Matthew Paris
Brother Matthew, monk of St Albans
A thirteenth century chronicler with sharp ears, a sharp wit and a sharp pen.
Wind RoseMatthew Paris was a choir monk at St Albans from 1220 to 1259. He appears to have been extremely well connected, visiting the court and even travelling to Norway at the invitation of King Haakon. In 1236 he succeeded Roger of Wendover as the Abbey's chronicler.
Written in Latin, the Chronica Majora, starts with the creation story and ends with what for Matthew was the present day. St Alban's guest facilities and strategic position, one day's ride from London, made it a popular venue for the many visitors who brought much of the news and information which Brother Matthew recorded.
Matthew describes historical events of international, national and local importance including the pope's ongoing struggle with the Holy Roman Emperor, the 7th crusade and the clipping of the English coinage. He is quick to criticize those in power especially where he perceives financial abuse. He records natural phenomena such as the arrival of crossbills or the state of the harvest, and is fascinated by the unusual and the grotesque.
Interested in modern history Matthew started to copy official documents into the Chronica Majora but then, realising that the book was becoming unwieldy, started a new book, the Liber Additamenta, into which he copied these documents, recording in the Chronica where they were to be found.
Matthew was a good artist. His lively and often detailed drawings depict life in the thirteenth century. The Chronica Majora contains many examples of his colour-washed pen and ink drawings which vary in size from full pages to marginalia and in subject matter from battles in the crusades to heraldic shields and bible stories. Sea monsters fight, an elephant without knees carries a municipal band, the three kings race on improbable camels towards Bethlehem and his many maps are decorated with illustrations of local features such as crocodiles and buildings.
Matthew's choice of language is lively and colourful. He loves using water similes and metaphors when talking about spending or wasting money. He describes people in brief, visually stimulating sentences. He is an accomplished storyteller.
For St Albans Matthew wrote the Gesta Abbatum - the Deeds of the Abbots - in which he recounts the activities of the abbots and often others in the monastery giving a fascinating insight into life in a Benedictine house. Fiercely loyal to his own house he records both favours and slights to St Alban's. Sometimes approving, sometimes disapproving, he cannot resist commenting on the abbot's decisions and actions.
La Vie de Seint Auban, written in Anglo-Norman verse for Matthew's own library, tells of the trial and death of St Alban, the passion of St Aracle (the soldier who refused to execute him) and the passion of St Amphibalus. This book, too, is illustrated with many line drawings. An interesting entry on the flyleaf tells us that Matthew used to lend his books to well connected ladies!