Gervase Of Canterbury
Gervase of Canterbury
(GERVAS US DOROBORNENSIS)
English chronicler, b. about 1141; d. in, or soon after, 1210. If his brother Thomas, who like himself was a monk of Christ Church, Canterbury, was identical with Thomas of Maidstone, they came of a Kentish family. St. Thomas of Canterbury received his religious profession on 16 Feb., 1163, and also ordained him. He was one of the monks who buried the saint after his martyrdom, 29 Dec., 1170. Later on he took a prominent part in the disputes between the monks and Archbishop Baldwin (1185-91) and was one of the monks sent to announce to the archbishop an appeal to the pope. In 1189 he was again one of a deputation sent to lay the matter before King Richard I. As yet, Gervase, though one of the senior monks, had held no prominent office, but about this time he was made sacristan, for in 1193 he attended the new archbishop, Hubert Walter, in that capacity. He probably ceased to hold this office in 1197 when he speaks of one Felix, as sacristan. The rest of his life is obscure. He was still writing in 1199 and there are slight indications in another chronicle, the “Gesta Regum”, that he continued to write till 1210, when a sudden change in style and arrangement point to a new chronicler. His death may therefore be assumed in or soon after that year. Gervase has occasionally been confused with others of the same name, notable with Gervase of S. Ceneri, and thus he is described as prior of Dover by Dom Brial (Recueil des Historiens de France, XVII, 1818), which is impossible on chronological grounds. Sir Thomas Hardy identifies him with Gervase of Chichester, but Dr. Stubbs shows good reasons against this theory, as also against confusing him with Gervase of Melkeley.
The works of Gervase consist of: (1) “The Chronicle”, covering the period from 1100 to 1199. It was first printed by Twysden in “Historiae Anglicanae Scriptores Decem” (London, 1652). (2) The “gesta Regum”, which is in part an abridgment of the earlier chronicle, and from the year 1199 an independent source of great value for the early years of John’s reign. (3) “Actus Pontificum Cantuariensis Ecclesiae”, a history of the archbishops of Canterbury to the death of Hubert Walter in 1205, also printed by Twysden with the chronicle. (4) “Mappa Mundi”, a topographical work with lists of bishoprics and ecclesiastical foundations in the various counties of England, Wales, and part of Scotland. The works of Gervase were published in the “Rolls Series” in 1879-80 under the editorship of Dr. Stubbs, whose introduction has been the groundwork of all subsequent accounts of Gervase.
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EDWIN BURTON Transcribed by Gerald M. Knight
The Catholic Encyclopedia, Volume VICopyright © 1909 by Robert Appleton CompanyOnline Edition Copyright © 2003 by K. KnightNihil Obstat, September 1, 1909. Remy Lafort, CensorImprimatur. +John M. Farley, Archbishop of New York
Fuente: Catholic Encyclopedia
Gervase Of Canterbury
a mediaeval English chronicler, was born about 1150, and died in the early part of the 13th century. We know but little of his history. It appears that he was a monk of the priory of Christ’s Church, Canterbury, and held the office of sacristan. was present at the burning in 1174 of Canterbury Cathedral, and watched the erection of the new cathedral, until the election of Baldwin as archbishop in 1184, where he wrote his account of the destruction and rebhuffding thereof, entitled Tractatus de combustione Doroborensis ecclesiae. Another work, Imaginationes de discordiis inter monachos Cantuarienses et archiepiscopum Baldewin, written, perhaps, after Hubert became archbishop in 1193, gives a full account of the dissensions between Baldwin and his monks. His next work, Vitae Dorobornensium archiepiscaporum, contains lives of the archbishops of Canterbury, ending soon after Hubert’s accession. His most valuable work, Canonica de tempore regum Angliae Stephani, Hen. II, et Ricardi II, chronicles the reigns of these sovereigns, ands contains in the conclusion an announcement of a second part, to be devoted to the reign of John, which was probably never written. In the library of Corpus Christi College, Cambridge (No. 438), there is a MS. treatise of Gervase, entitled Mappa Mundi, the first part of which gives a topographical description of England by counties, with lists of the bishops sees and monasteries in each, and the second part lists of the archbishops of the whole world and their suffragans, and added thereto a chronicle of England from the fabulous times to the death of Richard T. Bishop Nicolson (Eng. Hist. Library) characterizes Gervase as a diligent and judicious historian; and Wright (Biog. Brit. Lit.) says “his writings show great care in collecting information, and discrimination in using it; and his chronicle of the reigns of Stephen, Henry, and Richard is one of the most valuable of the historical memorials of the 12th century.” His works, except the Mappa Mundi, were published in Twysden’s Historiae Anglicans Scriptores Decem (Londoni. 1652, fol., Coll. 1285-1684), and an English translation of his Tractatus de Combustione, etc., is given in the Report of the Proceedings of the British Archaeological Association, at the first General Meeting, held at Canterbury in the Month of September, 1844, ed. by Alfred John Dunkin (Lond. 1845, 8vo), pages 194-240. Wright, Biographia Britannica Literaria (Anglo-Norman period, pages 419-421); Hoefer, Nouv. Biog. Gen. 20:326, 327; Rose, New Genesis Biog. Dictionary, 8:12. (J.W.M.)