William of Newburgh

William of Newburgh, England can be attributed to most of the accounts of vampire documented during the 11^th 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.