William of St Albans

William of St Albans (fl. 1178) was a Benedictine monk and hagiographer who wrote a history of the martyrdom of Saint Alban, the first such work to name Amphibalus after Geoffrey of Monmouth.[1]

Simon, abbot of St Albans (1167–1188) asked William to write The Passion of St Alban (Passio sancti Albani), according to the book's preface.[2] The book mentions that the body of Amphibalus had yet to be found: this occurred in 1178, suggesting that the work was written before this date.[3] William drew on the stories of Alban as told by Bede and Geoffrey of Monmouth, the latter of whom he acknowledges in the preface. He frames the work as a translation of an Old English book, similar to Geoffrey's claim that his De gestis Britonum was a translation of an ancient work.[4]

Ralph of Dunstable later made a versification of William's Passion; the Vie de seint Auban by Matthew Paris is another adaptation of the work.[5]

References
  1. McLeod, W. (1980). "Alban and Amphibal: Some extant lives and a lost life". Mediaeval Studies. 42: 407–430. doi:10.1484/J.MS.2.306264. ISSN 0076-5872.
  2. O'Donnell, Thomas; Lamont, Margaret (2010). "The Passion of Saint Alban by William of St. Albans". In Jocelyn Wogan-Browne; Thelma S. Fenster (eds.). The life of Saint Alban by Matthew Paris. Medieval and Renaissance texts and studies. Tempe, AZ: ACMRS. pp. 133–165. ISBN 978-0-86698-390-7.
  3. Bateson, Mary; Reader, Rebecca. "St Albans, William of (fl. c. 1178), Benedictine monk and hagiographer". Oxford Dictionary of National Biography (online ed.). Oxford University Press. doi:10.1093/ref:odnb/29467. (Subscription or UK public library membership required.)
  4. Wilson, R. M. (1941). "Some lost saints' lives in Old and Middle English". The Modern Language Review. 36 (2): 161–172. doi:10.2307/3716666. ISSN 0026-7937. JSTOR 3716666.
  5. McCulloch, Florence (1981). "Saints Alban and Amphibalus in the works of Matthew Paris: Dublin, Trinity College MS 177". Speculum. 56 (4): 761–785. doi:10.2307/2847362. ISSN 0038-7134. JSTOR 2847362. S2CID 162725570.


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