WILLIAM of NEW BURGH, or NEWBURY (1136-1198?)

—Historian, belonged to the monastery of New burgh in Yorkshire. His own name is said to have been Little. His work, Hist or i a Rerum Anglicarum (History of English affairs), is written in good Latin, and has some of the same qualities as that of William of Malmesbury ( q.v. ). He rejects the legend of the Trojan descent of the early Britons, and animadverts severely on what he calls "the impudent and impertinent lies" of Geoffrey of Mon mouth ( q.v. ). His record of contemporary events is careful.