21
January 1217 A.D. Matthew
of St. Alban’s, UK & Paris—Historian, Chronicler & Papal Critic
How do we know what happened in the middle ages?
Although Christians did not write modern-style
histories at that time, monks kept chronicles. In England, the best
chronologies came out of an old, distinguished monastery near London called St.
Albans. The Benedictine monks of St. Albans had accumulated great wealth and
owned many books, which allowed them the leisure and resources to document
English doings. Distinguished travelers from foreign lands stopped by the
place.
On this day, January
21, 1217, Matthew Paris was clothed as a novice at St. Albans. He was
probably seventeen or eighteen years old and would have donned a monks dress
for the first time. That step positioned him to become the most famous English
chronicler of the Middle Ages.
In the previous century, Abbot Simon had
established a regular position for a historian. When Matthew entered the
monastery, Roger of Wendover held the post. Unlike many medieval chroniclers,
Wendover wrote in a lively style and boldly criticized wrongdoing. In 1236
Wendover died and Matthew Paris took his place. He improved on Wendover's
style.
Traveling and corresponding with men all over
Europe, Matthew Paris gathered eyewitness accounts. He wove this information
into his famous Chronica Majora, which began with creation and ended in 1259.
Under the headings of the years, he told of storms and robbers, kings and
popes, wars and crusades. He was well-liked, even by King Henry III, whom he
criticized for ruling England through foreigners.
Although thoroughly a son of the church, Matthew
Paris was also a courageous writer who rebuked the behavior of popes and kings
in his pages. He denounced the corruption and greed of English and Roman
churchmen who lived "daintily on the patrimony of Christ" and
described the pope's agents as "harpies and bloodsuckers, plunderers, who
do not merely shear, but skin, the sheep."
The Chronica Majora is made even more interesting
by drawings in its margins. Historians believe Matthew Paris drew these
himself. He also wrote a life of Stephen Langton, the famous Archbishop of
Canterbury who helped draft the Magna Carta.
Unfortunately, this monk who preserved the past for
us left almost no information about himself. Other monks kept Matthew Paris'
chronicle going into the next century.
Bibliography:
Dictionary
of National Biography. Edited by Leslie Stephen and Sidney Lee. London: Oxford
University Press, 1921 - 1996.
Green,
John Richard. A Short History of the English People. New York: Harper, 1895.
Kunitz,
Stanley L. British Authors Before 1800; a biographical dictionary. New York: H.
W. Wilson, 1952.
"Matthew
Paris." Latin Chroniclers from the Eleventh to the Thirteenth Centuries.
The Cambridge History of English and American Literature in 18 Volumes,
1907–21.
"Matthew
Paris." The Oxford Dictionary of the Christian Church. Edited by F. L.
Cross and E. A. Livingstone. Oxford, 1997.
Paris,
Matthew. Chronica majora. The illustrated chronicles of Matthew Paris:
observations of thirteenth-century life; translated, edited and with an
introduction by Richard Vaughan; illustrations selected by Nigel Wilkins;
photography by Ian Cannell. Dover, NH: A. Sutton, 1993.
Thurston,
Herbert. "Matthew Paris." The Catholic Encyclopedia. New York: Robert
Appleton, 1914.
Vaughan,
Richard. Matthew Paris. Cambridge, England: Cambridge University Press, 1958.
Various
encyclopedia and internet articles.
Last updated May, 2007.
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