A volume containing the original text of William of Jumieges Gesta Normannorum Ducum can be found on Project Gutenberg, in French. Accordingly, the material here, namely the contents, the introduction and the letter of William of Jumieges, have been translated via Google and any translation errors arise there. The same volume contains William of Poitiers (see next post).
HISTOIRE DES NORMANDS, PAR GUILLAUME DE JUMIÈGE. —
VIE DE GUILLAUME-LE-CONQUÉRANT, PAR GUILLAUME DE POITIERS.
https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/64008
William the Bastard was descended from Rollo who founded Normandy in the early 900s. The line of descent through the Dukes of Normandy is
Genealogy reigned
Rollo 911 - 928
William Longsword 927 - 942
Richard I the Fearless 942 - 996
Richard II the Good 996 - 1026
Robert I the magnificent 1027 - 1035
William the Bastard 1028 - 1087
According to Wikipedia “William of Jumièges was the original compiler of the history known as the Gesta Normannorum Ducum ("Deeds of the Dukes of the Normans"), written in about 1070. This was built upon the framework of an earlier history compiled by Dudo of Saint-Quentin, De moribus et actis primorum Normannorum ducum, between c. 996 and c. 1015.’
Almost nothing is known of William of Jumieges, we have neither birth nor death dates.
Orderic Vitalis names William as “Calculus.” In Book III, chapter V, he states:
“At the instigation of the devil, who never ceases from mischief to mankind, violent hostilities broke out between. the French and the Normans. Henry, king of France, and Geoffrey Martel, the valiant count of Anjou, crossed the frontiers of Normandy with numerous forces and committed great ravages. On the other hand, William, the brave duke of Normandy, was not slow in taking ample revenge for the injury done, taking many of the French and Angevins prisoners, putting some to death, and throwing numbers into prison, where they long suffered. The reader who desires to make himself acquainted with the particulars of the attacks and devastations, which ensued on one side or the other, will find them described in the works of William, a monk of Jumieges, surnamed Calculus, and William of Poitiers, archdeacon of Lisieux, who have written the history of Normandy with great care, and dedicated their works to William, then king of England, whose favour they wished to secure.”
https://archive.org/details/ecclesiasticalh01fragoog/page/425/mode/2up?q=calculus&view=theater
William of Jumieges’s Gesta Normannorum Ducum is comprised of eight books and an introductory letter.
Contents
Letter to William, Orthodox King of the English, on the facts and gestures of the Dukes of the Normans.
Book I How Hastings oppressed Neustria before the arrival of Rollo
Book II Deeds and gestures of Rollo, First Duke of Normandy
Book III Of the Second Duke of Normandy, William son of Rollo
Book IV Of Richard I, son of Duke William
Book V Of Duke Richard II, son of Richard I
Book VI Of Richard III and Robert his brother, both sons of Richard II
Book VII Of Duke William, who submitted England by his arms.
Book VIII Of Henry I, king of the English and Duke of the Normans.
At the beginning of the Gesta he makes a dedication to William the Bastard, naming him as King of England rather than as Duke of Normandy. William identifies himself as a monk of Jumieges.
“To William, pious, victorious and orthodox king of the English, by the grace of the Supreme King, William, monk of Jumiège, and the most unworthy of all monks, wishes the strength of Samson to strike down his enemies, and the depth of Solomon to recognize justice.”
From this introductory letter, the work is usually dated to a twenty year period between the Bastard’s coronation at Christmas 1066 and his death in 1087.
The eighth book is concerned with the rule of the Bastard’s son Henry and as it post dates the introductory letter it is therefore thought to have been added by a later writer. The introduction states:- “the eighth was obviously added later by a monk of the abbey of Le Bec: without speaking of the difference in tone and style, there is question of several events occurring after the death of Guillaume de Jumiège, for example, the death of Adèle, countess of Blois, sister of King Henry I of England, which occurred in 1137, and that of Boson, Abbot of Le Bec, which occurred the same year.”
The concluding chapters of book seven relate the events of William’s death and burial and must also have been added after his death. Thus we cannot say with certainty, where the work of William of Jumieges ends and his co-writer begins; nor can we identify what has been added later.
The introduction also states “It even appears that in the first seven books, several chapters, notably chapter IX of book VI, chapters XII, XXII, XXXVIII of book VII, and perhaps a few other passages were also added afterwards, or at least interpolated, either by the monk author of the VIIIth book, or by some other chronicler.” These are:
Book VI, CHAPTER IX.
Of the abbey of Bec, of its first abbot and founder, the venerable Herluin, and of his successor Anselme.
Book VII,
CHAP. XII. D'Arnoul, son of Guillaume Talvas, and his brother Olivier, a monk from Le Bec.
CHAP. XXII. Monasteries that were founded in Normandy in the time of Duke William.
CHAP. XXXVIII. Of the Duke's return to Normandy, and of the death of Archbishop Maurile.
William of Jumieges identifies his sources in his introductory letter. He notes that the beginning i.e the first four books, has been taken from the works of Dudo.
“I drew the beginning of my story, up to Richard II, from the story of Dudon, a learned man, who had learned very carefully from Count Raoul, brother of Richard I, everything he confided to the paper, to be transmitted to posterity.”
William of Jumieges continues: “Everything else I have learned partly from the relations of many men, whom their age and experience render equally trustworthy, partly from having seen it with my own eyes and having judged it with certainty, so that I give it as my own.”
Chapters 34-38 of Book Seven cover the period from the gathering of William’s fleet at Saint-Valery, in Ponthieu, to the return of William to Normandy following his coronation.
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