During the late eleventh and early twelfth centuries Malmesbury was home to a remarkable scholar known to posterity as William of Malmesbury. He was one of the great historians of the Middle Ages, and accounts by modern historians of political events in England during the eleventh and early twelfth centuries still rely heavily on information provided by William's major historical works: Gesta Pontificum, Gesta Regum and Historia Novella. In addition to these well-known surveys of national history, William wrote many other works on a range of topics such as biblical commentary, the miracles of the Virgin Mary, the lives of saints and the history of Glastonbury. William broke off from writing his last work, Historia Novella, at the end of 1142, and it is generally assumed that he died shortly afterwards.

In recounting the story of the Norman Conquest in the Gesta Regum William explained that he was of mixed parentage, both English and Norman. This, he felt, positioned him ideally as an objective and fair commentator on the career of William the Conqueror.

William joined the community at Malmesbury as a boy and remained a monk of Malmesbury for the rest of his life. He was, by his own account, a studious child and recalled in Gesta Regum how he acquired a love of learning from both his parents.

Establishing when William of Malmesbury was born, and when he joined the Malmesbury community, is not straightforward.