De obitu Willelmi

The De obitu Willelmi ('On the death of King William') is a short Latin text connected with, but independent of, William of Jumièges's Gesta Normannorum Ducum. Surviving in full in just one manuscript, it describes the death of William the Conqueror, King of England and Duke of Normandy, though does so in ways heavily influenced by literary traditions, notably those created by Einhard's Life of Charlemagne. It has been suggested that it was written to delegitimise one of William's sons, Robert Curthose. The text is translated into English by R.Allen Brown, in his The Norman Conquest (1984), pp. 47–9.