W illiam de W addington

Abstract

William de Waddington is credited with the authorship of two thirteenth‐century religious works: Manuel des péchés , a substantial compilation of pastoral instruction, and Le Petit Sermon , a homily on the last judgment and the love and dread of God. Both are written in Anglo‐Norman (the French used in England), and are composed in verse; the Manuel des péchés was later translated into Middle English as Handlyng Synne by Robert Mannyng of Brunne. William was probably seneschal to Walter de Gray, archbishop of York. William's surname seems to indicate that he came from Waddington, near to Clitheroe, Lancashire.