‘Wonderful and Astonishing Occurrences’: The Miraculous and Wondrous in William of Newburgh’s Historia rerum Anglicarum

This thesis examines William of Newburgh’s deployment, presentation and perception of the miraculous, the wondrous, the strange and the bizarre in the Historia rerum Anglicarum. Once considered the standard against which other works of Angevin history writing was judged, the reputation of the Historia has undergone reassessment in more recent years. William is presented as dour, his work considered unsophisticated. Although the weird and the wonderful is deployed throughout William’s Historia, scholars have focused their attentions upon episodes such as the story of the green children. Episodes have been dislocated and examined in isolation from the narrative as a whole, meaning that readers have been provided with glimpses of the uncanny, rather than a comprehensive investigation into the wide range of episodes which William deploys.

This thesis therefore reorientates the scholar’s view and considers those ‘wonderful and astonishing occurrences’ not as peripheral features of the Historia, but episodes integral to William’s narrative. It engages with a comprehensive cross-section of strange occurrences in order to better understand the function of these chapters as reflections of themes which underpin the narrative as a whole. It considers the placement and location of these passages, paying close attention to both William’s use of language and the Classical, early Christian and contemporary sources which he chooses to deploy. In subjecting these episodes to re-examination, it becomes clear that these chapters serve as narrative tools which William uses in order to explore the complexities of power, authority and legitimacy. It is through the lens of the weird and wonderful that the author also engages with questions related to choice, behaviour and conduct. The chapters apportioned to true miracles and those which are false reveal William’s interest in perception and discernment as tools necessary for encountering the world. However, this thesis contends that it is only by viewing the prologue as a formative exercise in perception and discernment that the reader can then fully engage with those examples of true miracles and false miracles, passages which raise wider questions regarding authenticity. When these episodes devoted to the miraculous, the wondrous, the strange and the bizarre are subjected to re-examination, it becomes clear that the Historia is a sophisticated example of Angevin history writing, composed by an author of exceptional literary skill.