Giraldus’s  life  can  be  summarized  as  follows."  As  the  fourth  and  youngest  son  he
was  destined  for  a  clerical  career  from  the  beginning,  receiving  education  initially
from  his  uncle,  David  fitz  Gerald,  bishop  of  St  David’s  (1148-76),  before  proceeding
to  St  Peter’s  Abbey,  Gloucester,  and  then  Paris,  where  he  remained  between  с.  1165
and  с.  1172.11 12  After  returning  from  the  Parisian  schools  he  obtained  a  legation  from
the  archbishop  of  Canterbury  in  1174  to  collect  tithes  in  the  diocese  of  St  David’s;
shortly  afterwards  (с.  1175)  he  was  appointed  archdeacon  of  Brecon,  having  secured
the  deposition  of  the  previous  archdeacon  on  the  grounds  of  the  latter’s  marriage,
which  contravened  canon  law.  After  a  further  period  in  Paris  studying  theology
(1176-9)  Giraldus  administered  the  diocese  of  St  David’s  for  about  three  years  on
behalf  of  Bishop  Peter  de  Leia  (c.  1179-82).13  The  next  major  step  in  the  archdeacon’s
  career  was  his  employment  as  a  royal  clerk  in  the  service  of  Henry  II  in
1184,  a  position  he  retained  into  the  reign  of  Henry’s  successor,  Richard  1(1189-99).
His  service  as  a  clerk  took  Giraldus  to  Ireland  in  1185-6  and  on  a  journey  with
Archbishop  Baldwin  of  Canterbury  to  preach  the  Third  Crusade  in  Wales  in  1188,  as
well  as  on  missions  in  England  and  France.  It  was  at  this  stage  in  his  career  that  he
wrote  the  first  of  his  important  prose  works,  two  on  Ireland  (the  Topographia  Hibernica
  and  the  Expugnatio  Hibernica)  and  two  on  Wales  (the  Itinerarium  Kambriae
and  the  Descriptio  Kambriae),  thereby  launching  a  hugely  prolific  literary  career.
After  leaving  the  court  c.  1194  Giraldus  spent  further  time  in  study,  first  at  Hereford
and  then,  from  с.  1196,  at  Lincoln,  before  his  election  as  bishop  of  St  David’s  in
1199.  The  election  was  disputed,  and  the  matter  complicated  by  Giraldus’s  reviving
the  claim,  first  advanced  by  the  Norman  bishop  of  St  David’s,  Bernard  (1115-48),
that  that  church  should  be  recognized  as  a  metropolitan  see  with  authority  over  a
Welsh  ecclesiastical  province  independent  of  Canterbury.  Despite  three  journeys  to
Rome  to  prosecute  his  case,  by  1203  Giraldus  had  failed  to  secure  either  confirmation
  of  his  election  or  the  elevation  of  St  David’s  to  the  status  of  an  archbishopric.  He
resigned  his  archdeaconry  in  favour  of  his  nephew  and  spent  most  of  the  remaining
years  of  his  life  at  Lincoln,  reliving  his  struggle  for  St  David’s  in  a  series  of  autobiographical
  works  and  writing  or  completing  a  number  of  other  books,  including  a
Furstenspiegel,  De  Principis  Instructione,  whose  second  and  third  books  contained
a  damning  account  of  his  former  employer,  King  Henry  II.14
Giraldus  was  not  unique,  of  course,  as  an  example  of  a  cleric  from  Wales  who
received  an  education  in  England  (and  in  his  case  crucially  also  France)  before
returning  to  hold  ecclesiastical  office  in  Wales.  Welsh  churches  were  poor  and  could
not  provide  a  thorough  grounding  in  the  arts,  let  alone  theology  or  law,  available  at

11  The  fullest  reconstruction  of  his  life  remains  J.  Conway  Davies,  Giraldus  Cambrensis,
1146-1946,  in:  Archaeologia  Cambrensis  99  (1946-7)  pp.  85-108,  256-80.
12  Bartlett,  Gerald  (as  n.  6)  p.  29;  Richter,  Giraldus  (as  n.  6)  p.  4  assigns  Gerald’s  first  period
in  Paris  to  c.  1162-74.
13  Ibid.  pp.  6,  90.
14  On  this  last-named  work,  see  Karl  Schnith,  Betrachtungen  zum  Spätwerk  des  Giraldus
Cambrensis  ‘De  Principis  Instructione’,  in:  Festiva  Lanx,  Munich  1967,  pp.  53-66;  Bartlett,
Gerald  (as  n.  6)  pp.  69-99.

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