, one of the best English historians of the fifteenth century, was
, one of the
best English historians of the fifteenth century, was a native of Norfolk, a Benedictine of St. Albans, and historiographer royal, about 1440, in the reign of Henry VI. He
compiled two historical works of considerable length, the
one “A History of England,
” beginning at the 57th Henry
III. the year 1273, and concluding with the funeral oF
Henry V. and the appointment of Humphrey duke of Gloucester to the regency of England. His other work is entitled
“Ypodigma Neustrise,
” a sort of history of Normandy, an*
ciently called Neustria, interspersed with the affairs of England from the beginning of the tenth century to 1418. In
the dedication of this work, which, with the other, was
published by archbishop Parker in 1574, Fol. he tells Henry
V. that when he reflected on the cunning intrigues, frauds,
and breaches of treaties in his enemies the French, he was
tormented with fears that they would deceive him: and had
composed that work, which contained many examples of
their perfidy, to put him upon his guard. Walsingham
himself allows that his style is rude and unpolished, and he
relates many ridiculous stories of visions, miracles, and portents, but all this was the credulity of the age. In what belongs to himself he is more to be praised: his narrative is
far more full, circumstantial, and satisfactory, than that of
the other annalists of those times, and contains many things
no where else to be found.