Description

Despite a frustrated ecclesiastical career - his ongoing failure to secure the See of St David's embittered him - Giraldus Cambrensis (Gerald of Wales, Gerald de Barry, c.1146-1220/3) composed many remarkable literary works, initially while employed as a royal clerk for Henry II and, subsequently, in semi-retirement in Lincoln. Eight volumes of his works were compiled, as part of the Rolls Series of British medieval material, between 1861 and 1891. Their Latin content includes poetry, devotional works, historical studies of Wales and Ireland, and polemical works about Giraldus' own life and times, including the power struggles of the turbulent Angevin court. Volumes 1-4 were edited by J. S. Brewer, volumes 5-7, by James F. Dimock, and Volume 8, by Sir George Warner.