"Originem traho et de principibus Walliae et de baronibus Marchiae, qui regni fines contra Wallenses continua rebellione defendunt, et tamen in utraque gente, quod iniquum video, detestor."
("I am descended from both nations, from the princes of Wales and from the barons of the March, who defend the boundaries of the realm against the continual rebellion of the Welsh, and yet I hate injustice by whichever nation it be committed.")
Gerald of Wales
Gerald de Barri, also known as Giraldus Cambrensis, Gerallt Cymro, or simply Gerald of Wales, is surely one of the great personalities of the twelfth century. In fact, we know far more about his thoughts, fears, and personal aspirations than about those of any other historical figure from the period, including even the rich and famous (like Eleanor of Aquitaine, Bernard of Clairvaux, or Pope Innocent III). Gerald, to be blunt, loved to write about himself, and even when he ranges over other subjects -- historical, theological, or scientific -- his personal opinions and anecdotes from his life are usually not far behind. Among his voluminous writings he has left us an autobiography (De Rebus a Se Gestis -- "On the Deeds Done by Oneself"), one of the few such texts composed in the High Middle Ages. An impatient reader might dismiss Gerald as being too vain, conceited, and self-important to bother with; the more forgiving and compassionate reader will value his openness about his thoughts, his honesty about his abilities, and his forthright approach to the various experiences he relates. His works -- especially his four historical works -- are invaluable sources for the study of medieval Wales and Ireland, and he sheds considerable light on many of the luminaries of his day.
Born in Manorbier, Pembrokeshire, Wales, in about 1146, Gerald was the son of a Norman castellan, William de Barri. His mother, Angharad, was the daughter of the Welsh princess Nesta of Deheubarth (who has been described as "the Helen of Wales"). Through his mother, then, Gerald was related to the princely families of South Wales. The powerful Lord Rhys ap Gruffydd, Prince of Deheubarth and Henry II's justiciar in Wales, was Gerald's mother's cousin. Furthermore, Gerald's maternal grandfather, Gerald of Windsor, was the progenitor of one of the most powerful of the Welsh Marcher dynasties, the Fitzgeralds or Geraldines, and so Gerald could count among his kin David Fitzgerald (his uncle), bishop of St. David's, as well as many of the original Norman conquerors of Ireland. His Expugnatio Hibernica, in fact, reads almost like a panegyric to his bellicose family.
Born in Manorbier, Pembrokeshire, Wales, in about 1146, Gerald was the son of a Norman castellan, William de Barri. His mother, Angharad, was the daughter of the Welsh princess Nesta of Deheubarth (who has been described as "the Helen of Wales"). Through his mother, then, Gerald was related to the princely families of South Wales. The powerful Lord Rhys ap Gruffydd, Prince of Deheubarth and Henry II's justiciar in Wales, was Gerald's mother's cousin. Furthermore, Gerald's maternal grandfather, Gerald of Windsor, was the progenitor of one of the most powerful of the Welsh Marcher dynasties, the Fitzgeralds or Geraldines, and so Gerald could count among his kin David Fitzgerald (his uncle), bishop of St. David's, as well as many of the original Norman conquerors of Ireland. His Expugnatio Hibernica, in fact, reads almost like a panegyric to his bellicose family.
As a boy, Gerald relates in a telling vignette, he would go down to the beach near his home at Manorbier: while his older brothers built sand castles, he would build sand cathedrals! It seems that Gerald was tracked early on for a career in the Church, and his father even referred to him as "my little bishop." It would be Gerald's lifelong goal to become Bishop of St. David's -- the prime cathedral in Wales -- a position once held by his uncle David. Since education was the path to ecclesiastical advancement, young Gerald soon left Manorbier, first for a priory in Gloucester, where he perfected his Latin, and then to the intellectual center of Europe, Paris. There Gerald studied the liberal arts and theology; he later returned there to study canon law. In Paris he fell under the influence of Peter the Chanter, a church reformer, and it is probably through Peter's teachings that Gerald gained the sense of zeal with which he approached his later administration of church properties.
The late 1160s saw Gerald back in Britain as a clerk in the court of Henry II. The royal courts in those days were the fastest conduit to ecclesiastical appointments. There Gerald met Walter Map, and he was later appointed to be the tutor to the young Prince John. Gerald was rewarded for his good service with the Archdeaconry of Brecon; he soon after became Archdeacon of St. David's as well. As a royal tutor, Gerald accompanied the prince to Ireland in 1185, and it was there that he began to compose in earnest his literary works. His Topographia Hibernica (Topography of Ireland) and his Expugnatio Hibernica (Conquest of Ireland) were published in the years following his visit. The Topographia describes the geography, flora and fauna of Ireland, and also sensationalistically (and, to many, quite offensively) the manners and mores of the Irish people. The Expugnatio narrates the conquest of the island in the years following 1169 by the Norman adventurer Strongbow and his allies, including especially the writer's Fitzgerald cousins. In 1188, Gerald was appointed to the entourage of Baldwin, the Archbishop of Canterbury, on a mission to travel through Wales in order to recruit troops for the Third Crusade. He recounts his journey step-by-step in his delightful Itinerarium Kambriae (The Journey Through Wales). This engagement on the ground in Wales also seems to have inspired his Descriptio Kambriae (The Description of Wales), a text valuable for being, among other things, one of the finest pieces of ethnography written in the Middle Ages. |
Although Gerald himself had pledged to take up the Cross and join the Crusade, his plans were disrupted by the unexpected death of King Henry II in 1189. Getting his vows commuted by papal dispensation, he was quickly dispatched to Wales by the new king, Richard the Lion-Heart, who hoped Gerald would keep his Welsh cousins in line. After Richard left for the Crusade, Gerald remained in England in the royal service. It is possible that he was closely involved with John's machinations to take the throne. In any case, when Richard returned in 1194, Gerald left the royal court and "retired" in order to devote his life to the pursuit of letters. For the next few years, Gerald spent most of his time with friends in Lincoln, composing saints' lives and other ecclesiastical texts. Then, in 1198, a life-changing event for Gerald occurred. The Bishop of St. David's died, and the canons of the cathedral elected Gerald to succeed him. For a moment, it seemed that Gerald's lifelong dream was about to be fulfilled. But the king (now the former Prince John, Gerald's own student) refused to sanction the appointment. Gerald, reasoned the king and the archbishop of Canterbury, would be a politically dangerous appointment to the see of St. David's: they feared that he would use his family connections with the Marcher barons and the native princes to assert Welsh ecclesiastical independence from England. The indefatigable Gerald attempted to circumvent the king and brought his case to the papal court, but to no avail. Though the process took years, the papacy ultimately declared Gerald's election invalid. Gerald, dispirited and bitter, retired once again from public life to dedicate himself permanently to his writing. Over the next two decades he revised his older works, wrote his autobiography, and completed, among other things, his great work of biographical anecdotes and political insights, the De Principis Instructione. He died, probably in Lincoln, in 1223. |
Further Reading
- Robert Bartlett, Gerald of Wales: A Voice of the Middle Ages (Tempus, 2006)
- Georgia Henley and Joey McMullen, eds. New Perspectives on Gerald of Wales (University of Wales Press, 2017)
- Michael Richter, Giraldus Cambrensis: The Growth of the Welsh Nation (National Library of Wales, 1976)