Gerald of Wales

Gerald of Wales, Giraldus Cambrensis, Gerald the Welshman, Gerald the Marcher - his many names reflect the long and multi-faceted career of one of the most fascinating figures of the Middle Ages.Descended from Norman Marcher barons and Welsh princes, Gerald was by turns scholar, churchman and reformer, courtier, diplomat and would-be crusader, Marcher propagandist, agent of English kings, champion of the Welsh church, hunted outlaw and cathedral theologian. He was also a naturalist, gossip and indefatigable traveller, but above all a most prolific writer and a tireless self-publicist. From his seventeen surviving books, we know a great deal about this determined, irascible, self-righteous and utterly fearless man, more, in fact, than about any other inhabitant of early medieval Wales.Because Gerald was endlessly curious, and almost obsessively anxious to record for posterity the things he discovered, his books also paint a remarkably detailed and wide-ranging picture of medieval...

The cheapest new copy of Gerald of Wales is £13.49 at LoveReading. Prices checked 10 Nov 2026

More by Robert Bartlett

More by Robert Bartlett