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Dates: 1090 - 1143 (Dates are approximate. ) 

William was born around 1090 in Wiltshire. He was educated at Malmesbury Abbey where he later became a monk. As an admirer of Bede, William decided to write his own histories: Gesta regum Anglorum, a chronicle of England from 449 to 1120, and Gesta pontificum Anglorum, about the deeds of English bishops. In 1040, he was offered the position of Abbot of Malmesbury Abbey but refused, preferring to edit his works and write a new chronicle called Historia Novella. This work, however, was left unfinished in 1042 before William’s death. TLM