SOURCE: Grandsen, Antonia. “Realistic Observation in Twelfth-Century England.” Speculum: A Journal of Mediaeval Studies 47, no. 1 (January 1972): 29-51.

In the following essay, Grandsen examines examples of realistic descriptions of people, places, and things in twelfth-century English writing, paying particular attention to the work of William of Malmesbury.

T. D. Kendrick has already commented on “nascent medieval topography” (which he describes as “rather casual”) in England, and cites examples of topographical descriptions from chronicles.¹ It is proposed here to examine in more detail the ability of medieval writers in twelfth-century England to see and describe the world around them. Besides topographical observation, I shall include observation of small objects (such as goldsmiths' work and books), of mankind itself (people's physical appearance, character and behaviour both individually and corporately as social beings), and of animals and birds.

Writers had various motives for descriptive writing. Admiration of the beautiful and wonder at...