The chronicler Orderic Vitalis reports that the old king had declared to Henry: " You in your own time will have all the dominions I have acquired and be greater than both your brothers in wealth and power.

Fulcher's chronicle was very popular and was used as a source by other historians in the west, such as Orderic Vitalis and William of Malmesbury.

If Orderic Vitalis is to be relied upon, one of Malcolm's earliest actions as King may have been to travel south to the court of Edward the Confessor in 1059 to arrange a marriage with Edward's kinswoman Margaret, who had arrived in England two years before from Hungary.

In Normandy, Orderic Vitalis wrote his Ecclesiastical History, covering Stephen's reign until 1141, and Robert of Torigni wrote a later history of the rest of the period.

It was said that Walter, William's maternal uncle, was occasionally forced to hide the young duke in the houses of peasants, although this story may be an embellishment by Orderic Vitalis.

Orderic Vitalis records that late in William's life the king tried to learn to read Old English, but was unable to devote sufficient time to the effort and quickly gave up.

The chronicler Orderic Vitalis states that Edwin's reason for revolting was that the proposed marriage between himself and one of William's daughters had not taken place, but other reasons probably included the increasing power of William fitzOsbern in Herefordshire, which impacted Edwin's power within his own earldom.

Although Orderic Vitalis describes it as starting with a quarrel between Robert and his two younger brothers, William and Henry, including a story that the quarrel was started when William and Henry threw water at Robert, it is much more likely that Robert was feeling powerless.

Orderic Vitalis later recorded that Odo had aspirations to become pope.

Orderic Vitalis preserves a lengthy account, complete with speeches made by many of the principals, but this is likely more of an account of how a king should die than of what actually happened.

* Orderic Vitalis, English chronicler ( b. 1075 )

* Orderic Vitalis, monk and historian

The chronicler Orderic Vitalis wrote of Harold that he " was very tall and handsome, remarkable for his physical strength, his courage and eloquence, his ready jests and acts of valour.

According to Orderic Vitalis, Harold was at some time betrothed to Adeliza, a daughter of William, Duke of Normandy, later William the Conqueror ; if so, the betrothal never led to marriage.

* Orderic Vitalis, monk and historian ( approximate date )

According to the historian Orderic Vitalis, Edgar was one of Robert's three principal advisors at this time.

William of Malmesbury and Orderic Vitalis report that Robert's father, King William, called him brevis-ocrea ( short-boot ) in derision.

Orderic Vitalis referred to William composing songs about his experiences on his return from the Crusade of 1101 ( c. 1102 ).

In Normandy, Orderic Vitalis wrote his Ecclesiastical History, covering the period until 1141, and Robert of Torigni wrote a later history of the rest of the later years.

According to chronicler Orderic Vitalis, the crew asked William Adelin for drink and he supplied it to them in great abundance.

According to Orderic Vitalis only two survived by clinging to the rock all night ; one was a butcher from Rouen, the second was Geoffrey de l ' Aigle.

Stephen had allegedly planned to travel on the White Ship but had disembarked just before it sailed ; Orderic Vitalis attributes this to a sudden bout of diarrhea.

He was found working on it at the behest of Wulfstan, bishop of Worcester ( d. 1095 ), when the Anglo-Norman chronicler Orderic Vitalis visited Worcester sometime in the early 12th century.

There is a contradictory account of his death, recorded by Orderic Vitalis ( 12th century ).

Orderic relates that he had previously demanded control of Maine and Normandy and been rebuffed.

Orderic reports on an incident at Easter 1105 when Robert was supposed to hear a sermon by the venerable Serlo, Bishop of Sées.

* Hingst, Amanda Jane, The Written World: Past and place in the work of Orderic Vitalis ( Notre Dame, IN, University of Notre Dame Press, 2009 ).

In his brother Duke William made him Count of Mortain, in place of William Warlenc, who had been banished by Duke William ; according to Orderic Vitalis, on a single word.

Henry I of England, the Anglo-Norman king who promised at his coronation to restore the laws of Edward the Confessor and who married a Scottish princess with West Saxon royal forbears, called up the fyrd to supplement his feudal levies, as an army of all England, as Orderic Vitalis reports, to counter the abortive invasions of his brother Robert Curthose, both in the summer of 1101 and in autumn 1102.

William studied at the renowned school of Saint Hilaire-le-Grand in Poitiers and was said by Orderic to have returned to Normandy ' more learned than all his friends and neighbours '.

Henry I of England, the Anglo-Norman king who promised at his coronation to restore the laws of Edward the Confessor and who married a Scottish princess with West Saxon royal forbears, called up the fyrd to supplement his feudal levies, as an army of all England, as Orderic Vitalis reports, to counter the abortive invasions of his brother Robert Curthose, both in the summer of 1101 and in autumn 1102.

When Orderic was five, his parents sent him to an English priest, Siward by name, who kept a school in the abbey of SS Peter and Paul at Shrewsbury.

William of Malmesbury also alleged that Alan IV had Constance poisoned to death, but this remained unverified However, Orderic Vitalis wrote that as duchess Constance did all she could to further the welfare of the Bretons, who grieved deeply at her death in 1090.

In September 1101, his entire army was destroyed by the Seljuk Turks at Heraclea ; William himself barely escaped, and, according to Orderic Vitalis, he reached Antioch with only six surviving companions.

However, Orderic Vitalis wrote that as duchess Constance did all she could to further the welfare of the Bretons, who grieved deeply at her death in 1090.

According to Orderic Vitalis an English fleet led by Edgar Atheling, the exiled King of England, arrived at St Symeon on 4 March carrying supplies from the Byzantines.

In the additions Orderic Vitalis made to the Gesta Normannorum Ducum ( Deeds of the Norman Dukes ), he states that prior to his death at the Battle of Hastings, Harold Godwinson was betrothed to ‘ Adelidis ', a daughter of William I, and that she remained single after his death.

However, in the later books of his Historia Ecclesiastica, Orderic instead states that she was " a virgin under the protection of Roger de Beaumont " which, in the view of historian Elisabeth van Houts, probably means that she was a nun of St Léger at Préaux.

The final version of his history was written at his monastery at Jumièges During the twelfth century there were interpolations and additions, first by Orderic Vitalis, then by Robert of Torigni, who added an entire book on Henry I of England.

Orderic also provides us ( 1135 ) with what may be the first description of a troubadour performance: an eyewitness account of William of Aquitaine.

Surprisingly for a pro-conqueror text, William's Gesta Guillelmi was an apparent failure in Norman England with no known copied manuscripts produced, this has led to some scholars theorizing that William ended his days in political disgrace Compelling links can be made between William of Poitiers and Duke William's rebellious son Robert, this could explain why Orderic stated that William was unable to finish his history as he was ' prevented by unfavourable circumstances ', however this remains speculation.

Having been brought up in England from 1075 – 1085, Orderic knew of the injustice and suffering caused by the ravaging of William ’ s armies.

Some residual ill-feeling is suggested by contemporary historian Orderic Vitalis, who in Ecclesiastical Historii ( 1125 ) wrote in praise of native English resistance to " William the Bastard " ( William I of England ).

ISBN 1-84014-263-4 ( Appendices also contain the accounts of Fulcher of Chartres, Albert of Aix, Matthew of Edessa, Orderic Vitalis, and William of Tyre.

His first literary efforts were as a continuator of William of Jumièges ' Gesta normannorum ducum, a broad history of the Normans and their dukes from the founding of Normandy, which Orderic carried forward into the early twelfth century.