Richard Of Cirencester
Richard of Cirencester
Chronicler, d. about 1400. He was the compiler of a chronicle from 447 to 1066, entitled “Speculum Historiale de Gestis Regum Angliae”. The work, which is in four books, is of little historical value, but contains several charters granted to Westminster Abbey. Nothing is known of Richard’s life except that he was a monk of Westminster, who made a pilgrimage to Jerusalem in 1391, was still at Westminster in 1397, and that he lay sick in the infirmary in 1400. Two other works are attributed to him: “De Officiis”, and “Super Symbolum Majus et Minus”, but neither is now extant. In the eighteenth century his name was used by Charles Bertram as the pretended author of his forgery “Richardus Copenensis de situ Britanniae”, which deceived Stukeley and many subsequent antiquarians and historians, including Lingard, and which was only finally exposed by Woodward in 1866-67. This spurious chronicle, however, still appears under Richard’s name in Giles, “Six English Chronicles” (London, 1872).
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Ricardi Cicestrensis Speculum Historiale, ed. MAYOR, Rolls Series (London, 1863-69); STUKELEY An Account of Richard of Cirencester and his works (London, 1757); HARDY Descriptive Catalogue (London, 1871); HUNT in Dict. Nat. Biog, s. v.; BOLLANDISTS. Catalogus cod. hagiog. Lat. B. N. (Paris, 1893).
EDWIN BURTON Transcribed by Joseph E. O’Connor
The Catholic Encyclopedia, Volume XIIICopyright © 1912 by Robert Appleton CompanyOnline Edition Copyright © 2003 by K. KnightNihil Obstat, February 1, 1912. Remy Lafort, D.D., CensorImprimatur. +John Cardinal Farley, Archbishop of New York
Fuente: Catholic Encyclopedia
Richard Of Cirencester
(so called from his birthplace, in Gloucestershire, England) in Latin Ricardus Corinensis was born in the first half of the 14th century. Nothing is known of his family or circumstances. In 1350 he entered the Benedictine monastery of St. Peter, Westminster (whence he is sometimes called the Monk of Westminster), and remained there the rest of his life. His leisure was devoted to the study of British and Anglo-Saxon history and antiquities. In the prosecution of these studies Richard is said to have visited numerous libraries and ecclesiastical establishments in England, and it is certain that in 1391 he obtained a license from his abbot to visit Rome. He died in 1401 or 1402. The work to which he owes his celebrity is his De Situ Britannioe, a treatise on the ancient state of Great Britain. This work was brought to light by Dr. Charles J. Bertram, professor of English at Copenhagen (1747), who sent a transcript of it, together with a copy of the map, to Dr. Stukeley, the celebrated antiquarian. From this transcript Dr.. Stukeley published an analysis of the work, with the itinerary (1757, 4to; London, 1809): Historia ab Hengista ad Annum 1348: Tractatus super Symbolum Majus et Minus: and Liber de Offciis Ecclesiasticis.