Malmesbury, THE MONK OF, supposed author of a chronicle among the Cottonian MSS. in the British Museum (Vesp. D. IV. 73) which Tanner states to be only a copy of a part of the chronicle written by Alfred of Beverley in the twelfth century, but which, according to Sir Thomas Hardy, is almost entirely based on that of Geoffrey of Monmouth. It is a valueless compilation, describing English history from the Saxon invasion to the year 1129. From the fact that the MS. bears the name “Godfridus de Malmesbury“, it was originally conjectured that it was written by Godfrey of Malmesbury, a native of Jumieges, who became Abbot of Malmesbury in 1081. As he founded the library of that abbey he was regarded as a man of literary tastes, but his authorship of the MS. was sufficiently disproved, apart from its identity with Alfred of Beverley, by the fact that his death took place in or before 1107, when Edulf became abbot. Probably the signature merely indicates previous ownership. It is said that a fifteenth-century Italian writer, Baptista Fulgosus, includes the work of “Gotfredus Anglus Historicus” among the authorities he had consulted.
EDWIN BURTON