Background
No information exists concerning his parentage or his early life. It is known that he was born about 1200. Matthew Paris, sometimes referred to as Matthew of Paris, probably had no connection with France by birth or education.
(Matthew Paris's Chronicles is one of the most valuable so...)
Matthew Paris's Chronicles is one of the most valuable sources of our knowledge of 13th-century life, remarkable for its detail, scope, and accounts of events in Europe as well as England. Illustrated in color with over 100 drawings from the autograph manuscript of the chronicles.
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(A Church of England clergyman and fellow of Trinity Colle...)
A Church of England clergyman and fellow of Trinity College, Cambridge, Henry Richards Luard (1825-91) edited a number of works in the Rolls Series, for which he was noted for the quality of his indexing and the depth of his commentary. This seven-volume work, first published between 1872 and 1883, has been hailed as one of the best editions in the series. It is a rich source for English history from the Creation to 1259, written by England's greatest medieval historian. Matthew Paris (c.1200-59) became a monk at St Albans in 1217 and had access to a wide variety of documents as an acquaintance of such men as Bishop Robert Grosseteste and King Henry III, whom he knew well. Volume 7 contains a comprehensive index, a glossary, and errata and addenda.
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(A Church of England clergyman and fellow of Trinity Colle...)
A Church of England clergyman and fellow of Trinity College, Cambridge, Henry Richards Luard (1825-91) edited a number of works in the Rolls Series, for which he was noted for the quality of his indexing and the depth of his commentary. This seven-volume work, first published between 1872 and 1883, has been hailed as one of the best editions in the series. It is a rich source for English history from the Creation to 1259, written by England's greatest medieval historian. Matthew Paris (c.1200-59) became a monk at St Albans in 1217 and had access to a wide variety of documents as an acquaintance of such men as Bishop Robert Grosseteste and King Henry III, whom he knew well. The Latin text of Volume 1, covering the Creation to 1066, derives mainly from the work of Paris's predecessor, Roger of Wendover.
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(The name of Matthew Paris is too well known to the public...)
The name of Matthew Paris is too well known to the public to render any apology necessary for publishing an English translation of his xahiable English History, a work wherein its author has condensed all that former writers had said about the times that preceded, and to wliich all succeeding writers must have recourse for the history of the period in which its author lived. Of the life of this laborious writer, very little is known. He was a monk of St. Alban s Abbey, and was probably called Farisiensis, the Parisian, which we generally interpret Paris, from having been born or educated in the capital of France. Unlike most of the monks of the Middle A ges, who seldom were content to pass through life without bequeathing to posterity a weighty load of theological works, and commentaries on the Bible, Matthew Paris seems to have confined his attention wholly to the study of history, and, with a laudable patriotism, to the history of his own country. To this circumstance may be ascribed the pains which he took, even after his great work was completed, to improve it in every way, and to gather fresh stores from every available source. His writings may be thus enumerated :1. (Typographical errors above are due to OCR software and don't occur in the book.) About the Publisher Forgotten Books is a publisher of historical writings, such as: Philosophy, Classics, Science, Religion, History, Folklore and Mythology. Forgotten Books' Classic Reprint Series utilizes the latest technology to regenerate facsimiles of historically important writings. Careful attention has been made to accurately preserve the original format of each page whilst digitally enhancing the aged text. Read books online for free at www.forgottenbooks.org
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biographer cartographer illustrator monk chronicler
No information exists concerning his parentage or his early life. It is known that he was born about 1200. Matthew Paris, sometimes referred to as Matthew of Paris, probably had no connection with France by birth or education.
He became a monk at St. Albans, a monastery on a main road about 15 miles northwest of London, on January 21, 1217, where he received his training as a scribe and artist and, under Roger Wendover, as the abbey's historiographer.
In 1248-1249 Matthew was called upon by Norway's King Haakon IV and by Pope Innocent IV to adjust the financial and spiritual affairs of the Benedictine abbey of St. Benet Holm on the island of Niderholm in Norway. Except for this successful journey, Matthew, for the most part, remained at St. Albans until his death in 1259.
After Roger Wendover's death in 1235, Matthew incorporated Roger's Flores historiarum into his own chief work, the Chronica majora, revising Roger's text and extending it from 1235 to 1259. A prolific and indefatigable writer, Matthew wrote some 300, 000 words in his section alone. In it he narrated events with his personal commentary that often demonstrates his strong prejudices against King Henry III, the Pope, friars, foreigners, civil servants, theologians, and almost any person or group who, in Matthew's eyes, was guilty of either abuse of power or interference with the home rule of his monastic movement. He wrote in Latin, the lingua franca of the Middle Ages, and his style is vivid and colorful. As a respected intimate of such important figures as Henry III and his brother Richard, Earl of Cornwall, among many others, Matthew's fame as a chronicler was so widespread that distinguished guests at St. Albans freely shared their adventures with him, supplying him with details for his chronicle.
Although Matthew is considered by modern scholars more a chronicler than a historian, he assiduously collected, albeit not always accurately, about 350 documents in an appendix to his Chronica, the Liber additamentorum. His abridgments of the Chronica majora—the Historia Anglorum, devoted primarily to English affairs, and the Abbreviatio chronicorum (or Historia minor), concentrating on the period 1067—1253—contain differing versions of the same events.
In his Gesta abbatum, Matthew recorded the lives of the first 23 abbots of St. Albans and sketched a miniature portrait of each.
In addition to his Latin biographies of Edmund Rich and Stephen Langton, Matthew wrote in Anglo-Norman verse the lives of Saints Alban, Edward the Confessor, Thomas Becket, and Edmund Rich, each work amply illustrated. As an artist, Matthew enjoyed high esteem.
Further, his valuable contributions to cartography include detail maps of England and Scotland, listing as many as 280 place names. His itineraries, or road maps, admirably executed in color attest to his talents as an artist and cartographer.
He also ranks high as a pioneer in the history of heraldry because he depicted quite accurately about 130 coats of arms of the period.
Although Matthew is not always reliable because of his frequent exaggerations, prejudices, and carelessness, he nevertheless left a readable account and, more important, one with a feeling of his time.
(The name of Matthew Paris is too well known to the public...)
(A Church of England clergyman and fellow of Trinity Colle...)
(A Church of England clergyman and fellow of Trinity Colle...)
(Matthew Paris's Chronicles is one of the most valuable so...)