SOURCE: Grandsen, Antonia. “Realistic Observation in Twelfth-Century England.” Speculum: A Journal of Mediaeval Studies 47, no. 1 (January 1972): 29-51.

[In the following essay, Grandsen examines examples of realistic descriptions of people, places, and things in twelfth-century English writing, paying particular attention to the work of William of Malmesbury.]

T. D. Kendrick has already commented on “nascent medieval topography” (which he describes as “rather casual”) in England, and cites examples of topographical descriptions from chronicles.¹ It is proposed here to examine in more detail the ability of medieval writers in twelfth-century England to see and describe the world around them. Besides topographical observation, I shall include observation of small objects (such as goldsmiths' work and books), of mankind itself (people's physical appearance, character and behaviour both individually and corporately as social beings), and of animals and birds.

Writers had various motives for descriptive writing. Admiration of the beautiful and wonder at the extraordinary were constant motives throughout history. Moreover, a writer often had a commemorative intention: he might, for example, want to preserve for posterity the appearance of a great man, or of a work of art in order to commemorate the artist.² But to some extent visual sense is an individual gift. Therefore some writers (such as William of Malmesbury), with a developed visual sense, will always turn more readily than others to descriptive writing.

Two intellectual trends could also encourage realistic description. The first was Christian piety. A writer's spiritual love, centered on God and his saints, stirred his interest in any person or object with a holy association. His earthly loyalty and affection were centered on his own home—usually a monastery. Therefore he was likely to observe carefully anything contributing to its reputation—for example, any building of outstanding beauty, or one which proved the place's great antiquity, or a relic of the patron saint, which demonstrated its holiness. Visual perception became particularly acute if the house's business interests were at stake. Monks began to study palaeography and diplomatics because they needed to defend their houses' property and privileges against enemies armed with forged charters.

The second intellectual trend encouraging descriptive writing was the study of the classics. The influence of classical antiquity took various forms. Admiration for classical civilization sometimes led to an interest in archaeological remains of Roman Britain. Moreover, study of some classical authors provided models for descriptive writing. Thus Suetonius' Lives of the Caesars had descriptions of the Caesars' physical appearance. (William of Malmesbury adopted the Suetonian mode for his descriptions of the Anglo-Norman kings). Probably more important for our purpose was the attitude of mind engendered by classical studies. The idea of Rome as a city of art treasures and monumental buildings provoked the competitive spirit: England too had treasures and fine cities. Furthermore, such classical authors as Sallust fostered an interest in the trivialities of everyday life.

It must, of course, be remembered that the hagiographical tradition and classical studies could both discourage realistic descriptive writing. For example, the hagiographer and the author influenced by classical works usually aimed at giving the general rather than the particular truth about their hero, to show how such a saint or king would have behaved and what he would have looked like, not his actual behaviour and appearance. Similarly descriptions of inanimate objects and of the outside world were sometimes based on classical models. Therefore the reader must be on his guard against idealization and literary imitation.³ However, the examples given below which are surely authentic, suggest that it is easy to overestimate the extent to which mediaeval writers were bound by these literary conventions.

The twelfth century was, until the literary developments of the fourteenth and fifteenth centuries, pre-eminent for descriptive writing. A number of writers described what they saw in detail and a few drew rational deductions from their observations. The use of observations as evidence amounted to rudimentary historical research. (Perhaps, therefore, Professor V. H. Galbraith's statement that “It would be a brave man who sought to widen the list of medieval achievements by the inclusion of historical research”⁴ needs slight modification). Both the religious motive and the incentive provided by classical studies gained momentum in the twelfth century. Generally speaking, the former was strongest early in the twelfth century and the latter towards the end.

The Norman Conquest and settlement presented the Anglo-Saxon church with a challenge and put its saints on trial. (Archbishop Lanfranc questioned the right of some Anglo-Saxon saints to liturgical commemoration).⁵ The reputation of the Anglo-Saxon church as a whole, and the prestige and prosperity of each monastery in particular, depended on having an unbroken and glorious history. Therefore hagiographers and historians turned with enthusiasm to the study of ecclesiastical history, determined to prove that the Anglo-Saxon church had a creditable past. The influence of classical authors is already apparent early in the century (notably in the works of William of Malmesbury), but it is particularly marked in the works of such late twelfth-century “humanists” as Gerald of Wales and Walter Map, and resulted occasionally in objective curiosity.

Although the twelfth century was most remarkable for descriptive writing, the preceding period and the thirteenth century also produced examples. Gildas, Bede and Nennius were all capable of using archaeology as historical evidence.⁶ But here they were exceptional. Realistic descriptions by other writers were the result of admiration, wonder and piety towards saints. The description of Romano-British buildings in the Old English poem the Ruin was obviously written because of admiration and wonder.⁷ Eddius Stephanus must have intended to praise Wilfrid by describing his churches and the treasurers at Hexham and Ripon.⁸ (Presumably the biographer of Edward the Confessor had the same motive for describing the abbey church at Westminster).⁹ And the reference to ancient remains in Bede's Life of St. Cuthbert¹⁰ and in Felix's Life of St. Guthlac¹¹ are incidental to the hagiographical theme. Such examples of realistic descriptions are “casual” and isolated; clearly as yet authors had no compelling motive to write them.

Again in the thirteenth century examples of realistic observations are sporadic, the result of individual interest rather than a general trend. Matthew Paris, himself an artist, had a developed visual sense. He wrote the well-known description of Henry III's elephant,¹² and also described the buffalo, specimens of which were owned by Richard of Cornwall.¹³ Especially notable are his descriptions of works of art (for example of the wash-bowl presented by Queen Margaret of France to Henry III).¹⁴ His aesthetic sense was augmented by a desire to commemorate the artists who had worked at St. Albans.¹⁵ (The Gesta Abbatum is partly a history of the abbey's art and architecture). The monks of Bury St. Edmunds had a considerable antiquarian interest in their house¹⁶ and also left a graphic description of the abbey's twelfth-century illuminated Bible (now Corpus Christi College, Cambridge, MS 2).¹⁷ But only at the beginning of the century and at the very end (perhaps in the early fourteenth century) do we find lifelike descriptions of people's appearances and characters comparable to those written in the late twelfth century. Jocelin of Brakelond's description of Samson abbot of Bury St. Edmunds (1182/3-1211)¹⁸ can be regarded as an extension of the twelfth-century mode, while Nicholas Trevet's descriptions of Henry III and Edward I were the product of another humanist revival.¹⁹

Realistic observation in the twelfth century will be discussed in two parts. First, it will be considered as exemplifying the Christian motive for writing. Second, it will be considered as a response to classical studies.

The desire to establish continuity with the Anglo-Saxon past is a marked feature of the history of Durham written in the early twelfth century, probably by the monk Symeon of Durham.²⁰ The author's obsession with continuity permeates the work, and caused him to describe some material objects. It also accounts for some statements which are of dubious credibility. The author wanted to give venerable associations even to flaws in Durham's treasures. Thus he asserts that the crack in the stone cross (which, he alleges, was the cross of Ethelwold, the bishop of Lindisfarne who died in 740), standing in St Cuthbert's cemetery, was acquired when the Danes raided Lindisfarne.²¹ Similarly he tells a story apparently to provide a creditable explanation for a flaw, a slight water stain at the top of some pages, in the precious Gospel-book then owned by Durham cathedral (now the Lindisfarne Gospels in the British Museum). Having briefly described the book which, he states, was written by Eadfrith, and bound with wonderful decoration in gold and gems, by the hermit Billfrith at the order of Bishop Ethelwold,²² he relates how, when the book was borne from Lindisfarne with St Cuthbert's body and carried to the mouth of the Derwent for embarkation (which was divinely prevented) to Ireland, it accidentally fell in the sea, to be miraculously recovered three days later from the beach at Whithorn.²³ This story can hardly be true, because Whithorn is thirty miles from the mouth of the Derwent. However, the legend that the Gospels accompanied St Cuthbert's body is itself quite plausible.²⁴

In the south of England the man to contribute most to vindicate the reputation of the early Anglo-Saxon church and to establish continuity between past and present was William of Malmesbury. He accused the Anglo-Saxons of neglecting their past.²⁵ No one since Bede had tried to record English history and few had troubled to write the lives of saints. To remedy the deficiency William wrote the Gesta Regum and the Gesta Pontificum in 1125, and also hagiographies and his book on the antiquity of Glastonbury, the De Antiquitate Glastoniensis Ecclesiae. His corpus of works concerns both Anglo-Saxon history in general, and also the history of his own abbey, Malmesbury, and of Glastonbury abbey.

Besides recording in the Gesta Pontificum all he could discover about the lives of the Anglo-Saxon archbishops, bishops and saints, William included what is virtually a gazetteer of ecclesiastical England. He divided the work into bishoprics. He begins each section with a description of the episcopal see, its site and buildings (the careers of the successive bishops follow), and ends with an account of the religious houses in the diocese, complete with topographical descriptions. It is likely that most (perhaps all) of William's descriptions were based on personal observation, not hearsay. He was, therefore, the first Englishman to travel to get his evidence—to write history from information collected on the spot. His notices of the generous hospitality of some monasteries (such as Reading and Tewkesbury)²⁶ may represent formal thanks for a visit. The surviving autograph copy of the Gesta Pontificum is a small volume which could have fitted into his pocket.²⁷

The Gesta Pontificum has descriptions of numerous churches and their treasures. Thus William describes St Wulfstan's tomb at Worcester,²⁸ and mentions the splendid glass in Rochester cathedral,²⁹ both of which have long since vanished. Of particular value to the architectural historian today is his account of the round church built at Athelney by King Alfred (of which no trace now remains), still served in William's day by a community of ascetic monks. It was built, William records, in a novel style: “Four posts fixed in the earth support the whole structure, and it has four aisles with round ends arranged around the spherical building.”³⁰

The fifth book of the Gesta Pontificum is devoted to the life of St Aldhelm, patron and co-founder of Malmesbury abbey.³¹ William included in it information about local history. Like Symeon of Durham, he shows a penchant for giving local antiquities religious associations, in order to enhance the reputation of his house. He connected material objects with St Aldhelm. There was preserved at Malmesbury a beautiful old cope. It was, William records, of fine scarlet silk and had peacocks enclosed in black roundels embroidered on it. William asserts that this cope had belonged to St Aldhelm.³² He also states that the series of free standing stones near Malmesbury were erected to mark the places where the bearer of St Aldhelm's body rested on the way from Doulting, where St Aldhelm died, to Malmesbury, where he was buried.³³ And William claims that a crack in the altar at Bruton, a gift, according to William, from Pope Sergius to St Aldhelm, was caused by the fall of the animal (perhaps a camel) which carried it over the Alps.³⁴

William of Malmesbury's most ambitious and intelligent excursion into local history was in the De Antiquitate Glastoniensis Ecclesiae, written sometime between 1129 and 1139.³⁵ The reasons, perhaps biographical,³⁶ for William's close interest in Glastonbury, are obscure. But he certainly wrote to please Henry of Blois, bishop of Winchester, who ruled Glastonbury abbey during his episcopate (1129-1171),³⁷ and to counter the assertion by Osbern, the Canterbury hagiographer, in his Life of St Dunstan, that Dunstan was the first abbot of Glastonbury, which impugned Glastonbury's claim to a long and venerable Christian past.³⁸ William sought to prove Glastonbury's antiquity as an abbey and its even greater antiquity as a holy place. He used, besides documentary evidence, extant antiquities to prove his thesis. He particularly called attention to two “pyramids,” or burial crosses, in the cemetery.³⁹ One, he states, was twenty-six feet high and had five storeys, on four of which ancient names could be deciphered, though the stone was weathered. William copies the names. He also copies the names from the other “pyramid” which had four storeys and was eighteen feet high. William states that these were the names of the abbots before Dunstan, thus proving, on his own evidence, the abbey's great antiquity: William may well have been partly right, because some of the names probably did commemorate the earliest abbots of Glastonbury, of the late seventh and eighth centuries.⁴⁰ He was certainly right in his general view that Glastonbury had been a holy place from the early Christian period in Britain.⁴¹ And his obviously eye-witness description of the “pyramids” is particularly valuable to the historian today because no trace of them now remains.⁴²

Besides William of Malmesbury, Osbern and Eadmer, both monks of Christ Church, Canterbury, made intelligent use of antiquities. Their hagiographies contributed much to re-establishing the reputations of the Anglo-Saxon saints connected with Canterbury after the Conquest. Osbern, an Englishman who found it difficult to adapt to Norman rule (Lanfranc sent him for two years to Normandy to help him readjust), visited Glastonbury when writing his Life of St Dunstan. He saw Dunstan's cell which he described precisely, using it to demonstrate the saint's austerity. This den, “more like a tomb for the dead than a habitation for the living,” was so small (“not more than five feet long and two and a half feet wide”) that Dunstan could never have lain down to sleep, and the door, with a small window in it, constituted one wall.⁴³

Eadmer, best known as biographer of Anselm, archbishop of Canterbury (1093-1109), resembled Osbern in his concern for preserving the memory of the Anglo-Saxon saints. Besides the threat to continuity offered by the Norman Conquest, he responded to an additional challenge. Canterbury cathedral was burnt to the ground in 1067. The cathedral's reputation could have suffered serious damage if contemporaries had believed that the relics it housed had been lost in the conflagration. Therefore Eadmer wrote a work, De Reliquiis Sancti Audoeni et quorundam aliorum sanctorum quae Cantuariae in aecclesiae domini Salvatoris habentur, to prove that the relics from the old choir had been safely placed in the new one.⁴⁴ He described the exact location of the relics in the old choir, and this caused him to describe its architecture. Therefore he wrote what was in fact the first architectural history to be composed in England—a precedent which, as will be seen below, was not neglected at Christ Church. A characteristic passage reads: “Beyond the middle of the length of the nave there were two towers which projected above the aisles of the church. The south tower had an altar in the middle of it which was dedicated in honour of the blessed pope Gregory, and at the side was the principal door, which formally was called by the English—and still is—the Suthdure.”⁴⁵

The Norman Conquest resulted in the most serious, but not the only, threat to the continuity of the monastic tradition in mediaeval England. The anarchy of King Stephen's reign (1135-1154) and Henry II's judicial reforms also made monks fear for their ancient rights and privileges. Again monks showed a heightened interest in their houses' past. In the first half of Henry II's reign chronicles were written in numerous monasteries, for example at Ely, Peterborough, Ramsey and Battle, which were principally intended to record the houses' history, authenticated with copies of documents, as far back as possible. The Ely chronicler begins with a Life of the patron saint, St Etheldreda, and uses visual evidence to connect the abbey's treasures with the Anglo-Saxon past. He describes a precious altar cloth; it was of blood-coloured satin on top, and had green sides decorated with gold thread and gems and edged with gold fringe—it was, he said, the work of, and a gift from Queen Emma.⁴⁶

The Ramsey chronicler was particularly interested in remains from the Anglo-Saxon period. He gives a valuable description of the earliest stone church at Ramsey, the tower of which fell in St Oswald's time, because of faulty foundations. Nothing now remains of this church which was in the Carolingian style:

Two towers overshadowed the roofs; the smaller one, at the west end, at the front of the church, presented a beautiful spectacle from a long way off to those entering the island; the larger one, in the centre of the quadrifid structure, was supported by four columns, one attached to the next by spreading arches to prevent them falling apart. According to the architecture of that distant age, this was a fine enough building.⁴⁷

The Ramsey chronicler also mentions the ruins of an old crypt in the cemetery, which, he stated, were “witness and evidence” of a nunnery which King Canute and Bishop Æthelric had intended to found there. But God in His mercy had prevented them!⁴⁸

But the Ramsey chronicler had more than a nostalgic, antiquarian interest in the Anglo-Saxon past. Of all the twelfth-century chroniclers, he took the most methodical interest in charters. He explicitly states that the anarchy of Stephen's reign provided the incentive: he wanted to provide written evidence of the abbey's titles to land and privilege in case these were again challenged in a period of chaos.⁴⁹ Therefore the Ramsey chronicler copied numerous charters into his chronicle. He concentrated particularly on pre-Conquest charters, thus becoming one of the earliest Anglo-Saxon scholars. He examined “very ancient schedules of charters and cyrographs,” which, as they were “nearly all in English”, he translated into Latin. He comments on the poor condition of some of the documents, “disintegrating with age.”⁵⁰

The Ramsey chronicler was also interested in seals. He appreciated the additional authority given to a charter by the royal seal, and remarks on the fact that in early times only the king and great men, not people of lesser importance had seals.⁵¹ The same point is made in the contemporary chronicle of Battle abbey which records that Richard de Lucy, the justiciar, when defending in court the authenticity of an unsealed charter of Battle abbey, pointed out that in the old days “not every little knight had his own seal, but only kings and really important people.”⁵² Interest in the physical appearance of devices for the authentication of documents is vividly demonstrated in “Benedict of Peterborough”: it has a drawing of the rota of King William II of Sicily, at the end of a copy of William's charter granting dower to his betrothed, Henry II's daughter Joanna.⁵³ …

Forgery, a weapon against attacks on rights to property and privilege, provided a powerful incentive to palaeographical and diplomatic study, because suspect charters were examined attentively.⁵⁴ Thus Gervase of Canterbury, writing between about 1188 and 1199, records how a forgery was detected in 1181. In order to strengthen their claim to exemption from obedience to the archbishop of Canterbury, the monks of St Augustine's produced what purported to be a papal diploma granted to St Augustine of Canterbury. But, Gervase records, though the parchment (actually a reused piece) was old, the handwriting, style and leaden bull were not.⁵⁵

Gervase of Canterbury was the last representative in the twelfth century of the monastic antiquarian tradition exemplified by William of Malmesbury. Like William he was interested in the monastic geography of England. His Mappa Mundi,⁵⁶ compiled to preserve the memory of the England of his own day, is a nearly complete list of the monasteries of England (he gives four hundred and thirty eight houses), grouped in counties, arranged in three columns: in the first column is written, as relevant, “archbishopric,” “bishopric,” “abbey” or “priory”; in the second is the name of the place and the patron saint; and in the third column is the order to which the house belonged.

But Gervase's antiquarian interest was mainly centered on Christ Church. Like Eadmer, he faced a challenge to the continuity of the cathedral's spiritual tradition. In 1174 the choir of the cathedral was again burnt to the ground, to be rebuilt in the next decade by William of Sens and his successor. Once again it was necessary to prove that no relics had been lost, and that the tombs of the archbishops, especially that of Thomas Becket, had been safely disposed in the new choir. Gervase begins his Chronicle with an account of the fire and of the rebuilding, including an architectural history of the cathedral from Anglo-Saxon times and a vivid description of the new choir.⁵⁷ His purpose was, he states, to prevent the two previous churches, both destroyed by fire, from ever being forgotten. He probably had a personal reason for strong interest in and detailed knowledge of the new cathedral's architecture. It is likely that he was the monk appointed by William of Sens to oversee the workmen after William had been incapacitated by a fall from the scaffold.⁵⁸

Gervase's interest in architectural history was stimulated, like Eadmer's, by preoccupation with relics. “It is impossible,” he writes, “to show clearly the resting-places of the saints, which are in various parts of the church, without first describing the building itself where they are housed.”⁵⁹ He copies Eadmer's account of the location of the relics in the pre-Conquest church, and describes exactly where they and the archbishops' tombs were placed in the new choir—the climax is the account of the translation of Thomas Becket.⁶⁰

Gervase traced the cathedral's architectural history in great detail. He relied on Eadmer for his account of the pre-Conquest church, but described the nave of Lanfranc's church, which had survived the 1174 fire, from his own observation. (He admits that he cannot describe Lanfranc's choir because it was pulled down by Prior Conrad in Archbishop Anselm's time in order to build the new one). He describes Conrad's choir from memory, and compares it with the new choir in order to highlight the latter's architectural novelties. He points out that the new columns were nearly twelve feet higher than the old ones, and unlike the latter had carved capitals. He states that the new rib-vaults replaced plain stone vaults and painted wooden roofs, and notices that the new choir had two triforiums instead of one, was higher and lighter, and was richer in marble and carving. He ends by explaining why the new choir narrowed at the end. Gervase concludes with an appreciation of the value of visual evidence: “All these things can be more clearly and pleasurably seen with the eye than learnt about from the written or spoken word.”⁶¹

Gervase' strong interest in the architecture of Christ Church was undoubtedly aroused by the fire of 1174. However it should be noted that about ten years earlier another event had stimulated the monks' interest in the architecture of their monastery. Sometime between 1153 and 1167 they had installed a new system of water distribution and drainage within the precincts. This gave rise to the two earliest known surveys made in England, in order to show where the pipes lay. One survey is a plan of the monastery, showing the cathedral and principal buildings, which though not correct in all details is in general accurate. … The other is a plan of the extra-mural waterworks.⁶²

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I turn now to descriptive writing encouraged by study of the classics. William of Malmesbury himself was much influenced by the classics. His admiration for classical antiquity is well demonstrated by his inclusion in the Gesta Pontificum, a work devoted to Christian history, of a description of the ruins of an impressive Roman hall in Carlisle, and a transcription of the inscription on it.⁶³ But the most important result of William's study of the classics, especially of Suetonius' Lives of the Caesars, was on his perception of people. Suetonius provided William of Malmesbury with models for the physical description of people and taught him a technique for illustrating facets of character. William, the first writer in England to write more than one pen-portrait,⁶⁴ used the Suetonian method of short, snappy descriptions.⁶⁵ How far his descriptions are realistic is hard to say. As they have verbal echoes of Suetonius and it is unlikely that William had met the men he describes, they could be literary rhetoric, without historical basis. This is probably true of his portrait of St Wulfstan, bishop of Worcester (1062-1095) which has no distinctive features—Wulfstan was “of medium height, overtopped by the very tall, but exceeding the very short, and all his limbs were well-porportioned.”⁶⁶

On the other hand, William's pen-portraits of the Anglo-Norman kings are sufficiently concrete to justify credence. He could have obtained his information from people who had seen the kings. For example, he writes that William Rufus “was squarely built, had a florid complexion and yellow hair, an open countenance and multi-coloured eyes, varied with glittering specks; he was of astonishing strength, though not very tall, and had a protruding stomach.”⁶⁷ William also adopted the Suetonian technique of illustrating character, both good and bad traits, by recounting anecdotes and trivial details. A good example of William's use of anecdote is a story he tells to show William Rufus' extravagance. Rufus reprimanded his chamberlain for buying him a cheap pair of boots, exclaiming angrily, “Only three shillings!? you son of a whore, since when has a king worn such cheap boots? Go and bring me a pair worth a silver mark!”⁶⁸ Moreover William probably borrowed from Suetonius his method of writing passages exclusively devoted to sketching characters in some detail. (He treats the Anglo-Norman Kings in this way).⁶⁹

The classics and romance literature (itself indebted to classical studies) fostered interest in secular life. William of Malmesbury was the first writer to divide secular from ecclesiastical history explicitly, dealing with the former in the Gesta Regum and the latter in the Gesta Pontificum. And the first pen-portrait of a layman other than a king was written in the mid-twelfth century: Ailred of Rievaulx gives a vivid description in the Suetonian style of Walter Espec, lay patron of Rievaulx abbey—a very tall man, with black hair, a bold, lined face, with a voice like a trumpet, “uniting eloquence with a certain majesty of sound.”⁷⁰

The twelfth century is notable for numerous topographical descriptions of castles. These reflect contemporary interest in warfare, encouraged both by romance literature, popularized by Geoffrey of Monmouth's Historia Regum Britanniae (published ca. 1136), and by conditions during the anarchy of Stephen's reign. They also reflect men's response to the impressive castles which played a crucial role during the anarchy. Geoffrey of Monmouth himself briefly describes the Tower of London.⁷¹ And so many topographies of castles (of Exeter, Bristol, Bath, Oxford, Cricklade and Faringdon)⁷² occur in the Gesta Stephani as to suggest that the author had some particular reason for interest in their defensive potential. For example, he writes of Oxford:

The city is very securely protected, inaccessible because of the very deep water that washes it all round, most carefully encircled by the palisade of an outwork on one side, and on another finely and very strongly fortified by an impregnable castle and a tower of great height.

A similar topography of Scarborough castle is in the late twelfth-century chronicle of William of Newburgh, an Augustinian canon:

A huge rock, almost inaccessible on account of precipices on all sides, drives back the sea which surrounds it, except for a narrow ascent on the west. On its summit is a beautiful grassy plain, more than sixty acres in area, with a spring of fresh water issuing from a rock. At the entrance, which is difficult of access, there is a royal castle, and below the incline begins the town which spreads to the south and north but faces west, defended on this side by its own wall, on the east by the castle rock, while both sides are washed by the sea.⁷³

Most remarkable for realistic descriptive writing were a group of writers working in the last decade of Henry II's reign and in the reign of Richard I. Their common features were, in varying degrees, an interest in man as an individual and an objective curiosity about man's environment. All were influenced, to a greater or lesser extent, by classical studies, but none imitated exactly any particular classical author. Foremost were Gerald of Wales, Walter Map, and William Fitz Stephen. Other writers sharing some of their characteristics were Adam of Eynsham, chaplain and biographer of St Hugh of Lincoln, Ralph Diceto, dean of St Paul's (1180/1-1202), Richard of Devizes, a monk of St Swithuns, Winchester, and Lucian, a monk of St Werbergh's, Chester. All these men, except apparently Richard of Devizes and Lucian, had contact, with one or more of the famous schools of the day. Gerald of Wales, Walter Map and Adam of Eynsham had connections with Oxford⁷⁴ and Lincoln cathedral⁷⁵—Gerald mentions the schools at Lincoln.⁷⁶ Fitz Stephen, who describes the schools in London,⁷⁷ and Diceto were Londoners, and both Gerald and Walter Map (who held a prebend at St Paul's)⁷⁸ often lived in the capital. Gerald⁷⁹ and Walter Map,⁸⁰ and probably Diceto had studied at Paris university,⁸¹ and all three had close connections with the Angevin court, a notable cultural center.

Gerald of Wales and Walter Map both give pen-portraits of Henry II, whom they knew personally. (Walter Map entered royal service soon after 1160⁸² and Gerald of Wales in about 1184).⁸³ Gerald's description, as the most graphic of the two, may be quoted. Henry was:

a man of reddish, freckled complexion with a large round head, grey eyes which glowed fiercely and grew bloodshot in anger, a fiery countenance and a harsh, cracked voice. His neck was poked forward slightly from his shoulders, his chest was broad and square, his arms strong and powerful. His frame was stocky, with a pronounced tendency to corpulance, due to nature rather than indulgence, which he tempered by exercise.⁸⁴

Moreover, Gerald of Wales and Walter Map give detailed character-sketches of Henry II. They treat the subject en bloc, besides telling numerous illustrative anecdotes in Suetonian fashion. Map's description of Henry mainly concerns his abilities as a ruler (he had “discretion in the making of laws and the ordering of all government, and was a clever deviser of decisions in difficult and dark cases”). But Map also gives some more personal touches. He ascribes Henry's restless energy, which made him a tireless traveller “tolerant of the discomforts of dust and mud,” and exhausted his household, to his fear of growing too fat. And he describes his good temper and good manners, but criticises him for a tendency to withdraw from company when away from home.⁸⁵ Equally vivid is Gerald of Wales' description of Henry's character.⁸⁶ Like Map, he comments on his extraordinary energy; after a day of strenuous physical activity he would sit neither before, or after supper, so that “by such great and wearisome exertion he would wear out the whole court by continually standing.”

Adam of Eynsham in the Life of St Hugh illustrates character with anecdotes and trivial details, even mentioning facets of St Hugh's character which were not entirely creditable—he relates that Hugh was sometimes irritable when he presided over the chapter at Lincoln.⁸⁷ He recounts anecdotes about the kings which show Henry II's quick temper and sense of humour,⁸⁸ Richard I's forgiving nature,⁸⁹ and King John's lack of religious feeling, meanness, and worldly ambition. (He illustrates John's unpleasant character partly with a story of how St Hugh showed him a carving of the Last Judgment on the tympanum at Fontevrault, hoping that the sight of the torments of the damned would frighten him into repentance: but John turned away to look at some carvings of proud kings, saying it was them whom he would emulate.)⁹⁰ Adam also had an eye for everyday life. He describes a baby's response to the saint's presence:

The tiny mouth and face relaxed in continuous chuckles. … It then bent and stretched out its little arms, as if trying to fly, and moved its head to and fro. … Next it took St. Hugh's hand in both of its small ones, and using all its strength raised it to his face, immediately licking rather than kissing it.⁹¹

A feature of a number of late twelfth-century writers was an interest in towns, both in their topography and in the customs of their citizens. This interest developed throughout the twelfth century (writers in earlier periods rarely refer to towns)⁹² as a result of a number of factors. Towns were playing an increasingly important part in the economic and social life of England. Moreover, the idea of the city was fostered by trends in European history. The reform of the papacy attracted attention to Rome. William of Malmesbury copied a poem in praise of Rome, and gives a topography of the Eternal City.⁹³ Interest in cities was further encouraged by the crusades—cities of Byzantium and in the crusading states were famous and prosperous. William of Malmesbury gives topographical accounts of Constantinople, Antioch and Jerusalem,⁹⁴ and the author of the Itinerary of Richard I describes Jerusalem and its holy places.⁹⁵ And early in the thirteenth century the Cistercian chronicler Ralph of Coggeshall gave a detailed, though rather inaccurate account of the topography of Constantinople.⁹⁶

Study of the classics also fostered an interest in cities, the centers of ancient civilization. Geoffrey of Monmouth derived his interest in the derivation of the names of towns from the classics. Virgil explained the derivation of the name Rome with an eponym (the story of Romulus and Remus): Geoffrey used eponyms to explain the names of London,⁹⁷ Gloucester,⁹⁸ and Leicester.⁹⁹ And by calling London “New Troy,” Geoffrey shows that he regarded London as a reincarnation, so to speak, of that ancient city. Although the descriptions of cities written in England in the late twelfth century are not modelled exactly on any classical work, they, like those by classical authors, divide into two categories, the laudatory¹⁰⁰ and the satirical.¹⁰¹ William Fitz Stephen's description of London, Lucian's description of Chester, and Ralph Diceto's description of Angers, are laudatory, while Richard of Devizes' accounts of English towns are satirical.

Richard of Devizes, who wrote his chronicle between 1192 and 1198, frequently cites from such authors as Virgil, Horace, Juvenal, Lucan and Ovid.¹⁰² He includes satirical references to a number of English towns, dissociating himself from his remarks by a literary conceit: he puts them into the mouth of a French Jew advising a Gentile youth where to settle in England.¹⁰³ The young man should avoid London, a sink of iniquity, crowded with pimps, gamblers and parasites (“actors, smooth-skinned boys, belly dancers” and the like). The youth should also avoid Canterbury, Rochester, Chichester, Oxford, Exeter, Worcester, Chester, Hereford, York, Durham, Norwich, Lincoln and Bristol—Richard gives a brief reason for the undesirability of each. For example, York “is full of Scotsmen, filthy and treacherous creatures scarcely men,” Bath “is placed or rather dumped down in the midst of valleys in an exceedingly heavy air and in sulphurous vapour, at the gates of Hell,”¹⁰⁴ and at Bristol “there is no-one who is not or has not been a soap maker, and every Frenchman loves soapmakers as he does a dung-heap.” The Jew concludes by advising the youth to settle in Winchester, “the city of cities, the mother of all and better than all others,” the only city tolerant of Jews, where men can study and the citizens are generous and courteous. But Richard adds a satirical remark even here—Winchester is full of gossip and rumours.

The account of London written sometime between 1173 and 1175 by William Fitz Stephen, a clerk who had been in the service of Thomas Becket, is the most detailed and realistic description of a city written in mediaeval England.¹⁰⁵ It has many allusions to and citations from classical authors—for example Virgil, Horace, Persius and Ovid. Fitz Stephen wrote primarily because of the circumstances of his times. His love of and loyalty to London were roused by the attention paid to Canterbury as a result of the martyrdom of Thomas Becket in the cathedral. Fitz Stephen prefixed the description of London to his Life of Saint Thomas, the pretext being that Becket, like Fitz Stephen, was a Londoner—and just as Sallust had described Africa in his history of the Carthaginian war, so Fitz Stephen would describe London. London, he writes, was once a metropolitan see (a reference to Gregory the Great's arrangements for the ecclesiastical organisation of England), and would, “it is thought,” be so again, unless the martyr Thomas' fame perpetuates the honour for Canterbury where his body lies. But London could justly dispute Canterbury's claim to close association with Becket because, though he died in Canterbury, he was born in London.¹⁰⁶

Fitz Stephen describes the topography of London, the Tower, the walls with their towers and gates, the Thames (“teeming with fish”), the suburban houses with wells and spacious gardens, the meadows and forests beyond. Even more remarkable is his long account of the social customs and pastimes of the Londoners. He describes the horse fair at Smithfield, and the cook-shops on the banks of the Thames, which catered for rich and poor and were especially handy if guests arrived unexpectedly. He mentions the disputations of students studying in London, thus providing evidence for the existence of schools in the capital. Then he describes the games of young Londoners, the ball-games, horse-races and dangerous ice sports played on the frozen Thames. Like Rome in ancient and in Christian times, London was notable both for the usefulness and hard work of its citizens, and also for its pleasures and entertainments.¹⁰⁷ Following Geoffrey of Monmouth, Fitz Stephen asserts that London (“New Troy”) produced “not a few men who subdued many nations and the Roman empire to their sway” in the pre-Christian era. He ends his account of famous men with Thomas Becket “‘than whom she bore no whiter soul nor one more dear’ (Horace, Sat. l. v. 41-2) to all good men in the Latin world.”

The two other laudatory descriptions of cities written at this period have less detail than Fitz Stephen's. Lucian, in his work in praise of Chester, De Laude Cestrie,¹⁰⁸ written in about 1195, gives numerous references to classical authors, especially to Horace, Virgil, Ovid and Seneca, besides citing the Bible and the Fathers¹⁰⁹—and Geoffrey of Monmouth.¹¹⁰ The influence of Rome appears in the comparison of the church of St Peter at Chester with St Peter's, Rome.¹¹¹ Apparently the work originated as a series of sermons intended to please and edify the citizens of Chester,¹¹² for it has long, homiletic passages, and many allegories (for example, the two Roman streets meeting in the city center symbolize the cross, the four gates angelic guardians).¹¹³ Nevertheless, Lucian describes the plan of the city and its geographical position.¹¹⁴ He also describes the city walls, the river Dee with its daily tide, wide sands and busy harbour, frequented by merchants from Spain, Ireland, Aquitaine and Germany, and by fishermen.¹¹⁵

The other laudatory description of a city, the account of Angers in Ralph Diceto's Ymagines Historiarum,¹¹⁶ is more straightforward. It is uncertain whether Diceto was himself the author or whether he copied it from some now lost Angevin source.¹¹⁷ The description of the bridge at Angers is particularly vivid: it had “workshops in little houses (of earth, wood and stones) … placed opposite each other and arranged under one almost uniform roof so making the bridge (which is mainly wood in the middle) like a real street, always open to passers-bye but sheltered from the sun.”¹¹⁸

Diceto also has a passage (probably copied from a lost continental source), on the social customs of the people of Aquitaine, including a description of their cullinary methods. It states, for example, that “the men of Poitou love beef for daily fare. When the pepper and garlic have been mixed together in a mortar, the fresh meat needs as a condiment either the juice of wild apples or that of young vine shoots, or grapes.”¹¹⁹ This interest in social customs, reminiscent of Fitz Stephen's account of the Londoners, is particularly characteristic of Gerald of Wales. But while Diceto and Fitz Stephen concentrated on civilized man, Gerald turned his attention to primitive peoples, describing the customs of the Irish and Welsh in his Topographia Hibernica¹²⁰ and in the Descriptio Kambriae.¹²¹ Ostensibly he wrote about the Irish and the Welsh because he thought writers had neglected them. But he seems also to have wanted to point out the shortcomings of civilized life by implicitly contrasting it with the primitive condition.¹²² His view of both peoples as barbarians (with consequent vices and virtues) probably owed something to classical literature.

Gerald of Wales collected his information for the Topographia Hibernica when he visited Ireland with Prince John in 1185, and for the Descriptio Kambriae when he toured Wales with Archbishop Baldwin, who was preaching the crusade, in 1188. Much of what he says about the Irish is based on folk-lore, not fact, but he records some vivid details which are surely authentic. Most of his information about the Welsh seems to be based on objective observation. He says that both peoples neglected agriculture, trade, and all productive labour.¹²³ He describes the primitive clothes of the Irish in realistic terms: they wore close fitting hoods hanging over the shoulders, “of parti-coloured strips sewn together,” under which they had rugs instead of cloaks, and breeches often with socks attached to them.¹²⁴ The Welsh slept all together, in their day-clothes, a thin cloak or tunic, on a coarse blanket spread on the floor along the side of the room, keeping each other warm, and before they turned over warming themselves by the fire.¹²⁵ Gerald describes how the Irish rode, bareback, without boots or spurs, but with a sort of riding crop, and reins which served both as bridle and bit.¹²⁶ He appreciated the virtues of these hardy peoples (especially those of the Welsh). The Irish had by nature fine physiques—they needed no human skills to help their growth.¹²⁷ They loved leisure and liberty above all else, and were gifted musicians.¹²⁸ The Welsh too were very musical,¹²⁹ and they were also brave soldiers¹³⁰ and most generous to guests (Gerald describes their customs at table in detail)—and they kept their teeth the cleanest in the world (they made them “gleam like ivory by constant rubbing with green hazel and by wiping them with a woollen cloth”).¹³¹ Moreover, the Topographia Hibernica has lively illustrations in the margins, in pen and colour, of scenes from Irish life and other subjects. … As these pictures are in the earliest known manuscript of the work (from St Augustine's, Canterbury) it seems likely that the originals were executed by Gerald himself, or at least under his supervision.

Gerald of Wales was a remarkably acute observer of other aspects of the outside world besides people and social anthropology. He also noticed and vividly described antiquities and natural history. His principal motives were objective curiosity and aesthetic appreciation. The former motive probably elicited his description of Stonehenge. Having accepted Geoffrey of Monmouth's statement that Stonehenge had been magically transported from Kildare in Ireland, he proceeds with an eye-witness description. “It is wonderful” he writes “how stones of such huge size were ever collected together and erected in one place, and how equally large stones were so skilfully placed on top of such immensely tall stones; thus they seem to hang suspended, as if in mid-air, appearing to be supported more by the artifice of craftsmen than by the tops of the upright stones.”¹³² Moreover Gerald was interested in Roman remains. He comments on the charred walls of the ancient fort at Carmarthan (“the magnificent walls, still partly standing, situated on the noble river Towy”),¹³³ and describes Roman Caerleon, “where you can still see many remains of its former grandeur; … the spacious palaces (which formerly had guilded roofs in the Roman fashion …), an enormous tower, remarkable baths, the ruins of temples, and a theatre all enclosed with a fine wall, parts of which still stand.” Gerald also remarks on the subterranean structures and the acquaducts, and particularly on the hypocaust system “constructed with wonderful art.”¹³⁴ His aesthetic motive is well illustrated by his graphic description of an illuminated manuscript he saw in Ireland, probably the Book of Kells.¹³⁵

Moreover, to this period belong the earliest realistic descriptions of animals and birds,¹³⁶ for which the ever-curious Gerald of Wales was mainly responsible. He describes, for example, the Irish hare and the habits of the bear,¹³⁷ but most remarkable is his descriptions of St Hugh of Lincoln's pet swan:

It was about as much larger than a swan as a swan is than a goose, but in everything else, especially in its colour and whiteness, it closely resembled a swan, except that in addition to its size it did not have the usual swelling and black streak on its beak. Instead that part of its beak was flat and bright yellow in colour, as were also its head and the upper part of its neck.¹³⁸

It is possible to identify Hugh's swan from this description as a whooper swan. Gerald accompanies this description with details about its habits, how “it would fly over the surface of the river, beating the water with its wings, and giving vent to loud cries.” Adam of Eynsham, who copied Gerald's account, added some details, notably concerning the swan's affection for St Hugh.¹³⁹

Finally, it should be noted that the occurrence of realistic descriptive writing in twelfth-century England has a counterpart in art. Despite the dominance of Romanesque, a heavily stylized and conventionalized art form, there are examples of realistic pictures. Gerald of Wales, in the Topographia Hibernica, was probably responsible not only for the vivid scenes from Irish life, but also for illustrations of animals, birds and fishes in Ireland. Particularly remarkable is the fairly accurate coloured drawing of a crane. …¹⁴⁰

Even the Bestiaries and Herbals of the period have a few realistic pictures. Usually an artist faithfully copied the traditional, often fanciful, picture in his exemplar, especially if it was of a creature or plant (such as an elephant or a delphinium¹⁴¹) which he had never seen. However, if he knew from personal observation what his subject looked like, he might draw it realistically. Thus there are, for example, realistic pictures of a swan, pigeons, hedgehogs, a bramble and a thistle. … These pictures (with the exception of the two plants which could have been drawn from life) were probably drawn from memory and are not accurate in every detail: they are slightly stylized and show a tendency to conflate one species with another. Nevertheless, they demonstrate that some artists, like some writers, had closely observed the world around them.

Notes

1. T. D. Kendrick, British Antiquity (London, 1950), p. 134. For a large collection of extracts from printed editions of early documents and literary sources relating to art and architecture, including some of the passages cited below, see O. Lehmann-Brockhaus, Lateinische Schriftquellen zur Kunst in England, Wales und Schottland vom Jahre 901 bis zum Jahre 1307 (München, 1955-1960, 5 vols.; Veröffentlichungen des Zentralinstituts für Kunstgeschichte in München, no. 1 etc.).

2. This motive is explicitly stated by Matthew Paris; see below … n. 15.

3. For the influence of classical literature on mediaeval representations of heroes and rulers, and of landscape, see E. R. Curtius, Europaïsche Literatur und lateinisches Mittelalter (Bern, 1948), chapters ix, x.

4. V. H. Galbraith, Historical Research in Medieval England (London, 1951), p. 7.

5. For Lanfranc's attitude to Anglo-Saxon saints see The Life of St. Anselm Archbishop of Canterbury by Eadmer, ed., with an English translation, R. W. Southern (Nelson's Medieval Texts, 1962), pp. 50-54. For the changes made by Lanfranc in the liturgical calendar of Christ Church, Canterbury, see F. A. Gasquet and E. Bishop, The Bosworth Psalter (London, 1908), pp. 37-39. For the test of fire to which Walter, the Anglo-Norman abbot of Evesham (1077-1086) submitted the relics at Evesham see Chronicon Abbatiae de Evesham. ed. W. D. Macray (Rolls Series, 1863), p. 323.

6. For Gildas on the Roman wall see De Excidio Britanniae et Conquestu, cc. 15-18, ed. T. Mommsen in Monumenta Germaniae Historica, Auctorum Antiquissimorum, xiii, Chronica Minora Saeculi iv-vii, iii (Berlin, 1898), 33-35; Gildas' interpretation of the evidence is discussed by C. E. Stevens, “Gildas Sapiens” in EHR [English Historical Review], lvi (1941), 356-360. For Bede's derivation of the name Horsa apparently from a Roman tombstone see HE [Historia Ecclesiastica], i. 15; Venerabilis Baedae Historia Ecclesiastica Gentis Anglorum, ed. C. Plummer (Oxford, 1896, 2 vols.), i. 31 (cf. H. M. Chadwick, The Origin of the English Nation [Cambridge, 1924], pp. 42-43). For Nennius' interpretation of archaeological evidence at Cair Segeint (Segontium) see Historia Brittonum, c. 25, ed. Mommsen, op. cit. iii, 166. Cf. F. Lot, Nennius et l'Historia Brittonum (Paris, 1934), pp. 59-60. For hoards of coins found at Segontium see R. E. M. Wheeler, “Segontium and the Roman Occupation of Wales” in Y Cymmrodor, xxxiii (1923), 111 sq. Alcuin mentions the Roman walls at York; see De Pontificibus et Sanctis Ecclesiae Eboracensis Carmen, lines 19-37, printed in Monumenta Alcuiniana praeparata a Philipp Jaffé, ed. W. Wattenbach and E. Dümmler (Aalen, 1964), p. 82. For a description of Bugga's church by Aldhelm see Carmen in Ecclesia Mariae a Bugge exstructa, printed in Aldhelmi Opera, ed. R. Ehwald in Mon. Germ. Hist. Auctorum Antiquissimorum, xv (Berlin, 1919), 14-18. Brief descriptions of the topography of Lindisfarne and of the author's own monastery are in Æthelwulf's De Abbatibus, ed., with an English translation, A. Campbell (Oxford, 1967), pp. 10, 12.

7. For internal evidence suggesting that The Ruin refers to Bath, see Three Old English Elegies, The Wife's Lament, The Husband's Message, The Ruin, ed. R. F. Leslie (Manchester, 1961), pp. 23-26. For the poet's talent for vivid description see ibid. pp. 28-29.

8. For Eddius' description of York, Ripon and Hexham see The Life of Bishop Wilfrid by Eddius Stephanus, ed., with an English translation, Bertram Colgrave (Cambridge, 1927), pp. 35, 37, 47; cf. H. M. Taylor and J. Taylor, Anglo-Saxon Architecture (Cambridge, 1965, 2 vols.), i, 301; ii, 516-518, 700-709. For Eddius' description of the Gospels in gold letters on purple parchment which Wilfrid gave to Ripon see Colgrave, op. cit. p. 37; for such gospel-books, executed from the sixth to the twelfth centuries, see E. Maunde Thompson, An Introduction to Greek and Latin Palaeography (Oxford, 1912), pp. 32-33.

9. The Life of King Edward, ed., with an English translation, Frank Barlow (Nelson's Medieval Texts, 1962), pp. 45-46.

10. St Cuthbert was looking at the Roman walls of Carlisle, and a Roman well, when he had his vision of King Ecgfrith's defeat; Two Lives of St. Cuthbert, ed., with an English translation, Bertram Colgrave (Cambridge, 1940), p. 122.

11. For a description of the prehistoric or Roman barrow inhabited by Guthlac see Felix's Life of St. Guthlac, ed., with an English translation, Bertram Colgrave (Cambridge, 1956), pp. 92-95, 182-184.

12. See Brit. Mus. MS. Cotton Nero D i, f. 168^v and attached slip, and the flyleaves of Matthew's autograph of the Chronica Majora in Corpus Christi College, Cambridge, MS. 16. See also Chronica Majora, ed. H. R. Luard (Rolls Series, 1872-1884, 7 vols.), v. 489; F. Madden, “On the Knowledge possessed by Europeans of the elephant in the thirteenth Century” in The Graphic and Historical Illustrator, ed. E. W. Brayley (London, 1834), pp. 335-336, 352; and R. Vaughan, Matthew Paris (Cambridge, 1958), pp. 256-257.

13. Chronica Majora, v. 275.

14. Ibid. v. 489. Another product of Matthew's visual sense was his work on heraldry; for the coats of arms he inserted in his historical works see Rolls of Arms: Henry III, ed. T. D. Tremlett (Harleian Society cxiii-iv, 1961-1962).

15. Recording the artistic achievement of St. Albans, Matthew writes: “Haec idcirco scripturae immortali, ac memoriae, duximus commendanda, ut penes nos, haud ingratos, eorum vigeat cum benedictionibus recordatio, qui studioso labore suo opera ecclesiae nostrae adornativa post se reliquerunt”; Gesta Abbatum Monasterii Sancti Albani, ed. H. T. Riley (Rolls Series, 1867-1869, 3 vols.), i. 233.

16. This appears, for example in: the thirteenth-century tract on the dedication of the altars, chapels and churches at Bury St Edmunds, in Brit. Mus. MS. Harley 1005, ff. 217^v-218^v (extracts are printed in M. R. James, On the Abbey of St. Edmund at Bury (Cambridge Antiquarian Society, octavo series, xxviii, [1895], pp. 161-162); the account of the uncovering of the walls of an ancient round church at Bury in 1275; The Chronicle of Bury St. Edmunds 1212-1301, ed., with an English translation, Antonia Gransden (Nelson's Medieval Texts, 1964), p. 58; and in the thirteenth century Gesta Sacristarum, printed in Memorials of St. Edmund's Abbey, ed. T. Arnold (Rolls Series, 1890-1896, 3 vols.), ii. 289-296.

17. Ibid. ii. 290. For this passage concerning the Bury Bible in the Gesta Sacristarum see E. G. Millar, English Illuminated Manuscripts from the tenth to the thirteenth Century (Paris-Brussels, 1926), pp. 30-32.

18. The Chronicle of Jocelin of Brakelond, ed., with an English translation, H. E. Butler (Nelson's Medieval Classics, 1949), pp. 39-40.

19. Nicholai Triveti Annales, ed. T. Hog (English Historical Society, 1845), pp. 279-283. Cf. F. M. Powicke, King Henry III and the Lord Edward (Oxford, 1947, 2 vols.), ii. 686-687. Trevet also gives a good topographical description of Winchelsea; Annales, p. 167.

20. Printed Symeonis Monachi Opera Omnia, ed. T. Arnold (Rolls Series, 1882-5, 2 vols.), i. For post-Conquest interest in Bedan Northumbria see ibid. i. 108 sq., and M. D. Knowles, The Monastic Order in England (Cambridge, 1949), pp. 165-171. Already in the tenth century St. Oswald had searched for relics of the Northumbrian saints and tried to refound Ripon (Historians of the Church of York, ed. James Raine, [jn.] Rolls Series, 1879-1894, 3 vols., i. 462), and in the early eleventh century Alured, sacrist of Durham (great-grandfather of Ailred of Rievaulx) went relic-hunting in Northumbria; see Symeon, i. 88-89, and The Priory of Hexham, its Chroniclers, Endowments and Annals, ed. James Raine (Surtees Society xliv, 1864, 2 vols.), i. liii.

21. Symeon, i. 39. For a reference to two marvellously carved stone crosses at the head and foot of Acca's tomb (one of which is probably to be identified with the cross now in Durham cathedral) see ibid. ii. 33, and Taylor and Taylor, op. cit. i. 305.

22. Symeon, i. 67-68. This passage is fully discussed by T. J. Brown in Codex Lindisfarnensis, ed. T. D. Kendrick and others (Oltun and Lausanne, 1960, 2 vols.), i. 5-11.

23. Symeon, i. 64-68. This story is fully discussed by T. J. Brown, loc. cit. i. 21-23.

24. See ibid. i. 23-24. The Stonyhurst Gospel, which had a close connection with St Cuthbert, were found in St Cuthbert's tomb when it was opened in 1827; see R. A. B. Mynors, “The Stoneyhurst Gospel” in The Relics of Saint Cuthbert, ed. C. F. Battiscombe (Oxford, 1956), pp. 357-358.

25. William of Malmesbury, Gesta Regum, ed. William Stubbs (Rolls Series, 1887-1889, 2 vols.), i. 2; Gesta Pontificum, ed. N. E. S. A. Hamilton (Rolls Series, 1870), p. 4.

26. Gesta Pontificum, ed. Hamilton, pp. 193, 295.

27. Magdalen College, Oxford, MS. 172. Five pages of this MS are reproduced in facsimile by Hamilton, op. cit. who gives in the footnotes William's revisions of his text.

28. Gesta Pontificum, p. 288.

29. Ibid. p. 138.

30. “[Rex Elfredus] fecitque ecclesiam, situ quidem pro angustia spatii modicam, sed novo edificendi modo compactam. Quattuor enim postes solo infixi totam suspendunt machinam, quattuor cancellis opere sperico in circuitu ductis”; ibid. p. 199. For the value of William's description see G. Baldwin Brown, The Arts in Early England (London 1903-1937, 6 vols.; new edition of vol. 2, “Anglo-Saxon Architecture”, London 1925), ii. 196. For King Alfred's foundation of the monastery see Asser's Life of King Alfred c. 92, ed. W. H. Stevenson (Oxford, 1904), pp. 79-80. William of Malmesbury also mentions the Anglo-Saxon church at Bradford-upon-Avon: Gesta Pontificum, p. 346; cf. Baldwin Brown, op. cit. ii. pp. 17, 160, 297, 302-303. William mentions an Anglo-Saxon church, now lost, at St. Albans: Gesta Pontificum, p. 316; cf. Baldwin Brown, op. cit. ii. 187. William's description of Hexham (Gesta Pontificum, p. 255) is mainly based on that by Eddius Stephanus (see above … n.8 and Baldwin Brown, op. cit. ii. 175-176), and is of less interest than the detailed description written by Richard of Hexham soon after 1138, which is printed in The Priory of Hexham, ed. Raine, i. 10-14, and fully discussed in Baldwin Brown, op. cit. ii. 149-184 passim. Cf. Taylor and Taylor, op. cit. i. 297-312 passim and A. W. Clapham, English Romanesque Architecture (Oxford, 1930-1934, 2 vols.), i. 44-45, 72-73.

31. The Gesta Pontificum is divided into five books; the last is a Life of St. Aldhelm, and includes much historical material concerning Malmesbury abbey.

32. Gesta Pontificum, p. 365. The peacock motif was popular from the seventh century, or earlier, until the thirteenth century: I owe this information to Mr. Donald King, Deputy Keeper of Textiles in the Victoria and Albert Museum.

33. Gesta Pontificum, pp. 383-384.

34. Ibid. p. 373. However Hugh Farmer, “William of Malmesbury's Life and Work” in Journal of Ecclesiastical History, xiii (1962), p. 40, accepts William's statements concerning the cope and the Bruton altar.

35. Printed in Adami de Domerham Historia de Rebus Gestis Glastoniensibus, ed. Thomas Hearne (Oxford, 1727, 2 vols.), i. 1-122.

36. For criticism of William's work see Gesta Regum, ii. 357. For the possibility that he was passed over for the abbacy in 1120 see ibid. i. xxxviii-ix.

37. See J. Armitage Robinson, “William of Malmesbury ‘On the Antiquity of Glastonbury’” in his Somerset Historical Essays (Oxford, 1921), pp. 3, 4.

38. See Domerham, p. 71, and Armitage Robinson, loc. cit. pp. 3, 23.

39. Domerham, pp. 44-45. This passage is printed in translation by Aelred Watkin, “The Glastonbury ‘Pyramids’ and St. Patrick's ‘Companions’” in Downside Review, lxiii (1945), pp. 30-31. The rendering in Robinson, loc. cit. p. 21, is less precise than that by Watkin (see Watkin, loc. cit. p. 30 n. 5).

40. See the suggested identifications of the names given by Watkin, loc. cit. pp. 35-40.

41. For what is known today of the Anglo-Saxon churches at Glastonbury, with references to William of Malmesbury's information, see Taylor and Taylor, Anglo-Saxon Architecture, i. 250-257. See also the same authors' “Pre-Norman Churches of the Border” in Celt and Saxon, Studies in the Early British Border, ed. N. K. Chadwick (Cambridge, 1963), pp. 256-257.

42. The “pyramids” remained standing until the eighteenth century, when they were dragged away. They were remarked on by other writers from the late twelfth century onwards, but by then their inscriptions were indecipherable; see Watkin, loc. cit. pp. 31-35.

43. Memorials of St. Dunstan, ed. William Stubbs (Rolls Series, 1874), pp. 183-184.

44. Printed A. Wilmart, “Edmeri Cantuariensis cantoris nova opuscula de sanctorum veneratione et obsecratione” in Revue des Sciences religieuses, xv (1935), 362-370. The architectural description in this work is also printed with an English translation (together with other references in the works of Eadmer and other early writers throwing light on the architectural history of Christ Church) in R. Willis, The Architectural History of Canterbury Cathedral (London, 1845), pp. 9-13. See also R. W. Southern, Saint Anselm and his Biographer (Cambridge, 1963), pp. 262 n. 2, 370-371.

45. “Dein sub medio longitudinis aulae ipsius duae turres erant, prominentes ultra aecclesiae alas. Quarum una, quae in austro erat, sub honore beati Gregorii papae altare in medio sui dedicatum habebat, et in latere principale octium aecclesiae, quod antiquitus ab Anglis et nunc usque Suthdure dicitur;” Wilmart, loc. cit. p. 365.

46. Liber Eliensis, ed. E. O. Blake (Camden Soc. third series, xcii, 1962), p. 149. For a description of the altar at Ramsey see Chronicon Abbatiae Rameseiensis, ed. W. Dunn Macray (Rolls Series, 1886), p. 90.

47. Ibid. p. 41. See Baldwin Brown, op. cit. ii. 268-269; Clapham, op. cit. i. 90. See Historians of the Church of York, ed. Raine, i. 434 for an earlier reference to this church.

48. Chron. Abb. Ram. p. 126.

49. Ibid. p. 4.

50. Ibid. pp. 65, 176-177.

51. Ibid. p. 65.

52. Chronicon Monasterii de Bello, ed. J. S. Brewer (Anglia Christiana, London, 1846), p. 108.

53. See also Gesta Regis Henrici Secundi Benedicti Abbatis, ed. William Stubbs (Rolls Series, 1867, 2 vols.), i. 172 n. 4. A picture of the same rota is also in Roger of Howden's chronicle; see Chronica Magistri Rogeri de Houedene, ed. William Stubbs (Rolls Series, 1868-1871, 4 vols.), ii. 98. (For evidence suggesting that Roger of Howden wrote “Benedict” see D. M. Stenton, “Roger of Howden and ‘Benedict’” in EHR, lxviii (1953), 574-582 passim). For a reference to this rota, on a diploma dated at Palermo in 1182, see Arthur Engel, Recherches sur la Numismatique et la Sigillographie des Normands de Sicile et d'Italie (Paris, 1882), p. 87.

54. For examples of the criticism of documents at the papal curia in the twelfth century see R. L. Poole, Lectures on the History of the Papal Chancery (Cambridge, 1915), pp. 143-162.

55. The Historical Works of Gervase of Canterbury, ed. William Stubbs (Rolls Series, 1879, 1880, 2 vols.), i. 296-297. For this case see M. D. Knowles, “The Growth of Exemption” in Downside Review, l (1932), 411-415. For a similar case, of 1221, involving Dunstable priory see Annales Monastici, ed. H. R. Luard (Rolls Series, 1864-1869, 5 vols.), iii. 66, and V. H. Galbraith, Studies in the Public Records (London, 1948), pp. 48-52.

56. Printed in Gervase of Canterbury, ii. 414-449. It is fully discussed by M. D. Knowles, “The Mappa Mundi of Gervase of Canterbury” in Downside Review, xlviii (1930), 237-247.

57. Gervase, i. 7-29, passim. For an English translation see R. Willis, The Architectural History of Canterbury Cathedral, pp. 32-62 passim.

58. Gervase, i. 20, records that William of Sens after his accident, “veruntamen quia hiems instabat, et fornicem superiorem consummari oportebat, cuidam monacho industrio et ingenioso qui cementariis praefuit opus consummandum commendavit, unde multa invidia et exercitatio malitiae habita est, eo quod ipse, cum esset juvenis, potentioribus et ditioribus prudentior videretur”. The omission of the young monk's name would be surprising if he were not Gervase himself.

59. Ibid. i. 12.

60. Ibid. i. 22-8.

61. Ibid. i. 28.

62. Both surveys are discussed and reproduced in The Canterbury Psalter ed. M. R. James (London, 1935) pp. 53-56, and end of volume.

63. Gesta Pontificum. p. 208. This inscription is in R. G. Collingwood and R. P. Wright, The Roman Inscriptions of Britain (vol. 1 only published, Inscriptions on Stone, Oxford, 1965), i. 316-317 (no. 950).

64. A few pre-Conquest writers described men's physical appearance. Bede briefly but graphically described the appearance of Bishop Paulinus (HE, ii. 16). Alcuin, writing abroad, described Willibrord, in the Suetonian style (quoted HE, ed. Plummer, ii. 293). There is a description of Edward the Confessor in the anonymous Life, apparently based on a description of St. Omer in a contemporary hagiography; The Life of King Edward, ed. F. Barlow, p. 12 and n. 1. The earliest description of an Englishman is that of Pelagius by Jerome, who knew him well (“a huge, fat highland dog” who “walked like a tortoise”); see J. N. L. Myres, “Pelagius and the End of Roman Rule in Britain” in Journal of Roman Studies, l (1960), 24.

65. See e.g. Suetonius, Duodecim Caesares, ed. Maurice Rat, with a French translation (Paris, 1931, 2 vols.), i. 51; ii. 65, 127 (Caesar, c. xlv; Caligula, c. 1; Claudius, c. xxx). For the influence of Suetonius on William of Malmesbury treated generally see M. Schütt, “The Literary Form of William of Malmesbury's ‘Gesta Regum’” in EHR, xlvi (1931), 255-260.

66. The Vita Wulfstani of William of Malmesbury, ed. R. R. Darlington (Camden Society, third series, xl, 1928), p. 46. For a similar description of Thomas archbishop of York (1070-1100) see Gesta Pontificum, p. 257.

67. Gesta Regum, ii. 374. For descriptions of William I and Henry I see ibid. ii. 335, 488. For a short reference to King Athelstan's appearance, based on observations made when his tomb at Malmesbury was opened, see ibid. i. 148.

68. Ibid. ii. 368.

69. See ibid. ii. 335-336, 366-371, 488. A character-sketch of William the Conqueror occurs in the Anglo-Saxon chronicle, s.a. 1087; The Anglo-Saxon Chronicle, a revised translation ed. D. Whitelock with D. C. Douglas and S. I. Tucker (London, 1961), pp. 163-164.

70. Ailred, Relatio de Standardo, in Chronicles of the Reigns of Stephen, Henry II, and Richard I, ed. Richard Howlett (Rolls Series, 1884-1889, 4 vols.), iii. 183.

71. Geoffrey of Monmouth, Historia Regum Britanniae, c. iii. 10; ed. Acton Griscom (London, 1929), p. 291. Cf. ibid. c. i. 17; c. iii. 20 (pp. 252, 301, respectively).

72. Gesta Stephani, ed., with an English translation, K. R. Potter (Nelson's Medieval Texts, 1955), pp. 22, 37-38, 38-39, 92, 113, 120, respectively. For a detailed account of the Isle of Ely's natural defences and a brief comment on Bedford see ibid. pp. 66, 155.

73. William of Newburgh, Historia Rerum Anglicarum, in Chrons. Stephen, Henry II, and Richard I, ed. Howlett, i. 104.

74. Gerald read one of his works to the students of Oxford in about 1185, and spent two years in Oxford from 1193 to 1194; see Giraldi Cambrensis Opera, ed. J. S. Brewer and others (Rolls Series, 1861-1891, 8 vols.), i. 72, 294. Cf. The Autobiography of Giraldus Cambrensis, ed. H. E. Butler (London, 1937), pp. 97, 139 and n. 5. Walter Map became archdeacon of Oxford in 1196; J. Le Neve, Fasti Ecclesiae Anglicanae (Oxford, 1854, 3 vols.), ii. 64. Adam, a monk of Eynsham (about five miles from Oxford), was of an Oxford burgher family; see The Life of St. Hugh of Lincoln, ed. D. L. Douie and H. Farmer (Nelson's Medieval Texts, 1961-1962, 2 vols.), i. viii-ix.

75. Gerald of Wales retired to Lincoln to write and study in 1196; Giraddus, i. 93, and Butler, op. cit. p. 127 and n. 2. Map was precentor of Lincoln; J. Le Neve, op. cit. ii. 82. Adam lived partly at Lincoln as St. Hugh's chaplain from 1197 to Hugh's death in 1200; Life of St. Hugh. i. x-xi.

76. See Giraldus, i. 93.

77. See Fitz Stephen's description of London in his Life of Saint Thomas in Materials for the History of Thomas Becket, ed. J. C. Robertson and J. B. Sheppard (Rolls Series, 1875-1885, 7 vols.), iii. 4-5.

78. J. Le Neve, Fasti Ecclesiae Anglicanae 1066-1300, i, compiled by D. E. Greenway (London, 1968), p. 60.

79. Giraldus, i. 23, 45 sq.; viii. 292.

80. For Map's stay in Paris see Walter Map, De Nugis Curialium, ii. 7; cf. v. 5: ed. M. R. James (Anecdota Oxoniensia, 1914), pp. 69, 225. sq.

81. Diceto studied in Paris, probably at the university and had other close contacts with France and the Angevin empire; see The Historical Works of Master Ralph de Diceto, ed. William Stubbs (Rolls Series, 1876, 2 vols.), i. xvii sq., xxxi sq.

82. See De Nugis, ii. 3; v. 6: ed. James, pp. 65-66, 246, Cf. T. Wright's introduction to his edition of De Nugis (Camden Society l, 1850), p. vi.

83. See Butler, op. cit. p. 81 and n.l.

84. Expugnatio Hibernica, in Giraddus, v. 302; the pen-portrait and character-sketch (discussed below) is printed, in an English translation, in English Historical Documents 1046-1089, ed. D. C. Douglas and G. W. Greenaway (London, 1953), pp. 386-388. Walter Map's pen-portrait of Henry II is in his character-sketch of the king; see Walter Map, De Nugis Curialium, v. 6, ed. James, p. 237 and the next note. For another contemporary pen-portrait and character-sketch of Henry II see Peter of Blois' Epistola 66 (written in 1177), printed in Materials for the History of Thomas Becket, ed. Robertson and Sheppard, vii. 571-575 (and in Petri Blesensis Bathoniensis archidiaconi Opera omnia, ed. J. A. Giles, Oxford 1846-1847, 4 vols.). Peter was a prolific writer whose career resembled that of Gerald of Wales though much of it was on the continent. He was born at Blois, took orders, studied at Bologna and taught at Paris. He was successively tutor of William II of Sicily, and secretary to Rotrou archbishop of Rouen, to Baldwin archbishop of Canterbury, and to Queen Eleanor, and became archdeacon of Bath in about 1175 and of London in about 1192. He knew Henry II well. Short pen-portraits and character-sketches of Thomas Becket occur in the Life by William Fitz Stephen (Materials, iii. 17) and in the Icelandic Life (Thómas Saga Erkibyskups, ed. E. Magnùsson, Rolls Series, 1875, 1883, 2 vols., i. 29).

85. De Nugis, v. 6; ed. James, pp. 237-242 passim. Map records that he once crossed the channel with Henry II (ibid. p. 242). His character-sketch of Henry is printed, in an English translation, in Douglas and Greenaway, op. cit. pp. 389-390. Map also gives character-sketches of King Canute and Henry I; De Nugis, v. 4; v. 5: ed. James, pp. 211, 218-220.

86. Giraldus, v. 301-306. Gerald also gives character-sketches of Henry II's sons and of William Longchamp; Giraldus, v. 193-201; iv. 399 sq., respectively.

87. See The Life of St. Hugh of Lincoln, ed. Douie and Farmer i. 124.

88. Ibid. i. 115-119.

89. Ibid. ii. 101. Cf. ibid. i. xlii-iv.

90. Ibid. ii. 140-141.

91. Ibid. i. 129-130.

92. Gildas realized the importance of cities in Britain; De Excidio, c. 3; ed. Mommsen, p. 28. Alcuin praised York as a center of commerce; De Pontificibus … Carmen, lines 19-37; ed. Wattenbach and Dümmler, p. 83. The tenth century hagiographer Goscelin mentioned London's commercial prosperity; C. H. Talbot, “The Liber Confortatorius of Goscelin of Saint Bertin” in Analecta Monastica III, xxxviii; Rome, 1955), p. 49. For a similar passage see The Life of King Edward, ed. Barlow, p. 44.

93. Gesta Regum, ii. 402-408. For the poem and the topography (which dates from the late seventh or early eighth century) see ibid. ii. cxxi-ii, and J. K. Hyde, “Medieval Descriptions of Cities” in Bulletin of the John Rylands Library, xlviii (1966), 321.

94. Gesta Regum, ii. 411-412, 415-416, 422, respectively. For William's sources for these descriptions see ibid. ii. cxxii-cxxiii.

95. Itinerarium Peregrinorum et Gesta Regis Ricardi in Chronicles and Memorials of the Reign of Richard I, ed. William Stubbs (Rolls Series, 1864-1865, 2 vols.), i. 435.

96. Radulphi de Coggeshall Chronicon Anglicanum, ed. Joseph Stevenson (Rolls Series, 1875), pp. 149-150.

97. Historia Regum Britanniae, iii. 20; ed. Acton Griscom, p. 301. See also Geoffrey's derivations of Billingsgate and Ludgate, ibid. iii. 10, 20; ed. Acton Griscom, pp. 291, 302.

98. Ibid. iv. 15; ed. Acton Griscom, p. 324.

99. Ibid. ii. 11; ed. Acton Griscom, p. 262.

100. The laudatory attitude to cities in classical literature is well represented by Aelius Aristides' Roman Oration; printed in translation by J. H. Oliver, The Ruling Power (Transactions of the American Philosophical Society, new series, xliii, pt. 4, 1953), pp. 895-907. Virgil praises Rome throughout the Æneid.

101. An obvious classical prototype is Juvenal's Satire III, on Rome.

102. See, for example, The Chronicle of Richard of Devizes, ed., with an English translation, J. T. Appleby (Nelson's Medieval Texts, 1963), pp. 63-64 and n. 3.

103. Ibid. pp. 65-67.

104. A more favourable description of Bath, which mentions the popularity of its health-giving hot springs, is in the Gesta Stephani, ed. K. R. Potter, pp. 38-39.

105. The text is in Materials, iii. 2-13 (see above note 77). For an English translation, by H. E. Butler, see F. M. Stenton, Norman London (Historical Association Leaflets nos. 93, 94, 1934). See also Hyde, loc. cit. pp. 324-325.

106. Materials, iii. 2-3.

107. Ibid. iii. 8-9.

108. Printed Liber Luciani de Laude Cestrie, ed. M. V. Taylor (Lancashire and Cheshire Record Society, lxiv, 1912). For the date of the De Laude see ibid. pp. 8-10.

109. See ibid. p. 15.

110. Ibid. p. 64.

111. Ibid. p. 52.

112. See Ibid. pp. 19-20.

113. Ibid. pp. 46-47.

114. Ibid. pp. 44, 45, 58.

115. Ibid. p. 46.

116. Diceto, Works, ed. Stubbs, ii. 291-292.

117. The description of Angers also occurs in the Historia Comitum Andegavensium; see Chroniques des Comtes d'Anjou, ed. P. Marchegay and A. Salmon, with an introduction by E. Mabille (Société de l'Histoire de France, 1856, 1871), pp. 336-338. Stubbs suggested that Diceto was the author of the Historia; Diceto, Works, ii. xxiv-xxix. If so, it is likely that Diceto wrote the description. Stubbs also suggested that the description of the customs of the people of Aquitaine (see below), which is not in the Historia, was by the same author, whether Diceto or not, as the description of Angers. See ibid. ii. 293 n.l.

118. For the bridge see C. Port, Dictionnaire Historique Géographique et Bibliographique de Maine-et-Loire (Angers, 1874-1878, 3 vols.), i. 105-106.

119. Diceto. i. 293-294. Unlike the descriptions of food cited by Curtius, op. cit. pp. 189-190, this passage appears to be realistic.

120. Printed Giraldus, v. 3-204.

121. Printed ibid. vi. 155-227. Gerald's Itinerarium Kambriae, which also has a few first-hand observations, is printed in ibid. vi, 3-152.

122. Such a contrast seems to be implied, for example, in the account of the natural growth of the Irish from their infancy: “… fere cuncta naturae relinquuntur. Non in cunabulis aptantur; non fasciis alligantur; non frequentibus in balneis tenera membra vel foventur, vel artis juvamine componuntur. Non enim obstetrices aquae calentis beneficio vel nares erigunt, vel faciem deprimunt, vel tibias extendunt. Sola natura quos edidit artus, praeter artis cujuslibet adminicula, pro sui arbitrio et componit et disponit.” And the Irish grow up fine, handsome men. Ibid. v. 150. The same criticism of civilized man seems implicit for example in the account of the hospitality of the Welsh. The Welsh feed guests lavishly, but “non ferculis multis, non saporibus et gularum irritamentis coquina gravatur; non mensis, non mappis, non manutergiis, domus ornatur. Naturae magis student quam nitori.” Ibid. vi. 183.

123. Ibid. v. 151-152; vi. 180.

124. Ibid. v. 150.

125. Ibid. vi. 181.

126. Ibid. v. 150.

127. See above p. 48 n. 120.

128. Ibid. v. 152 sq.

129. Ibid. vi. 186 sq.

130. Ibid. vi. 180-181.

131. Ibid. vi. 185.

132. Ibid. v. 100-101. Gerald says that the stones were transported from Kildare, where they were known as the Giants' Ring, and that originally they came from Africa. Here Gerald was following Geoffrey of Monmouth, who had also apparently seen Stonehenge; see Historia Regum Britanniae, viii. 10-12; ed. Acton Griscom, pp. 409-414. Cf. J. S. P. Tatlock, The Legendary History of Britain, Geoffrey of Monmouth's Historia Regum Britanniae and its early vernacular versions (California, 1959), pp. 40-43. Geoffrey's view that the stones had been brought to Stonehenge from afar is of course correct (they probably came from the Prescelley mountains in Pembrokeshire); see Stuart Piggott, “The Stonehenge Story” in Antiquity, xv (1941), 305-319.

133. Giraldus, vi. 80.

134. Ibid. vi. 55-56.

135. Ibid. v. 123-124. For the identification of the book described by Gerald with the Book of Kells see The Book of Kells, ed. E. H. Alton and P. Meyer (Bern, 1950-1951, 3 vols.), iii. 14-16.

136. William Fitz Stephen's description of the action of horses is probably an example of classical influence and not of realistic observation. He describes the ‘rocking-horse’ action and the ‘lateral trot’ action, both of which occur frequently in classical sculpture and numismatics; Materials for the History of Thomas Becket, ed. Robertson and Sheppard, iii. 6.

137. Giraldus, v. 57 (cf. ibid. v. lxxii-lxxiii); vi. 114-117, respectively. Gerald's knowledge of natural history is fully discussed by U. T. Holmes, “Gerald the Naturalist” in Speculum xi (1936), 110-121.

138. Giraldus, vii. 74.

139. Life of St Hugh, ed. Douie and Farmer, i. 105-109.

140. Illustrating Gerald of Wales' Topographic Hibernica, dist.i, cap.xiv. The pronounced tail resembles that of a crane, although the general shape is most like a heron (whose favourite food is the eel), and the colouring (black with white breast and belly, red bill and legs) is that of a black stork. Holmes, loc. cit. p. 117, unequivocally identifies the drawing as a black stork. …

141. See The Herbal of Apuleius Barbarus from the early twelfth century Manuscript formerly in the Abbey of Bury St Edmunds, ed. R. T. Gunther (Roxburghe Club, 1925), pp. xxiv-xxv.