Giraldus Cambrensis

Giraldus Cambrensis, a Welsh writer whose real name was Gerald de Barri, was born at a castle in Pembrokeshire about 1146. After studying at Paris he was ordained, and as Archdeacon of St. David's distinguished himself by the activity with which he collected tithes and attacked abuses. In 1176 the see became vacant and the long struggle of his life began. His object was to become bishop and to secure the ecclesiastical independence of Wales. He was twice nominated by the chapter and was elected in 1198, but. though he appealed to the Pope, he was deposed and ,a Norman bishop appointed. Meanwhile he had become one of Henry II.'s chaplains, and in 1184 accompanied Prince John to Ireland. Two of his books, the Topographia and Expugnatio Hibernica, give an interesting description of that island at this period. Giraldus read them in public at Oxford.

He was offered every Irish see and also those of Bangor and Llandaff, but declined them all. In Wales he was a kind of national hero, but was opposed by the immoral clergy and the Norman barons. He seems to have been a favourite of King John, but the influence of Archbishop Walter was used to prevent his advancement. His preaching of the crusade in Wales had been very effective, and in Paris he drew large audiences to his lectures on canon law. He died somewhere about the year 1216. His Be rebus a se gestis is a fragment of autobiography, and he left several other works, including a Bescription of Wales, Itinerariuni Cambria?, and the lives of several mediaeval saints and bishops. The whole have appeared in seven vols, in the Rolls Series, edited by Brewer and Dimock.