Richard of Cirencester

Richard of Cirencester (Latin: Ricardus de Cirencestria; before 1340–1400) was a cleric and minor historian of the Benedictine abbey at Westminster. He was highly famed in the 18th and 19th century as the author of The Description of Britain before it was proved to have been a later forgery in 1846.

Life

His name (as Circestre) first appears on the chamberlain's list of the monks of that foundation drawn up in the year 1355. In 1391, he obtained a licence from the abbot to go to Rome and in this the abbot gave his testimony to Richard's perfect and sincere observance of religion for upwards of thirty years. In 1400 Richard spent nine nights of the infirmary of the abbey, and likely died that January.

His only known extant work are the four books of the Historial Mirror of the Deeds of the Kings of England (Latin: Speculum historiale de gestis regum Angliae), covering the years from 447 to 1066. The manuscript of this is in the university library at Cambridge and was edited in two volumes for the Rolls Series by John Mayor. At the conclusion of the fourth book Richard expresses his intention of continuing his narrative from the accession of William I, and incorporating a sketch of the Conqueror's career from his birth. This design he does not, however, appear to have carried into effect.

The value of the Historial Mirror as a contribution to our historical knowledge is but slight, for it is mainly a compilation from other writers and even in transcribing these the compiler is guilty of great carelessness. He gives, however, numerous charters relating to Westminster Abbey and also a very complete account of the saints whose tombs were in the abbey church, especially concerning Edward the Confessor. The work was, however, largely used by historians and antiquaries until, with the rise of a more critical spirit, its value became more accurately estimated. Besides the Historial Mirror Richard also wrote, according to a 1396 letter from William of Woodford to Archbishop Thomas of Canterbury, a treatise on the offices (De officiis) and there was formerly in the cathedral library at Peterborough another tract ascribed to him entitled Super Symbolum. Of neither of these works, however, does any known copy now exist.

Richard of Westminster

Main article: The Description of Britain

Richard is best known for the historical forgery perpetrated by Charles Bertram known as The Description of Britain (Latin: De situ Britanniae). Bertram's original manuscript ascribed this to "Richard the Westminsterian monk" (Ricardus monachus Westmonasteriensis), but a British academic looking to verify its authenticity discovered that Richard of Cirencester had been at Westminster around the time of the work's supposed composition. It was then published under a variant of his name (Ricardus Corinensis) and the conflation was universally accepted, to the point where Richard's name is more associated with the discredited forgery than with his own works.

Bibliography

• Speculum Historiale de Gestis regum Angliæ
• Tractatus super Symbolum Majus at Minus
• Liber de Officiis Ecclesiasticis

References

• Bertram, Charles (1809), The Description of Britain, Translated from Richard of Cirencester: with the Original Treatise De Situ Britanniæ; and a Commentary on the Itinerary; Illustrated with Maps, Anonymously translated and annotated by Henry Hatcher, London: Richard Taylor & Co. for J. White & Co. (in Latin and English)
• Bertramus, Carolus [Charles Bertram] (1757) [Composed a. 1749, actually printed 1758.], "Ricardi Corinensis Monachi Westmonasteriensis De Situ Britanniæ Libri Duo" [The Two Books on the State of Britain of Richard the Corinese, Westminsterian monk], Britannicarum Gentium Historiæ Antiquæ Scriptores Tres: Ricardus Corinensis, Gildas Badonicus, Nennius Banchorensis [Three Authors of the Ancient History of the Britannic People: Richard the Corinese, Gildas the Badonic, Nennius the Bangorian] (in Latin), Copenhagen: Ludolph Henrich Lillie for the author, pp. 1–60
• Harvey, Barbara F. (2004), "Cirencester, Richard (b. before 1340, d. 1400)", Oxford Dictionary of National Biography (online ed.), Oxford University Press, doi:10.1093/ref:odnb/5422 (Subscription or UK public library membership required.) The first edition of this text is available at Wikisource: Hunt, William (1887). "Cirencester, Richard of" . Dictionary of National Biography. Vol. 10. pp. 365–366.
• Ricardus de Cirencestria [Richard of Cirencester] (1863) [Composed a. 1400, volume II published 1869], Mayor, John E.B. (ed.), "Speculum Historiale de Gestis Regum Angliæ [An Historial Mirror of the Deeds of the Kings of England]", Rolls Series №30 (in Latin), London: Longman, Green and Company – Volumes I & II
• Wilhelmus Wodfordus [William Woodford] (1690) [Composed 1396 as a letter to Archbishop Thomas of Canterbury, first published by Ortwin at Cologne in 1535], "Contra Johannem Wiclefum, sacræ fidei pestem & hæresiarcham, doctissimæ ac planè catholicæ decertationes, quibus miserum hunc hominem ita consutat, prosternit, eviscerat ac in omnibus vincit, ut ex illis ipsis omnes fermè nostri temporis hæreticos mutos effeceris [Greatly learned and completely orthodox dissertations against the pestilence of the holy faith & heresiarch, John Wycliffe, in which the author so opposes, overcomes, disembowels, and in all things vanquishes this wretched man that from them you are able to make all heretics of our own time completely mute]" (PDF), in Edwardus Brown [Edward Brown] (ed.), Fasciculus Rerum Expetendarum & Fugiendarum [A Little Collection of Things to be Sought & Things to be Avoided], vol. I, London: Richard Chiswell, pp. 190–265. (in Latin)

Attribution:

• This article incorporates text from a publication now in the public domain: Mullinger, James Bass (1911), "Richard of Cirencester", in Chisholm, Hugh (ed.), Encyclopædia Britannica, vol. 23 (11th ed.), Cambridge University Press, pp. 297–298