Skrift og historie hos Orderik Vitalis (Writing and History in Orderik Vitalis) elucidates the transition to written proceedings in the early Norman and Nordic cultures and places the process within the larger picture of the historical evolution. The point of departure is the Renaissance and particularly the historiography of the 12th century, which is seen as the best expression of the new thinking of that century. An analysis of parts of the Norman historian work, Historia Ecclesiastica, 1121-41, emphasises firstly the notion of history as partly detached from the history of salvation and secondly the dual meaning of the writing as both secular and the way to salvation, bound to the bible.