Gerald of Wales, De principis instructione

Patrick C. DeBrosse

London, British Library, Cotton MS Julius B XIII, fol. 48r. 
​http://www.bl.uk/manuscripts/Viewer.aspx?ref=cotton_ms_julius_b_xiii_f048r

Manuscripts:
(Unique) London, British Library, Cotton MS Julius B XIII, fos. 48-173. This manuscript binds together two originally-separate manuscripts, one of which contains the text of De principis instructione, and the other of which contains the so-called "Melrose Codex."
 
The original preface of De principis instructione survives separately in Cambridge, Trinity College, MS R. 7. 11, fos. 86-92.
 
For further information, see Robert Bartlett, "Introduction," in Gerald of Wales. Instruction for a Ruler (De Principis Instructione), ed. and trans. Robert Bartlett (Oxford: Clarendon Press, 2018), xi-xiii.
 
 
Editions and Translations:
Gerald of Wales. Instruction for a Ruler (De Principis Instructione). Edited and translated by
            Robert Bartlett. Oxford: Clarendon Press, 2018. [facing-page Latin and English]
 
_____. Giraldi Cambrensis Opera, Vol. VIII: De principis instructione liber. Edited by
            George F. Warner. RS. London: HMSO, 1891. [Latin]
 
_____. Concerning the Instruction of Princes. Translated by Joseph Stevenson.
            Felinfach: Llanerch, 1991. [reprint of 1858 ed.; partial English translation]
 
_____. De instructione principum: Libri III. Edited by J. S. Brewer. London: Impensis societatis,
            1846. [partial Latin edition]
 
 
Description:
Gerald of Wales, an accomplished scholar, prolific writer, and ambitious cleric, composed De principis instructione after leaving his service at the court of Henry II. He probably composed the work c.1190, but the date of the composition is difficult to reconstruct, especially since it seems that Gerald circulated Book 1 in the early 1190s, years before circulating Books 2 and 3, c.1216-7 (for the composition, see Bartlett, "Introduction," xiii-xix). Gerald left the court bitter and disillusioned: in the preface to De principis instructione Gerald denounces the court, claims that the Angevins lured him to their service with false promises (an allusion to his failure to secure the see of St. David's), complains of the discrimination he faced as a man of Welsh descent, and expresses his preference for the scholarly life to which he had returned. Throughout the body of De principis instructione, Gerald devotes himself largely to critiques of his former master, Henry II.
            Book 1 is a "mirror for princes," i.e. a treatise intended to model good behavior for princes, aristocrats, and high-ranking prelates. Most of the sections in Book 1 focus upon the virtues that princes must develop in order to become just and successful rulers. Gerald illustrates these virtues with anecdotes drawn from the Bible, the ancients, and his own experiences at court. Book 2 shifts into a narrative of the major events of the reign of Henry II. The narrative is polemic, dwells upon Henry's misdeeds and character deficiencies, and arcs to show Henry's fall from the heights of power. Book 2 concludes with Henry's refusal of the offer of the crown of Jerusalem, an act of impiety, in Gerald's estimation, and the beginning of his downfall. Book 3 picks up the story to narrate Henry's final years, during which Philip II of France and Henry's own sons conspired against him. Gerald follows his description of Henry's ignominious death with criticism of Richard I. Gerald closes by lamenting the failure of Prince Louis's 1216 invasion of England.
 
 
Importance for the study of Angevin history: 
De principis instructione is the product of one of the best-connected, best-informed courtiers of the Angevin period. Gerald worked for the court directly, knew many of the most important figures of the period personally, corresponded widely, and had access to court documents. Gerald made good use of those resources, and offers us many details about the Angevin period in De principis instructione that are totally unique - either details about the events of particular years or about general court practices. Consequently, historians of the Angevin period have mined the work for a variety of purposes.
            De principis instructione is particularly valuable for Gerald's critiques of the Angevins, his anecdotal stories about events he witnessed at court, and his discussion of the Picts and the Welsh (which allows us to see Anglo-Norman attitudes towards people from the "Celtic fringe"). More than anything, however, it is Gerald's personal reflections on his life and career that gives us the best insights into the Angevin period. In Gerald we see a cleric who attempted - and failed - to use the court as a stepping stone to episcopal promotion. The court's appeal and its ability to attract talent becomes clear through Gerald's story. Gerald's perspective shows us, moreover, how the political was the personal in this period, as he blamed his failure to achieve office on personal jealousy and bullying, and the kingdom's crises on the king's personality. Finally, in Gerald's career we see how the intellectuals of Western Europe used rhetoric (developed in the new schools) to seek advancement or (in the case of De principis instructione) revenge through the power of writing.
  
 
Bibliography: 
Gerald of Wales. Instruction for a Ruler (De Principis Instructione). Edited and translated by
            Robert Bartlett. Oxford: Clarendon Press, 2018.
 
 
Further Reading
Bejczy, István P. "Gerald of Wales on the cardinal virtues: a reappraisal of De principis
            instructione." Medium AEvum 75, no. 2 (2006): 191-201.

Lachaud, F. "Le Liber de principis instructione de Giraud de Barry," in Le prince au miroir de la
            littérature politique de l'Antiquité aux Lumières, edited by F. Lachaud and L. Scordia, 113-42.
​            Mont-Saint-Aignan: Publications des universités de Rouen et du Havre, 2007.
 
Petrovskaia, Natalia I.  "East and West in De principis instructione of Giraldus Cambrensis."
            Quaestio Insularis 10 (2010): 45-59.