Matthew Paris

Matthew Paris, the greatest of English chroniclers, became a monk of St. Albans, 21 Jan. 1217, and seems to have died about May 1259. As stated above his Chronica Majora is a continuation of Roger of Wendover. It reaches to the year 1258. The record of his life belongs to another period. For the Third Crusade he has followed Roger ; but the story of the duke of Austria's banner is an addition of his own ; though the same tale in a slightly varied form is to be found in Richard of Devizes.

Bibliography:

Archer (T. A.), The Crusade of Richard I, London, 1889.

Matthew Paris, Roger of Wendover's Flowers of History, 2 vols, London, 1849.

Lee (S.),  "Paris, Matthew" in Dictionary of National Biography. 43. London, 1895.

Vincent of Beauvais (1190-1264)

Vincent of Beauvais (c. 1190-c. 1264) was a Dominican, and probably belonged to the house of the order whence he draws his name. He was appointed reader or librarian to Louis IX., and had some share at all events in the education of one or more of Louis' children. His great work the Speculum Majus is an attempt to combine the whole learning of the thirteenth century into one. It was probably intended to be divided into four parts Speculum Naturale (Natural History. Science, &c), Speculum Doctrinale (a practical treatise on the various arts, &c), Speculum Historiale (a history of the world from its creation to the author's own days, c. 1250), and Speculum Morale (a treatise on Divinity). Only the three first treatises are however due to Vincent. The fourth, as now extant, is from the pen of a late contemporary.

Bibliography:

Potamian (B.), "Vincent of Beauvais". In Herbermann, Charles. Catholic Encyclopedia. New York, 1913.

Thorndike (L.), "A History of Magic and Experimental Science. During the First Thirteen Centuries of our Era",  (1929) vol 2.

Abu El-Faraj (1226–1286) ابن العبري

Abu El-Faraj (ابن العبري) or Gregory Bar Hebraeus (Abulpharagius, or Bar-Hebrseus, Bishop of Aleppo, a Jew by descent, was bora at Malatia (Melitene), in Armenia. At the age of twenty he was consecrated Bishop of Gaba. Later in life he was appointed to the See of Aleppo, and in 1266 he became Primate of the Eastern Jacobites. He died in 1286, One of the most learned men of his age, Abulpharagius wrote a History of the World from the Creation in Syriac and in Arabic. The value of his works as they reach his own time is very considerable. They have been translated into Latin by Dr. Pococke (Oxford 1663), and partly by Bruns and Kirsch. The quotations in the text are from the latter.

Bibliography:

بولس الفغالي: أبو الفرج غريغوريوس ابن العبري: محاضرات ومقالات، مؤسسة دكاش للطباعة 2003م

.جرجوريوس ابو الفرج ابن العبري: تاريخ مختصر الدول، بيروت 1983م.

Charles (H.),  "Bar Hebræus", in Catholic Encyclopedia. New York, 1913.

Hidemi (T.), Barhebraeus: A Bio-Bibliography. Piscataway, NJ: Gorgias Press, 2005

Jean of Joinville (1224-1317)

Jean of Joinville or Jean, lord of Joinville (1224-1317), was a vassal of Theobald IV., Count of Champagne. He accompanied Louis IX. on his Crusade 1249, and was with him, taking his pay both in Egypt and Syria. His great work, the History of St. Louis, was begun towards the end of his life in 1305, and dedicated to Louis le Hutin, afterwards Louis X. So far as Richard I. is concerned it probably represents the stories current within fifty years of this king's death.

Bibliography:

Delaborde, Recherches critiques sur les premiers seigneurs de Joinville in Bib. Ecole des Chartes (1890).

Fawtier (R.), The Capetian Kings of France: Monarchy and Nation, 987-1328, (1942; trans. 1960).