MATTHEW PARIS: English chronicler; b. in or near St. Albans not much before 1200; d. there, probably in June, 1259. [The origin of the desig nation "Paris" is questionable. It has been at tributed to a supposed (but doubtful) sojourn in the city of Paris during his studies: the claim is also made that it was his family name. The latter supposition is difficult (though not impossible), as the period is early for surnames:] He was educated in the abbey school, and became (Jan. 21, 1217) a monk in this famous monastery, which, founded in 1077, had become a great center of light and learning, and since the time of Abbot Simon (1167-53) had paid special attention to literary arid partic ularly historical production by its monks. Matthew was placed in charge of the acrtptortum or writing room in 1236 and retained this office until his death. He frequently visited London, Canterbury, and Winchester, gaining some knowledge of the great world outside his cloister, and made one visit to Norway (1248) to reform the abbey of Niderhohn near Trondlljem. He rightly regarded the writing of history, for which he had not only special faeili ties but special talent, as his life-work. His fame rests principally on his Chronica majora, written in the usual form of annals. Up to 1235 it is a recasting and enlargement of the Floret histor iarum of Roger of Wendover, from that date to 1259 entirely independent. He wrote also a history of the abbey of St. Albans in the form of biographies of the abbots; Liter additamentolum, a collection of documents to serve as a supplement to the Chronica; lives of the two Offas, kings of Mercia, of Stephen Langton and Edmund Rich, archbishops of Canterbury, and of St. Richard of Chichester. The Chronicle is distinguished . by many virtues: an insatiable desire for accurate information, keen realization pf the difference between essentials and non-essentials, a broad view of Christianity, outspoken boldness even when dealing with kings and popes, clearness and beauty of style. He is an admirable representative of the English public opinion of his day. Matthew was unusually privileged in having frequent opportuni ties of intercourse not only with courtiers but with kings, who valued him highly and took a deep inter est in his work. But his opportunities would have counted for little if he had not possessed a mind that knew how to search further for any piece of information of value in any part of the civilized world, and to make prompt and systematic use of the knowledge thus gained. He ranks as the first great English historian.

H. Böhmer.

Bibliography: The Hdsforia Anplorum, ed. F. Madden, is no. 44 in Rolls Series, 3 vols., London, 186&-09; and the Chronica majora, ed. H. R. Luard, is no. 57 of the same, 7 vols., ib. 1872-84 (the prefaces to these works are of especial value); the Liber additamentorum is in Luard, ut sup., vol. vi.; excerpts from Matthew's works, ed. F. Liebermann, are in MQH, Script ., xxviii (1888), 74 155; the Chronica in Eng. transl. is in Bonn's Antiquarian Library, 3 vols., London, 1852-54. Consult: T. D. Hardy, Descriptive Catalogue of Materials, no. 26 in Rolls Series, vol. iii., preface, London, 1871; A. Jessop, Studies by a Reduse, pp . 1-65, ib. 1893 (an appreciation); H. Plehn, Der polrotische Character Madharus Parisiansis, Leipsic, 1897; Gross. Sours. pp. 29"00; DNB, x liii. 203-2~13, of. xxxv. 292.