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Matthew Paris and John Mansel

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  12 September 2012

Hui Liu
Affiliation:
Taiwan National University
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Summary

Matthew Paris was born around 1200, and became a monk at St Albans abbey in 1217. He started working on his most important work, the Chronica Majora, from around 1240, using material from other chroniclers, especially his predecessor at St Albans, Roger of Wendover, for the chronicle up to 1235, while his own writing started from the annal for year 1236. Before his illness and death in 1259 cut short his career, Matthew Paris had kept a spirited record of people and events from the entire known world, writing with a scope and extent unparalleled among contemporary chroniclers.

John Mansel was probably born in Sussex around 1210, and began his working life as a clerk in the household of Ralph de Neville, bishop of Chichester (1222–1244). Probably through the bishop, who was also the royal chancellor, Mansel had become a household clerk of the king by 1234. He served the king in diverse capacities, such as keeping a roll of the receipt in the lower exchequer, and working as a buyer of the king's wines, before his big break came in 1238, which Paris recorded. From then to his death in 1265, Mansel was a leading figure at court, constantly by the king's side and enjoyed much royal favour.

There is no doubt that the royal counsellor and the leading chronicler knew each other. Although Paris made no actual reference to any conversation between them, it is clear that much of what he wrote about Mansel could only have come from Mansel himself.

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Thirteenth Century England XI
Proceedings of the Gregynog Conference, 2005
, pp. 159 - 173
Publisher: Boydell & Brewer
Print publication year: 2007

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