GERVASE OF

CANTERBURY (d. c. 1210)  , English monk and chronicler, entered the house of Christchurch, Canterbury, at an early age . He made his profession and received holy orders in 1163; but we have no further clue to the date of his birth . We know nothing of his life beyond what may be gathered from his own writings . Their evidence suggests that he died in or shortly after 1210, and that he had resided almost continuously at Canterbury from the time of his admission . The only office which we know him to have held is that of sacrist, which he received after 1190 and laid down before 1197 . He took a keen interest in the secular quarrels of the Canterbury monks with their archbishops, and his earliest literary efforts were controversial tracts upon this subject . But from 1188 he applied his mind to historical composition . About that year he began the compilation of his Chronica, a work intended for the private reading of his brethren . Beginning with the accession of Stephen he continued his narrative to the death of Richard I . Up to 1188 he relies almost entirely upon extant sources; but from that date on-wards is usually an independent authority . A second history, the Gesta Regum, is planned on a smaller scale and traces the fortunes of Britain from the days of Brutus to the year 1209 . The latter part. of this work, covering the years 1199-1209, is. perhaps an attempt to redeem the promise, which he had made in the epilogue to the Chronica, of a continuation dealing with the reign of John .

This is the only part of the Gesta which deserves much

attention . The work was continued by various hands to the year 1328 . From the Gesta the indefatigable Gervase turned to a third project, the history of the see of Canterbury from the arrival of Augustine to the death of Hubert Walter (1205) . A topographical work, with the somewhat misleading title Mappa mundi, completes the list of his more important writings . The Mappa mundi contains a useful description of England shire by shire, giving in particular a list of the castles and religious houses to be found in each . The industry of Gervase was greater than his insight . He took a narrow and monastic view of current politics; he was seldom in touch with the leading statesmen of his day . But he appears to be tolerably accurate when dealing with the years 1188-1209; and sometimes he supplements the information provided by the more important chronicles . See the introductions and notes in W . Stubbs's edition of the Historical Works of Gervase of Canterbury (Rolls edition, 2 vols., 1879-1880) . (H . W .

C .