Walter of

Coventry Coventry ( or ) is a city in the West Midlands, England. It is on the River Sherbourne. Coventry has been a large settlement for centuries, although it was not founded and given its city status until the Middle Ages. The city is governed b ...

( fl. 1290),

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monk and chronicler, who was apparently connected with a religious house in the

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, is known to us only through the historical compilation which bears his name, the ''Memoriale fratris Walteri de Coventria''. The word ''Memoriale'' is usually taken to mean "commonplace book." Some critics interpret it in the sense of "a souvenir," and argue that Walter was not the author but merely the donor of the book; but the weight of authority is against this view. The author of the ''Memoriale'' lived in the reign of Edward I, and mentions the homage done to Edward as overlord of

Scotland Scotland (, ) is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. Covering the northern third of the island of Great Britain, mainland Scotland has a Anglo-Scottish border, border with England to the southeast ...

(1291). Since the main narrative extends only to 1225, the ''Memoriale'' is emphatically a second-hand production. But for the years 1201-1225 it is a faithful transcript of a contemporary chronicle, the work of a Barnwell canon. A complete text of the Barnwell chronicle is preserved in the

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' (Heralds' College, manuscript 10) but has never yet been printed, though it was collated by Bishop Stubbs for his edition of the Memoriale. The Barnwell annalist, living in

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, was well situated to observe the events of the barons' war, and is our most valuable authority for that important crisis. He is less hostile to King John than are Ralph of Coggeshall,

Roger of Wendover Roger of Wendover (died 6 May 1236), probably a native of Wendover in Buckinghamshire, was an English chronicler of the 13th century. At an uncertain date he became a monk at St Albans Abbey; afterwards he was appointed prior of the cell o ...

and

Matthew Paris Matthew Paris, also known as Matthew of Paris ( la, Matthæus Parisiensis, lit=Matthew the Parisian; c. 1200 – 1259), was an English Benedictine monk, chronicler, artist in illuminated manuscripts and cartographer, based at St Albans Abbey ...

. He praises the king's management of the Welsh and Scottish wars; he is critical in his attitude towards the pope and the English opposition; he regards the submission of John to

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as a skilful stroke of policy, although he notes the fact that some men called it a humiliation. The constitutional agitation of 1215 does not arouse his enthusiasm; he passes curtly over the

Runnymede Runnymede is a water-meadow alongside the River Thames in the English county of Surrey, and just over west of central London. It is notable for its association with the sealing of Magna Carta, and as a consequence is, with its adjoining ...

conference, barely mentions Magna Carta, and blames the barons for the resumption of war. It may be from timidity that the annalist avoids attacking John, but it is more probable that the middle classes, whom he represents, regarded the designs of the feudal baronage with suspicion.

References

William Stubbs William Stubbs (21 June 182522 April 1901) was an English historian and Anglican bishop. He was Regius Professor of Modern History at the University of Oxford between 1866 and 1884. He was Bishop of Chester from 1884 to 1889 and Bishop of O ...

's edition of Walter of Coventry (

Rolls series ''The Chronicles and Memorials of Great Britain and Ireland during the Middle Ages'' ( la, Rerum Britannicarum medii aevi scriptores), widely known as the is a major collection of British and Irish historical materials and primary sources publish ...

, 2 vols, 1872–1873) * R. Pauli, in ''Geschichte von England'' (Hamburg, 1853), iii. 872. * * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Walter Of Coventry 13th-century deaths 13th-century English historians People from Coventry Year of birth unknown English chroniclers