Wright, Thomas, ed., The Latin Poems Commonly Attributed to Walter Mapes (London: John Bowyer Nichols and Son (Camden Society, no 16)) Read this source online
Text name(s): Golias Episcopus
Number of pages of primary source text: 270
Author(s):
Dates: 1160 - 1208
Archival Reference:
Original Language(s):
- Latin
Translation:
- Original language included.
Translation Comments:
Geopolitical Region(s):
- England
County/Region:
Record Types:
- Literature - Verse
Subject Headings:
- Clergy - Priests, Bishops, Canons
- Literature - Comedy / Satire
- Nobility / Gentry
- Royalty / Monarchs
- Papacy
- Religion - Institutional Church
Apparatus:
- Appendix
- Introduction
Comments:
This volume contains a collection of Latin poems commonly attributed to Walter Map, an English author and a favorite of Henry II, with whom the poet traveled before becoming the archdeacon of Oxford. Map’s works consist of legends, tales, gossip and anecdotes, and are often witty and satirical. Despite being a clergyman, Map’s poems show that he was a man of the world, familiar with court life and public affairs. Although all of these poems here are attributed to Map and share his light and humorous style, recent scholarship maintains that many of them were probably written by other unknown poets in the twelfth century.
Introduction Summary:
The introduction (pp. i-xxviii) provides a biographical sketch of Walter Map, describes the manuscripts from which the poems were taken and speculates that Map was not actually the Golias poet.
Cataloger: SES
