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Dates: 1075 - 1142 (Dates are approximate. ) 

Ordericus Vitalis was born in Shropshire, England around 1075 to an English mother and Norman father. At age ten, his father sent him to the abbey of St. Evroult in Normandy where he would remain until his death around 1142. Despite spending the majority of his life in Normandy, Ordericus Vitalis always considered himself an Englishman and often added "Angligena" to his name. His work on the Historia Ecclesiastica began when he was commissioned by his superiors to write a chronicle of the abbey, but the chronicle soon expanded to 13 books and also included the history of Christianity, deeds of William the Conqueror, and other events in English and Norman history, making it one of the most important historical documents of the time. TLM