William of
Newburgh, England can be attributed to most of the accounts of vampire
documented during the 11th century. He was born in a secluded place
in Yorkshire. He went to an Augustinian Priory at a young age where he stayed
for a very long time until he died.
William of
Newburgh and His Study of Vampires
William of Newburgh is
well known for “Historia Rerum Angelicarum” a detailed historical account of
England’s history from 1066-1198. Apparently he managed to write the book
before his death on 1198. He has a very keen attention to details and was
careful not to include any misleading information especially mythological facts
on his works such as the performance mounted by Geoffrey of Monmouth in the
legends of King Arthur. He described it as “impudent & shameless lies”.
He also
stated in his book that he has heard so many stories of a restless spirit, that
if he would include all of it in his book, the reader would grow weary. But
still he decided to write some of them as a warning sign to those people who
were living a life full of sin. William of Newburgh also said that some accounts of these eerie
stories might be hard to believe like the rising of dead from its grave, feed
on humans and attack them. He claimed that no other type of incident can be
found in older histories, which he blames on a confined access to knowledge and
information.
Furthermore,
William of Newburgh never mentioned the word ‘vampire” since that term has not
yet come to existence on that year. Nonetheless, he still used the word
“sanguisuga” a Latin term which means bloodsuckers.
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