CACrown ArchivesThe cinema collection
Menu
Research dossier · General Reference

William the Trouvère

Anglo-Norman translator

Cross-disciplinary reference desk with index cards, atlas, dictionary and catalogue
General referenceInterpretive dossier study · Crown Archives visual atlas
Record originEnglish Wikipedia
Text licenseCC BY-SA 4.0
Source revisionJan 7, 2024
Entity authorityQ18810566 ↗
Source-derived summary

William (né Adgar; fl. 1150–1200), later called William the Trouvère, was an English poet. He translated tales from the Latin Miracles of the Virgin into Anglo-Norman verse.

Works

William was first called Adgar but became more commonly known as William. Working at the instance of one Gregory, his friend, he translated over forty tales into octosyllabic Anglo-Norman verse, from the Latin collection of Miracles of the Virgin which he found in the almarie or bookcase of St. Paul's. His collection of some forty-nine tales, entitled Gracial, was dedicated to one Maud, "dame Mahaut", most likely the abbess of Barking (c. 1175–1195) who was a bastard of Henry II.

See also

Cantigas de Santa Maria

The Miracles of Our Lady

Trouvère

References

Sources

Hunt, Tony (2004). "Adgar [William] (fl. 1150x1200), Anglo-Norman translator". Oxford Dictionary of National Biography (online ed.). Oxford University Press.

Editorial summary

“William the Trouvère” enters the record as anglo-Norman translator. Crown Archives preserves that source wording while asking what William, Trouvère and Anglo-Norman can confirm, complicate or overturn.

Editorial reviewA concise reference frame for defining the subject, testing terminology and identifying the institution closest to the evidence. The current lead gives the account dated anchors—1150, 1200, 1175, 1195—that can be checked directly. The linked authority record independently contributes the date 1100-01-01. Its strongest next move is a source search built around William, Trouvère and Anglo-Norman.
Editorial analysis

Why this record matters

“William the Trouvère” is worth following because a concise public description often conceals a longer documentary argument. Here, William, Trouvère and Anglo-Norman provides the most credible route into that argument.

Evidence profile

Named sources, stable identifiers and responsible institutions provide the strongest route from overview to verifiable evidence. The source revision retrieved here is dated Jan 7, 2024. The linked authority identifier is Q18810566. VIAF identifies the subject as 66835281. The Library of Congress control number is n82161685. 1 of 3 selected statements include explicit references; 0 carry qualifiers and 0 use preferred rank. The first chronological checks are 1150, 1200, 1175 and 1195.

Critical limits

The absence of detail may reflect summary conventions rather than a lack of surviving documentation. The lead is largely declarative, so disagreement and counter-evidence require a deliberate search beyond the opening account. Authority statements aid reconciliation but still require their own references, qualifiers and ranks to be checked.

How to read it

Use the entry as an orientation point, then follow its citations and revision history. Names, dates and institutional relationships should be checked against the original record.

Best used for
  • Subject orientation
  • Search vocabulary
  • Locating named sources
Verify next

The closest primary source, responsible institution and strongest cited specialist reference.

Three-step research path

  1. Establish the record: confirm the title “William the Trouvère”, its source revision and the description used here.
  2. Expand the search: follow William the Trouvère primary sources, William the Trouvère archive and William research across catalogues and specialist indexes.
  3. Test the account: compare the strongest cited source with the responsible institution’s current record and note any disagreement.

Questions for further research

  1. Which source most directly establishes the central claim about “William the Trouvère”?
  2. What terminology or title could unlock a more precise catalogue search?
  3. Which institution is responsible for the underlying evidence?
Subject index

Search terms from this dossier

Source & attribution

This entry incorporates text from “William the Trouvère” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.