Walsingham, THOMAS

Walsingham, THOMAS, precentor of the abbey of St Albans under Richard II., and afterwards prior of the cell of Wymundham, one of the most eminent of the famous historians of St Albans. His Historia Anglicana forms vols. i. and ii. of the Chronica Monast. S. Albani (Rolls series, 1863-64). For the first fifteen years of Richard II. (1377-92) it is an authority of the highest value; the earlier period is grounded chiefly on the Annals of St Albans; the concluding portion, from 1393 to 1492, contains many inaccuracies, so much so that its editor in the Rolls series thought it the work of another hand. But Mr Gairdner holds that the writer of both is one and the same.