Giraldus Cambrensis
Giraldus Cambrensis
Historian, born Manorbeer, Wales, c.1147; died 1220. He was appointed Bishop of Saint David’s in 1180 , but resigned to accompany Prince John to Ireland , where he remained two years. He visited Rome in a fruitless effort to secure his reappointment to his old see. Giraldus was a writer of remarkable brilliancy. A topography and a history of the conquest, long regarded as authoritative, were severely criticized by Dr Lynch in his “Cambrensis Eversus,” 1662 , who meets his charges against the Irish people, impeaches his ignorance of their language, unfamiliarity with the country, disregard of chronology, and credulity in accepting popular rumors and unauthenticated narratives.
Fuente: New Catholic Dictionary
Giraldus Cambrensis
Giraldus Cambrensis (Gerald de Barry) was a distinguished writer, historian, and ecclesiastic of the early Middle Ages; b. in Manorbeer, Pembrokeshire, about the year 1147; d. probably between the years 1216 and 1220. His father, William de Barry, was one of the most powerful of the Welsh nobility at the time. Though Gerald’s brothers adopted the profession of arms he himself followed a more peaceful course, devoted himself to study, and, influenced by his uncle, the Bishop of St. David’s, resolved to become an ecclesiastic. He went to Paris to continue his studies; and, if we are to believe his own account, he was looked upon here as a model of piety and learning. He returned to England about 1172, and was employed by the Archbishop of Canterbury on various ecclesiastical missions in Wales, where he distinguished himself for his efforts to remove the abuses then flourishing in the Welsh Church. He was appointed Archdeacon of Brecknock. On the death of his uncle, the Bishop of St. David’s (1176), the chapter fixed upon Giraldus as the man most likely to withstand the aggressions of the Archbishop of Canterbury and submitted his name to Henry II. The king promptly rejected him in favour of one of his Norman retainers; the chapter acquiesced in the decision; and Giraldus, disappointed with the result, withdrew to Paris and here continued his studies. In 1180 he returned to Wales and received an appointment from the Bishop of St. David’s, which he soon resigned, and was sent by Henry II to accompany Prince John on his Irish expedition (1184). While in Ireland he composed his work “Topographia Hibernica”, which purports to give a description of the country, but is full of legends and tales, as well as the “Expugnatio Hibernica”. The latter work is not entirely unreliable, but requires to be read with care. He left Ireland in 1186, and two years later accompanied Archbishop Baldwin in his journeys through Wales, preaching the crusade. Here, according to his own account (“Itinerarium Cambri”), his eloquence met with such a response that Wales was denuded of its fighting men. He went to France, but was recalled to England in 1190, where he informs us he was offered the Bishopric of Bangor and, in 1191, that of Llandaff.
On the death of Peter de Leia, 1198, the chapter of St. David’s again nominated Giraldus for the bishopric; but Hubert, Archbishop of Canterbury, refused confirmation. Representatives of the canons followed Richard to France, but before they could interview him he died; his successor, King John, received them kindly, and granted them permission to hold an election. They were unanimous in their selection of Giraldus; and, as Hubert still refused to confirm the election, Giraldus started for Rome, where he had an interview with Innocent III. The archbishop, however, had anticipated him, and, as the pope was not convinced that St. David’s was independent of Canterbury, the mission of Giraldus proved a failure. It was in connexion with this that he wrote his book “De jure Menevensis Ecclesiâ”. Giraldus returned, and was supported by the chieftains of Wales, while King John warmly espoused the cause of the Archbishop of Canterbury. After a long struggle the chapter of St. David’s deserted Giraldus, and having been obliged to escape secretly from Wales he fled to Rome. Pope Innocent III annulled both elections, and Geoffrey Henlaw was appointed to the See of St. David’s, despite the strenuous exertions of Giraldus, who afterwards reconciled with the king, and received from him a small pension. At the next election in St. David’s, 1214, his name was passed over in silence. He was alive after 1216, as it is evident from the way in which he speaks of John that that king was already dead.
De Barry was a writer of remarkable brilliancy and force, a narrator rather than a historian, full of self-confidence, and at times courage, and on the whole neither the model of perfection which he proclaims himself to be, nor the despicable character which he is oftentimes painted. His works are published in the Rolls Series; and in the prefaces to the volumes indications as to probable dates of composition and publication. Appended is a list of de Barry’s writings: “Topographia Hibernica”; “Expugnatio Hibernica”; “Itinerarium Cambriæ”; “Gemma Ecclesiastica”; De Instructione Principum”; “De Rebus a se gestis”; “Vita S. Davidis II episcopi Menevensis” (which Brewer considers as, more probably, the work of Giraldus); “Descriptio Cambriæ” (published as the last); “Vita Galfridi Arch. Eboracensis”; “Symbolum Electorum”; “Invectionum Libellus”; “Speculum Ecclesiæ”; “Vita S. Remigli”; “Vita S. Hugonis”; “Vita S. Davidis archiepiscopi Menevensis”; “Vita S. Ethelberti”; “Epistola ad Stephanum Langton”; “De Giraldo Archidiacono Menevensi”; “De Libris a se scriptis”; “Catalogus brevior librorum”; “Retractationes”; “De jure Menevensis Ecclesiæ”. See introduction to his works by the editors, Brewer and Dimock.
The works of Giraldus dealing especially with Ireland: the “Topography”, and “History of the Conquest”, though long regarded as possessing considerable authority, did not escape hostile criticism. In “Cambrensis Eversus” (1662), under the pseudonym of Gratianus Lucius, Dr. Lynch, of whose personal history little is known, produced a work which, though controversial in character, entitles the author to repute rather as a painstaking chronicler than as a controversialist of a high order. After criticizing the “Topography” adversely, and showing that the title of the second book, the “Conquest of Ireland”, is a misnomer, the writer of “Cambrensis Eversus” disproves de Barry’s title of historian, and meets his charges against the Irish people. Giraldus is impeached with ignorance of the language, and unfamiliarity with the country; he is said to have embodied in his works unauthenticated narratives, with little regard for chronology; his own admission that he had “followed the popular rumours of the land” is extended in meaning, and perhaps unduly insisted upon.
Nor is the “Cambrensis Eversus” merely a collection of arbitrary accusations and unsubstantial rejoinders, made with a view to effect the discredit of de Barry as a writer of history. What might be urged as the greatest imperfection of Lynch’s polemic, its too great wealth of detail, had not escaped the attention of the able author, who excuses the diffuseness to which he is compelled by asseverating his determination to follow Giraldus closely to the end. Whatever may be said as to the ability with which Lynch discharged his task of controversialist, there can be no denial of the thoroughness and, above all, the sincerity of his methods. He does not pick out the weak points in his opponent’s armour, and never shirks the issue; but grapples with every difficulty, as the order of his opponent suggests.
Perhaps the most serious accusation levelled against Giraldus, next to the indictment of bias and dishonesty, is that wherein he is impeached of being addicted to the cult of the superstitious and the practice of witchcraft. If this be true, and Merlin would seem to have exercised a considerable sway over the mind of de Barry, then it would be vain to seek in the writings of the latter the reflex of that calm discrimination and sober balance of judgment which should characterize the historian. Finally, it may be said that the student of Irish history, by reading the works of Giraldus in the light of “Cambrensis Eversus”, cannot fail to derive a helpful knowledge of the period which they embrace.
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GIRALDUS, De Rebus a se gestis, and De jure Menevensis Ecclesiæ; Brewer’s Introduction to vol. I of the edition of works of Giraldus in the Rolls Series; life of Giraldus in Ininerarium Cambriæ, tr. HOARE (London, 1806); WHARTON, Anglia Sacra, II, 374; LYNCH, Cambrensis Eversus, ed. KELLY (3 vols., Dublin, 1848-51).
JAMES MACCAFFREY Transcribed by Gerald Rossi
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
Giraldus Cambrensis
(SYLVESTER), archdeacon of Brecon and titular bishop of Menevia. or St. David’s, was born at Pembroke, Wales, in 1146. He finished his education in Paris, and in 1175 was appointed by Richard, archbishop of Canterbury, as his legate for Wales, and was soon after made archdeacon of Brecon. In the following year he was elected bishop of Menevia, but king Henry II refused to confirm the election. He then returned to Paris, where, as he says himself, in his De rebus a se gestis, he passed for the most learned person in jurisprudence, and was offer the professorship of canon law, which he declined. He afterwards administered for a while the affairs of the bishopric of Menevia, and in 1184 became court preacher of Henry II. He accompanied Henry’s son John as adviser in the expedition against Ireland, and in 1188 accompanied archbishop Baldwin of Canterbury on a tour through Wales, for the purpose of organizing a crusade. Richard I appointed him legate of Wales, but at the fall of the latter he returned to his studies. He was again elected bishop of St. David’s, but failed again to be recognized as such. He “passed the last seventeen years of his life in study, revising his former literary works and composing others, of which he has himself given a copious index. In the midst of these occupations he received once more an offer of the bishopric of St. David’s, and would have met with no opposition from the court; but, from the dishonorable terms on which it was offered, he refused the ecclesiastical dignity which had so long been the object of his earnest wishes. He died at St. David’s in the seventy-fourth year of his age, and was buried in the cathedral church, where his effigy still remains upon an altar-tomb beneath an ornamental arch. Giraldus appears to have been an upright and able man. As an ecclesiastic he was zealous, active, and fearless in maintaining the rights and dignities of his Church; but he was, at the same time, honest and disinterested. As a scholar he was learned, and as a collector of historical materials diligent, far beyond the measure of his age. As a historian, however, he was full of credulity, and as a man, as his works prove, one of the vainest upon record. Giraldus has himself given a catalogue of his works, as well as a long history of his actions, both printed by Wharton. Other lists will be found in Fabricius, Bibliotheca Med. et Inf. Latinitatis (edit. Patav. 4to, 1754), 3:62, and in the notes to his life in the Biogr. Britan. (ed. 1778), 1:640; 642, 644. Sir Richard Colt Hoare has given a full account of such MSS. of his works as exist in the several libraries in the British Museum, in the Archiepiscopal Library at Lambeth, at Benet (Corpus Christi) College, in the public library at Cambridge, and in the Bodlian. Those printed are, Itinerarium Cambrice (Lond. 1585, 8vo), and in Camden’s Anyl. Norm., etc., Script. (Francof. 1602, fol.), page 818-878: Topographia Hiberniae (Camden, ut sup.), p. 692-754:- Expugnatio Hibernice (ibidem), pages 755-813: Descriptio Cambrie (ibid.), pages 879-892. Several short pieces by Giraldus are printed in the second volume of Wharton’s Anglia Sacra. The Gemma Ecclesiastica, published at Mentz in 1549, without the author’s name, under the title of Gemma Animce, is ascribed to Giraldus. Sir Richard Colt Hoare, in 1806, published the Itinerary of Archbishop Baldwin through Wales, translated into English, and illustrated with views, annotations, and a life of Giraldus (2 volumes, 4to).” A new edition, Giraldi Cambrensis Opera, is now publishing, under the direction of the master of the rolls, edited by J.F. Dimock; 5 volumes, were issued up to 1868. See Wharton, Anglia Sacra, 2:457-513; Fabricius, Bibliotheca Med. et Inf. Latinitatis; Engl. Cyclopedia, s.v. Barry; Biog. Britannica, s.v. Barri; Herzog, Real- Encykloadie, 5:164; Wright, Biog. Brit. Literaria, Anglo-Norman Period, pages 380-97.