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Gerald
of Wales; trans. & ed. H. E. Butler.
The
Autobiography of Gerald of Wales.
Boydel
Press, 2005.
ISBN
1843831481.
Paperback.
21 x 13
cm.
374pp, 4
illustrations.
Publisher's
recommended price £25.00/$49.95
Gerald of Wales, the son of
a Norman Baron and the grandson of a Welsh Princess, is one of the most
gifted and entertaining of medieval writers. His autobiography,
translated from the Latin, presents the story of an Archdeacon who,
despite his passionate efforts, never became a Bishop; it is the
self-revelation of a man as able and courageous as he was vain and
eccentric, and as devout and serious as he was flamboyant and humorous,
a vivid picture of twelfth-century kings and prelates, of politics and
travel, full of strange adventures at home and abroad, told with
frankness and power, and without a counterpart in the literature of his
day. Moreover, the volume presents a vivid picture of medieval life in
general.
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