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GIRALDUS CAMBRENSIS (1146?-122o)

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Originally appearing in Volume V12, Page 44 of the 1911 Encyclopedia Britannica.
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GIRALDUS CAMBRENSIS (1146?-122o) , See also:

medieval historian, also called GERALD DE BARRI, was See also:born in See also:Pembrokeshire. He was the son of See also:William de Barri and Augharat, a daughter of Gerald, the ancestors of the Fitzgeralds and the Welsh princess, Nesta, formerly See also:mistress of See also:King See also:Henry I. Falling under the See also:influence of his See also:uncle, See also:David See also:Fitzgerald, See also:bishop of St David's, he determined to enter the See also:church. He studied at See also:Paris, and his . See also:works show that he had applied himself closely to the study ct ,the Latin poets. In 1172 he was appointed to collect tithe in See also:Wales, and showed such vigour that he was made See also:archdeacon. In 1176 an See also:attempt was made to elect him bishop of St David's, but Henry II. was unwilling to see any one with powerful native connexions a bishop in Wales. In 118o, after another visit to Paris, he was appointed commissiary to the bishop of St David's,who had ceased to reside. But Giraldus threw up his See also:post, indignant at the indifference of the bishop to the welfare of his see. In 1184 he was made one of the king's chaplains, and was elected to accompany See also:Prince See also:John on his voyage to See also:Ireland. While there he wrote a Topographia Hibernica, which is full of See also:information, and a strongly prejudiced See also:history of the See also:conquest, the Expugnatio Hibernica. In 1186 he read his See also:work with See also:great See also:applause before the masters and scholars of See also:Oxford. In 1188 he was sent into Wales with the See also:primate See also:Baldwin to preach the Third Crusade.

Giraldus declares that the See also:

mission was highly successful; in any See also:case it gave him the material for his See also:Itinerarium Cambrense, which is, after the Expugnatio, his best known work. He accompanied the See also:archbishop, who intended him to be the historian of the Crusade, to the See also:continent, with the intention of going to the See also:Holy See also:Land. But in 1189 he was sent back to Wales by the king, who knew his influence was great, to keep See also:order among his countrymen. Soon after he was absolved from his crusading See also:vow. According to his own statements, which often tend to exaggeration, he was offered both the See also:sees of See also:Bangor and See also:Llandaff, but refused them. From 1192 to 1198 he lived in retirement at See also:Lincoln and devoted himself to literature. It is probably during this See also:period that he wrote the Gemma ecclesiastica (discussing disputed points of See also:doctrine, See also:ritual, &c.) and the Vita S. Remigii. In 1198 he was elected bishop of St David's. But See also:Hubert See also:Walter, the archbishop of See also:Canterbury, was determined to have in that position no Welshman who would dispute the See also:metropolitan pretensions of the See also:English See also:primates. The king, for See also:political reasons, supported Hubert Walter. For four years Giraldus exerted himself to get his See also:election confirmed, and to vindicate the See also:independence of St David's from Canterbury.

He went three times to See also:

Rome. He wrote the De jure Meneviensis ecclesiae in support of the claims of his See also:diocese. He made alliances with the princes of See also:North and See also:South Wales. He called a See also:general See also:synod of his diocese. He was accused of stirring up See also:rebellion among the Welsh, and the See also:justiciar proceeded against him. At length in 1202 the See also:pope annulled all previous elections, and ordered a new one. The See also:prior of Llanthony was finally elected. Gerald was immediately reconciled to the king and archbishop; the utmost favour was shown to him; even the expenses of his unsuccessful election were paid. He spent the See also:rest of his See also:life in retirement, though there was some talk of his being made a See also:cardinal. He certainly survived John. The works of Giraldus are partly polemical and partly See also:historical. His value as a historian is marred by his violent party spirit; some of his historical tracts, such as the See also:Liber de instructione principum and the Vita Galfridi Archiepiscopi Eborecensis, seem to have been designed as political See also:pamphlets.

Henry II., Hubert Walter and William See also:

Longchamp, the See also:chancellor of See also:Richard I., are the See also:objects of his worst invectives. His own pretensions to the see of St David are the See also:motive of many of his misrepresentations. But he is one of the most vivid and witty of our medieval historians. See the Rolls edition of his works, ed. J. S. See also:Brewer, J. F. Dimock and G. F. See also:Warner in 8 vols. (See also:London, 1861-1891), some of which have valuable introductions.

End of Article: GIRALDUS CAMBRENSIS (1146?-122o)

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