Gerald of Wales

In Our Time: Culture

BBC

History

4.6 • 978 Ratings

🗓️ 4 October 2012

⏱️ 43 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

Melvyn Bragg and his guests discuss the medieval scholar Gerald of Wales. Born around the middle of the twelfth century, Gerald was a cleric and courtier. For much of his life he was close to Henry II and the Church hierarchy, and wrote accounts of official journeys he made around Wales and Ireland in their service. Both Anglo-Norman and Welsh by parentage, he had a unique perspective on the political strife of his age. Gerald's Journey Around Wales and Description of Ireland are among the most colourful and informative chronicles of the Middle Ages, and had a powerful influence on later historians.

With:

Henrietta Leyser Emeritus Fellow of St Peter's College, University of Oxford

Michelle Brown Professor Emerita of Medieval Manuscript Studies at the School of Advanced Study, University of London

Huw Pryce Professor of Welsh History at Bangor University

Producer: Thomas Morris.

Transcript

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0:46.0	Hello, Manabir Castle is a remote and beautiful Norman ruin on the Pembrokeshire coast in
0:51.9	South Wales. The earliest surviving
0:54.3	description of the building was written in 1191 by a historian who declares
0:58.1	it the most delightful spot in the whole country, although he then admits that he may
1:02.4	be biased since he was born there.
1:04.9	The writer's name was Gerald of Wales, and the description of his birthplace appears in one of
1:08.9	his most famous books, The Journey through Wales.
1:12.3	Gerald's a priest and scholar who worked at the
1:14.3	court of the English king and wrote propagandist and then engaging accounts of
	...

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