past,
Mary's now for ever last.
Holy Pancras! Thou dost know
All her grace and truth below;
Thee she richly makes her Heir,
Now meek Man, your Mother bear,
Take Her to your special care.
Before June's Calends were begun,
Sad Day! - the sixth - her race was run;*
Her alabaster Frame was rent,
And all its fragrant odours spent.
* The 27th of May.
Southover Rectory, Lewes, November 3rd, 1845.
