Despite a frustrated ecclesiastical career - his ongoing failure to secure the See of St David's embittered him - Giraldus Cambrensis (Gerald of Wales, Gerald de Barry, c.1146-1220/3) composed many remarkable literary works, initially while employed as a royal clerk for Henry II and, subsequently, in semi-retirement in Lincoln. Eight volumes of his works were compiled as part of the Rolls Series of British medieval material. Volume 1, edited by historian J. S. Brewer (1809-79) and published in 1861, with an introduction in English to the Latin texts, consists of Giraldus' polemical-apologetic account of his life and the St David's case, and a collection of his letters, poems, and prefaces. Giraldus is noted for his vigorous Latin and anecdotal style, and this volume gives a vivid portrait of medieval Britain and the power struggles of the Angevin court, while illuminating nineteenth-century interest in the period.
