Dictionary of National Biography, 1885-1900/Oliver of Malmesbury
OLIVER of Malmesbury otherwise known as Eilmer, Elmer, or Æthelmær (fl. 1066), astrologer and mechanician, a monk of Malmesbury, is said by William of Malmesbury, who calls him Eilmer, a latinised form of the English name Æthelmaer, to have been a man of learning. In his youth he attempted to follow the example of Dædalus, fitted wings on to his hands and feet, ascended a tower to get the help of the wind, threw himself off, and is said to have flown a furlong or more. Becoming frightened at the strength of the wind, he fell and broke his legs, and thenceforward was lame. He attributed his failure to his having omitted to provide himself with a tail, which would have steadied him in his flight. He was advanced in years when, on 24 April 1066, there appeared the great comet, which, though seen with awe in every part of Europe, was held in England and elsewhere to have been a presage of the Norman conquest (Freeman, Norman Conquest, iii. 71, 72, 646-50). On beholding it Eilmer cried 'Thou hast come, thou hast come, bringing sorrow to many mothers. Long ago have I seen thee, but now more terrible do I behold thee, threatening the destruction of this country' (Will. Malm. Gesta Regum, ii. c. 225). The story seems to have been popular. It is possible that Orderic, writing independently of William of Malmesbury, refers to Elmer's words (p. 492); Alberic of Trois Fontaines (an. 1066) took the story from William of Malmesbury. It appears in the 'Speculum Historiale' of Vincent of Beauvais (d. 1204), and is given by Higden in his 'Polychronicon,' where the monk of Malmesbury is called Oliver, and the story consequently is in the two English translations of that work. Lastly, it was copied by John Nauclerus of Tubingen, who wrote his 'Commentaries* about 1500. Bale, in the 1549 edition of his 'Catalogus,' attributes to Oliver the authorship of the 'Eulogium Historiarum;' he corrects this strange mistake in the edition of 1557, where he quotes Capgrave as showing that the 'Eulogium' was compiled in the reign of Edward III. He says that Oliver was the sent known to exist,
[Will. Malm. Gesta Regum, lib. ii. c. 225 (Rolls Ser.) Orderic p. 492, ed. Duchesne ; Vincent of Beauvais's Speculum Majus, IV, Spec. bk. 25, e. 35, f. 350; Higden's Polychronicon, vii. 222 (Rolls Ser.); John Nauclerus's Memorabilium Commentarii, f. 160; Bale's Cat. Illustr. 88. cent. ii. p. 163 (1557); Eulogium Hist. i. Pref. xxvii (olls Ser.); Freeman's Norm. Conq. iii. 72. Wright (Biogr. Brit. Lit. ii. 18), who did not know that Oliver of Malmesbury was the same with the Eilmer of William of Malmesbury's 'Gesta Regum,' says that Bale is the only authority for Oliver's existence.]