Henry of Huntingdon

At the request of Bloet's successor, Alexander of Lincoln, Henry began to write his Historia Anglorum, first published around 1129, an account of the history of England from its beginnings up to the year 1154.

[3] His father Nicholas, the first archdeacon of Huntingdon, was a clerk in holy orders, who had enough influence with the Bishop of Lincoln to secure the succession of his title for his son, a substantial inheritance for a man who had not yet reached thirty.

[2] Henry was received as a little boy into the familia of Robert Bloet of Lincoln and grew up in luxury, living in the wealth and splendour of England's richest episcopal court.

[6] The formal Prologue of his History, which was addressed to Bishop Alexander, was written in a floridly dense high style that allowed him to parade himself, before retreating into dutiful obscurity behind the chroniclers he had used.

He was bidden by Bishop Alexander of Lincoln to write a history of England from the earliest period and bringing it to modern times, ending it upon the accession of Henry II in 1154.

C. Warren Hollister notes the anecdote of King Canute's failure to stem the tide by command (see below), and Henry I's ignoring his physician's orders and dining on a "surfeit of lampreys", allegedly causing his death.

[2] Henry's most notable epistle was a funereal exercise addressed to his recently deceased friend and fellow archdeacon of Lincoln diocese, Walter of Leicester, titled De contemptu mundi ("On Contempt for the world"), which from internal evidence dates to 1135.

All of these writings offer an insight into the minds of those who lived in the twelfth century and illuminate how historians of the time recorded history and corresponded with their peers.

Henry's legacy consisted of his own contribution to the history of England and his recorded thoughts and ideas, thereby opening a valuable perspective on his era's mindset.

Like many medieval writers, Henry saw the chief purpose of history as a moral lesson to teach people of both higher and lower ranks of society with instructive examples.