Matthew Paris
Matthew Paris (c.1200–59) is one of the greatest of all historians, partly because of his astonishing output, partly because of the remarkable comprehensiveness of his work, partly because of his historical method, and partly because of his extensive range of interests. He entered the monastery of St Albans in 1217 and spent most of his life there writing history. He wrote a series of saints' lives. He composed the Gesta abbatum, recording the history of his monastic house. His greatest work, the monumental Chronica majora, for which he is renowned, was the most comprehensive history yet written in England, and concerned not just with English affairs but with those of the entire known world from the Creation to Paris's own day. He also wrote the Historia Anglorum, a chronicle from 1066 to 1253, and two shorter histories, the Abbreviatio chronicorum and the Flores historiarum. Paris was also a significant artist, as shown by the compelling illustrations to his various texts, and an important cartographer.
S. D. Lloyd
More From encyclopedia.com
NEARBY TERMS
Matthew Paris