The Written World

By Amanda Hingst,

Book cover of The Written World: Past and Place in the Work of Orderic Vitalis

Book description

The Anglo-Norman monk Orderic Vitalis (1075-c.1142) wrote his monumental, highly individual Historia Ecclesiastica as an exercise in monastic discipline intended to preserve the events and character of Christendom for future generations. Though cloistered since childhood in a Benedictine monastery near Normandy's southern border, Orderic gained access to an intellectual world…

Shepherd is reader supported. When you buy books, we may earn an affiliate commission.

Why read it?

1 author picked The Written World as one of their favorite books. Why do they recommend it?

I stumbled on this book in Raven secondhand bookstore in Cambridge, Massachusetts.

I was researching for my 12th-century trilogy, Conquest, and this book is a brilliant critical study of the Anglo-Norman chronicler, Orderic Vitalis. The book is wonderfully written and conveys the astonishing beauty of Orderic’s own work.

Orderic, as he writes, ranged far and wide across the Anglo-Norman kingdom in his imagination and then returned to his ‘black-clad life’ as a monk.

Raven and Shakespeare and Co. Bookshop in Paris are amongst my top favourites. I love to visit Shakespeare for its cramped unevenly floored labyrinth and intelligent array…

Want books like The Written World?

Our community of 11,000+ authors has personally recommended 100 books like The Written World.

Browse books like The Written World

5 book lists we think you will like!

Interested in the Crusades, the Middle Ages, and Normandy?

The Crusades 53 books
The Middle Ages 416 books
Normandy 26 books