Life
?1146-?1220 [Gerald de Barry; var. Barri; Gerald of Wales]; nephew of
Maurice Fitzgerald and related to leading Welch-Norman families; arrived
in Ireland with his br. Philip, and visited relatives, 1183; returned
with Henry II, serving as negotiator and tutor to Prince John, 1185, and
composed Topographia Hibernica in that year; administrator
of Ely but failed to gain or refused to accept higher ecclesiastical office;
read the three parts of his Topographia Hibernica to the
assembled masters at Oxford, Easter 1186 [var. 1184 and 1185; commonly
said to have ‘appeared’ in 1187 - FDA et al.], being an account
of the geography, fauna, marvels, and early history of Ireland, in which
he established the trope of the Irish as Scythian barbarians; gave account
of illuminations of Book of Kildare (now lost); described the coastland
as flat, rising to mountains inland; mistook the predominantly pastoral
(herding) life of the Irish for indolence in comparison with English tillage;
Expugnatio Hibernica, a narrative of the partial conquest,
1169-85; Itinerarium, the most important of his works, is a descriptive
of topography of Wales; read his Topographia Hibernica to Baldwin
of Canterbury as they both toured Wales to preach the faith and was commended
for its artistry called the Irish ‘a filthy people wallowing in vice’
and a ‘barbarous people’, thus inaugurating the colonial calumny
against which Irish authors such as John Lynch frequently wrote (viz, ‘the
excesses of a foreign soldiery in Ireland, the devastation of her provinces,
the plunder and conflagration of her houses, the massacre of her sons,
must all be laid at Giraldus’s door’, in Eversus Cambrensis);
called by Keating ‘the bull of the herd of those who write the false
history of Ireland, and the author of ‘false and flimsy’ calumnies
by Theophilus O’Flanagan; others who wrote contra Giraldus Cambrensis
were Roderick O’Flaherty, Stephen White, Matthew Carey, &c.;
Giraldus’s writings on Ireland in English appeared in Ralph Higden’s
Polychronicon (Trevisa 1387, reps. Caxton 1482; de Worde 1495),
and later as The Irish Historie Composed and Written by Giraldus Cambrensis
in Raphael Holinshed, The First Volume of the Chronicles of England,
Scotlande and Irelande (1577); an MS copy of the Topographia Hibernica and Expugnatio Hibernica [Topography
of Ireland and History] jointly is held in the National Library of Ireland as MS 700, and
contains trefoil decorations which are not, however, supposed to connote
the shamrock or its Trinitarian associations. DNB OCEL OCIL
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Works
Prose works, J. S. Brewer, G. F. Warnock, and J. F. Dimock,
ed., [Opera:] Works of Giraldus Cambrensis (1861-77), incls.
Topographia Hibernica; Itinerarium Cambriae, c.1194; Gemma
Ecclesiastica [charges to his clergy in Wales]; De Rebus a se gestis,
and lives of St. Hugh of Lincoln, St. David, and others; Historical
Works of Giraldus Cambriensis (1905); H. E. Butler, ed. and trans.
The Autobiography of Giraldus Cambrensis (Jonathan Cape 1947);
John J. O’Meara, trans. and ed., The History and Topography
of Ireland [Topographia Hiberniae] (Harmondsworth:
Penguin 1982); Jeanne-Marie Boivin, L’Irlande au Moyen Age, Giraud
de Barri et la ‘Topographia Hibernica’ [1188] (Librairie
Honré Champion 1995), 414pp.; Expugnacia Hibernica [parallel
text rep. edn. 1869] (NY: Haskell House 1969) [based on TCD MS].
Modern editions, A. B. Scott and F. X. Martin, eds., Giraldus Cambrensis, Expugnatio Hibernica, The Conquest of Ireland, (RIA Dublin 1978). J O’Meara, trans., Giraldus, The History and Topography of Ireland (Dolmen 1982). Expugnatio and Topographia were published by William Camden (1551-1623) in 1602.
Digital sources: De invectionibus and Speculum duorum [two women] are available in the Oxford Text Archive [link].
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- E. A. Williams, ‘A bibliography of Giraldus Cambrensis’, Nat. Libr. of Wales Journal, 12 (1961-62), pp.97-140
- M[ichael] Richter, Giraldus Cambrensis, The Growth of the Welsh Nation (Aberyswyth Nat. Libr. of Wales 1972
- Robert Bartlett, Gerald of Wales 11146-1223 (Clarendon Press 1982); A. B. Scott and F. X. Martin, eds., Giraldus Cambrensis, Expugnatio Hibernica, The Conquest of Ireland (RIA Dublin 1978), commentary and essays;
- John Brannigan, ‘“A Particular Vice of that People”: Giraldus Cambrensis and the Discourse of English Colonialism’, in Irish Studies Review, Vol. 6, No. 2 (August 1988), pp.121-30;
- Andrew Hadfield, ‘Rethinking Early-Modern Colonialism: The Anomalous State of Ireland’, in Irish Studies Review (April 1999), pp.13-26, espec. pp.13-14;
- Francis Byrne, Irish Kingship and High-kingship (1973); James P. Myers, Jr., Elizabethan Ireland: A Selection of Elizabethan Writers on Ireland (Archon Books 1983);
- John P. Harrington, The English Traveller in Ireland (Wolfhoud 1991); Andrew Hadfield & John McVeigh, eds., Strangers to the Land: British Perceptions of Ireland from the Reformation to the Famine (1994);
- Brendan Bradshaw, Hadfield & Willy Malley, eds., Representing Ireland: literature and the origins of conflict 1534-1600 (1994).
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Notes
Dictionary of National Biography, called Sylvester by his
enemies; b. in castle of Maenor Pyr, or Manorbeer, Pembrokeshire; youngest
son of William de Barri [sic], by Nesta, his second wife, and grand-dg.
of Rhys ap Theodor prince of South Wales; ... In 1184 he was made one
of the chaplains of Henry II and sent by him to Ireland with his son Prince
John; preached to council in Dublin reviewing severely the character of
the clergy and the low state of the people (De rebus a se gestis,
p.17); offered bishoprics of Wexford and Leighlin, and also Ossory, and
archbishopric of Cashel, but refused (ibid. p.65); Topographia Hibernia
was dedicated to Henry II, and Expugnatio dedicated to Richard;
the latter scarcely considered ‘sober, truthful history’ (Dimock,
Opp. pref. p.lxxix); remained in Ireland till 1186, entertaining his hearers
at Oxford on three successive days with his account of Ireland (De
rebus, p.72); Bibl., edited in Rolls Series, as 7 vols, by J. S. Brewer
and J. F. Dimock, 1861-72, all works being included except De Instructione
Principium which was edited by G. F. Warner in an eight vol; his Topographia
Hibernia appeared in Camden’s Anglica, Hibernica, Normannica,
Cambrica a veteribus scripta (Frankfurt 1602); his Expugnatio also
in Camden; his Itinerarium, and at ecclesiastical works in other
places.
National Library of Ireland holds Topographia Hibernica and Expugnatio Hibernica as MS 700. Inside Front Board: Topographia Hibernica; Expugnatio Hibernica; manuscript on vellum, written in red and black in gothic letter, 99ll., 2 columns, 36 lines, full-page map of Europe and over fifty spirited marginal drawings, all coloured, nine large initials in red, blue and green, other initials in red or blue, panelled calf [6914] folio 277mm. by 185 mm) England XIII Century. The Topographia ends on fol. 47 and is followed by the map; it is preceded by the "Prefatio prima" which occupies seven columns, after which comes a list of chapters. The Expugnatio ends on fol. 95. verso and is followed by an Epilogue which begins “Quam in prioribus libris Merlini vaticinia tam celidonii quam ambrosii locis competentibus prout res exigebat inserui” struck through in red ink and followed by a “Proemium secundae editionis et correctoriae Regi Anglorum Johanni factae” in a slightly later hand. Handscripted note: “This book was fortunately preserved from the riots at Bristol in 1831, by its having been sent up to London with some others to [Thorpes] by Mr Strong a few days before the Riots took place. F. (See graphic copy in “Irish Script on Screen”, Dublin Institute of Advanced Studies/DIAS [link].)
British Library holds [listed Giraldus, de Barry Stanihurst, De rebus in ibernia gestis libri quator; accessit ... Hibernicarum rerum Appendix, ex. S. Giraldo Cambrensi ... collecta (1584), 4o; Opera, Vol. 1-4, ed. JS Brewer; Vol. 5-7, ed. JF Dimock, pref. Vol. 7 compiled by E. A. Freeman; Vol. 8, ed. G. F. Warner, 1861-91; Topographia Hiberniae sive de Mirabilis Hiberniae, Expugnatio Hiberniae, Itinerarium Cambriae seu Baldvin Cantvar. Archiespiscopi Walliam legationis descriptio cum annotationibus D. Poveli [Powell], see Camden, Anglica, Hibernica, Normannica, Cambrica, a veteribus scripta etc. (1602); also Topographia Hiberniae, Expugnatio Hiberniae, see Camden, &c. (1603) fol.; Historical Works, containing [Top. Hib., Exp. Hib., Itin. Camb., descriptio. Cambr.] trans Sir RC Hoare, rev and ed. with additional notes by T[homas] Wright (Bohn: Antiquarian Library 1847); English Conquest of Ireland, mainly from Expugnatio Hibernica of Giraldus Cambrensis, ed. FJ Furnivall (1896), et al.; Itinerarium ... Balduini Cantuariensis Arch.episcopi ... William leg. accurata descriptio auctore S. Giraldo Cambrense (Vita Giraldus Cambrensis ex ejus scriptis Lelando et Baleo collecta [ed. Sir R. C. Hoare, Bart.] (London: G. Miller 1804); Giraldus Cambrensis, Topographia Hiberniae, text of the 1st recension [i.e. Mm 5.30 in Cambridge Univ. Library] ed., John J. O’Meara Proceedings of the RIA, vol. 52 Sect. C No.4 (Dublin: Hodges Figgis 1949); Tractatus de quibusdem Hibernia Miraculis auctore Giraldo Cambrensi in Topographia Hiberniae see Messingham, in Florilegium Insula Sanctorum Hiberniae (1624); 1st version of topography of Ireland, trans. John J O’Meara, plates, map (Dundalgan 1951), 121pp.; Second Booke of the Histories of Ireland [trans. J. Hooker], see Holinshed, The First Volume of the Chronicles of England, vol. I (1577), fol.; also The Irish Historie ... trans. ... by J. Hooker, see Holinshed, Chronicles etc. ol. 6 (1807); Frere Phillipe, Les Meilleures de l’Irlande [trans. from part of Topographia Hiberniae] (Leipzig 1892); Lucius Gratanius, Eversus Cambrensis; also Vitus [Stephen White], Apologia pro Hibernia adversus Cambri calumnias fabulorum et famosorum libellarum S G Cambrensis sub vocalis topographia sive de mirabilis Hibernia et historiae vaticinalis sive expugnationis ejusdem insulae refutatio (1849); Selections from Giraldus Cambrensis, texts for Students, see C. A. J Skeal, No. 3 (1918); The Autobiography of Giraldus Cambrensis, Archdeacon of St David’s [a narrative compiled from the works] ed. and trans. H. E. Butler with intro. chap. by C. H. Williams [plates] (Jonathan Cape 1937) 368pp; Giraldus Cambrensis pseud., The Disestablishment of the Irish Church (Carnavon: H. Humphrey 1868), 11pp., 12o. Also, Thomas Jones, Gerallt Gymro [in Welsh] (National Univ. of Wales 1947). [Complete Irish titles.]
University of Ulster Library holds, Giraldus Cambrensis, 1146-1223, English Conquest of Ireland, 1166-85, ed. F. J. Furnivall (Greenwood 1969, rep. of 1896 Early English Texts, series no. 107, 1896); Expugnatio Hibernica, (in Middle English), The English conquest ... founded on the ‘Expugnacio Hibernica’ of Giraldus Cambrensis (NY Haskell House, 1969; orig. 1896 ed FJ Furnivall); Topographia Hiberniae, trans. with intro John J. O’Meara (Penguin 1982), 136pp., 2 maps; ill; pbk, prev. ed. Dundalgan 1951, trans. of Topographia Hiberniae [Magee DA930]; The Historical Works of Giraldus Cambrensis, containing Topography of Ireland, The History of the Conquest of Ireland, and The Itinerary through Wales and the Description of Wales, rev. and edited by Thomas Wright (Bohn 1863), 534pp. Titles held in the Morris Collection of the University of Ulster are: Itinerary Through Wales (Dent [1908]); A. B. Scott and F. X. Martin, eds., Giraldus Cambrensis, Expugnatio Hibernica, The Conquest of Ireland, (RIA Dublin 1978). Also, Thomas Jones, lect. in Welsh], Gerallt Gymro (Caerdydd: Univ. of Wales Press 1947). MORRIS COLLECTION holds The Itinerary through Wales and the Description of Wales (Dent, c. 1908); The First Version of the Topography of Ireland (Dundalgan Press, 1951); The Historical Works of Giraldus Cambrensis, containing the Topography of Ireland, and the History of the Conquest of Ireland, and the Itinerary through Wales (Bohn, 1862), 524p.
Hyland Catalogue (No. 214) lists Henry Owen, Gerald the Welshman (Cambrensis), new & enl. edn. (1904).
Bull of the herd: Geoffrey Keating called Giraldus ‘the bull
of the herd of those who write the false history of Ireland, wherefor
they have no choice of guide’ (History of Ireland, Irish Texts
Society, I, p.153; cited in Estyn Evans, Irish Folk Ways, 1957,
p.4.) English antiquarians influenced by Giraldus include Edmund Campion, Two Bokes of the Histories of Ireland (1571); Richard Stanyhurst, ‘Description of Ireland’ in Holinshed’s Chronicles (1577);
John Hooker, ‘Chronicle of Ireland’ (1586); Robert Payne, Brief
Description of Ireland (1589); Barnaby Rich, A New Description
of Ireland (1610); John Davies, A Discovery of the True Causes
Why Ireland was Never Entirely Subdued (1612); Fynes Morrison [Moryson], An Itinerary (1617); Luke Gernon, A Discourse of Ireland (1620).
Familiar source: Giraldus is quoted extensively in P. W. Joyce, The Wonders of Ireland (1911), A. P. Graves, Irish Literary and Musical Studies (1913, p.169ff.), and other classic sources.
Rudolf Gottfried, Spenser’s Prose Works, Variorum Edn., Vol. 10, commentary on A View [...] &c., p.287, cites John Hooker’s translation of the Expugnatio Hiberniae of Giraldus Cambrensis (Holinshed, Vol. II, The Conquest of Ireland, p.1-59); and Stanyhurst’s Latin redaction of the Expugnatio (De Rebus, pp.59-218).
Ancient Dublin: Topographia Hibernica (1787) states that ‘[t]he walls of the city [of Dublin in AD 1000] including those of the Castle, did not take up an Irish mile.’ (Cited in George Little, Dublin Before the Vikings, which also cites as authority for remark in the use of the Viking v for the Irish bh; bibl. cites edn. of Topographia in 1787.
Mullingar way: Giraldus Cambrensis records that the Stone of Divisions at Uisnech ‘is said to be the navel [omphalos] of Ireland’ (Topographia Hibernica, PRIA, LII, C, p.159.; cited in Rees and Rees, Celtic Heritage, 1961, rep. 1975; p.159 (sic).]
Name-game: Andrew Hadfield (op. cit. 1999, supra) supplies the names Expugnatio Hibernica (1189) and Topographia Hibernica [sic] (1188), also adopted by the DNB and Oxford Companion to English Literature (ed. Drabble). FDA lists Topographia Hiberniae (c.1187); Expugnatio Hibernica (c.1188), and Descriptio Kambriae (c.1194) [section eds., Andrew Carpenter & Alan Harrison].
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Princess Grace Irish Library (Monaco)