Editing Walter Map

{{short description|Medieval writer and courtier}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=August 2021}}
{{Infobox person
| name   =Walter Map
| image     = Walter Map Beinecke MS 229 fol 272v.jpg
| image_size     =
| caption  =
| birth_date  = {{Circa|1130}}<ref name=Smith/>
| birth_place = [[Welsh Marches]], Wales
| death_date  =between 1209 and 1210.
| death_place = 
| occupation     = Clergyman<br>Writer
| spouse         = 
| parents        =
| children       =
}}

'''Walter Map''' ({{langx|la|Gualterius Mappus}}; 1130&nbsp;– {{circa}} 1209/1210) was a [[English historians in the Middle Ages|medieval writer]]. He wrote ''[[De nugis curialium]]'', which takes the form of a series of anecdotes of people and places, offering insights into the history of his time.

Map was a [[courtier]] of King [[Henry II of England]], who sent him on missions to [[Louis VII of France]] and to [[Pope Alexander III]]. Map became the [[Archdeacon of Oxford]] in 1196.

==Life==
Map claimed [[Wales|Welsh]] origins<ref>C. N. L. Brooke, "Map, Walter (d. 1209/10)" in ''[[Oxford Dictionary of National Biography]]'', Oxford University Press, 2004 [http://www.oxforddnb.com/view/article/18015 Paysite]</ref> and called himself a man of the [[Welsh Marches]] (''marchio sum Walensibus'');<ref>Literally "I am a borderer to the Welsh": Walter Map, ''[[De Nugis Curialium]]'' distinctio 2 chapter 23</ref> He was probably born in southwestern [[Herefordshire]].<ref name=Macpherson>[http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/09635a.htm Macpherson, Ewan. "Walter Map." ''The Catholic Encyclopedia''] Vol. 9. New York: Robert Appleton Company, 1910. 16 July 2021 {{PD-notice}}</ref><ref name=Smith>[https://www.upenn.edu/pennpress/book/toc/15740_toc.html Smith, Joshua Byron. ''Walter Map and the Matter of Britain'', University of Pennsylvania Press. 2017] {{ISBN|9780812249323}}</ref> Medievalist Joshua Byron Smith suggests that Map may have begun his studies at [[Gloucester Abbey|St Peter's Abbey]] in Gloucester before continuing at the [[University of Paris]], apparently around 1154, when [[Gerard la Pucelle]] was teaching there. After his return from France Map was employed as a clerk by [[Gilbert Foliot]], the Bishop of Hereford, who was a former Abbot of St Peter's. When Foliot was [[Translation (ecclesiastical)|translated]] to the Diocese of London in 1163 Map followed him.<ref name=Smith/>

Map then became one of the clerks of the royal household and by 1173 he was an itinerant justice.<ref name=dnb>{{cite DNB|wstitle=Map, Walter|last=Kingsford|first=Charles Lethbridge|authorlink=Charles Lethbridge Kingsford|volume=36|no-icon=1}}</ref> As a courtier of King [[Henry II of England]], he was sent on missions to [[Louis VII of France]] and to [[Pope Alexander III]], and attended the [[Third Lateran Council]] in 1179, encountering a delegation of [[Waldensians]].<ref name=Macpherson/> On this journey he stayed with [[Henry I of Champagne]], who was then about to undertake his last journey to the East.

Map held a [[Prebendary|prebend]] in the [[Diocese of Lincoln]] by 1183 and was Chancellor of the Diocese by 1186.<ref name=BHOChancLincoln>[http://british-history.ac.uk/report.aspx?compid=33563 British History Online Chancellors of Lincoln] accessed on October 28, 2007</ref> He later became [[Precentor]] of Lincoln, a [[Canon (priest)|canon]] of [[Old St Paul's Cathedral|St Paul's, London]], and of [[diocese of Hereford|Hereford]],<ref name=BHOPrecentLincoln>[http://british-history.ac.uk/report.aspx?compid=33562 British History Online Precentors of Lincoln] accessed on October 28, 2007</ref> and [[Archdeacon of Oxford]] in 1196.<ref name=BHOArchDOxford>[http://british-history.ac.uk/report.aspx?compid=33570 British History Online Archdeacons of Oxford] accessed on October 28, 2007</ref>

Map was a candidate to succeed [[William de Vere]] as [[Bishop of Hereford]] in 1199, but was unsuccessful. He was once again a candidate for a bishopric in 1203, this time as [[Bishop of St David's]], but was not chosen. He was still alive on 28 May 1208 but died sometime between 1209 and 1210.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Smith |first1=Joshua Byron |title=Walter Map and the Matter of Britain |url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/j.ctv16t6m26 |website=Jstor |publisher=University of Pennsylvania Press |access-date=July 5, 2024 |date=2017|jstor=j.ctv16t6m26 |isbn=978-0-8122-4932-3 }}</ref><ref>{{cite web |title=Walter Map |url=https://talesofbritainandireland.com/walter-map/ |website=Tales of Britain and Ireland |date=11 April 2022 |access-date=July 5, 2024}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |title=Walter Map |url=https://www.britannica.com/biography/Walter-Map |publisher=Encyclopedia Britannica |access-date=July 5, 2024 |date=April 26, 2024}}</ref> His death is commemorated at [[Hereford Cathedral]] on 1 April.<ref name=BHOArchDOxford/>

==Writings==
A man of the world, with a large circle of courtly acquaintances, including [[Gerald of Wales]], "Map had a contemporary reputation as a wit and story teller."<ref>[https://www.jstor.org/stable/20058003 Edwards, Robert R. "Walter Map: Authorship and the Space of Writing". ''New Literary History'', vol. 38, no. 2, 2007, pp. 273–292. JSTOR]</ref> His only surviving work, ''[[De Nugis Curialium]]'' (''Trifles of Courtiers'') is a collection of anecdotes and trivia, containing court gossip and a little real history, and written in a satirical vein. "In its form hardly more than the undigested reminiscences and notes of a man of the world with a lively sense of humour, ... it is, indeed, in some sense a keen satire on the condition of church and state in the writer's own day ... [and] of considerable interest; especially noticeable are his accounts of the Templars and Hospitallers, and his sketch of the English court and kings from the reign of William II to his own time."<ref name=dnb/>

Along with [[William of Newburgh]], Map recorded the [[Medieval revenants|earliest stories]] of English [[vampires]]. The French-language [[Prose Lancelot]] cycle claims "Gautier Map" as an author, though this is contradicted by internal evidence; some scholars have suggested that he wrote a  [[Lancelot]] romance, now lost, that was the source for the later cycle. Others say that, since Map's supposed patron was the King of England, it would have been more likely for him to have written an English tale about King Arthur, Gawain or some other “English” hero, rather than a French one. Map was also said to have written a quantity of [[Goliardic poetry]], including the satirical ''[[Apocalypse of Golias]]''.

==Notes==
{{Reflist}}

==References==
* [http://british-history.ac.uk/report.aspx?compid=33570 British History Online Archdeacons of Oxford] accessed on October 28, 2007
* [http://british-history.ac.uk/report.aspx?compid=33563 British History Online Chancellors of Lincoln] accessed on October 28, 2007
* [http://british-history.ac.uk/report.aspx?compid=33562 British History Online Precentors of Lincoln] accessed on October 28, 2007
* Gransden, Antonia ''Historical writing in England, c. 550 to c. 1307'' (London: Routledge, 1974) pp.&nbsp;242–244.
* Map, Walter, and M.R. James and C.N.L. Brooke and R.A.B. Mynors. De Nugis Curialium&nbsp;— Courtiers. 6th ed. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1983.
*J.B. Smith, ''Walter Map and the Matter of Britain'', Philadelphia, University of Pennsylvania Press, 2017
*G. Candela, ''L'offerta letteraria del De nugis curialium di Walter Map. L'anatomia dell'opera e la sua proposta estetica nel contesto culturale latino, romanzo e celtico del XII secolo'', Palermo, 2019
{{catholic|title=Walter Map}}

{{DNB|wstitle=Map, Walter}}

==External links==
* [http://www.bartleby.com/211/0918.html Latin Chroniclers from the Eleventh to the Thirteenth Centuries: '''Walter Map'''] from [[The Cambridge History of English and American Literature]], Volume I, 1907–21.
* {{Librivox author |id=12433}}

{{Authority control}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Map, Walter}}
[[Category:1130 births]]
[[Category:1210s deaths]]
[[Category:12th-century English Roman Catholic priests]]
[[Category:12th-century diplomats]]
[[Category:Medieval English diplomats]]
[[Category:12th-century writers in Latin]]
[[Category:13th-century writers in Latin]]
[[Category:12th-century Welsh writers]]
[[Category:13th-century Welsh writers]]
[[Category:Arthurian legend]]
[[Category:Welsh non-fiction writers]]
[[Category:Archdeacons of Oxford]]
[[Category:University of Paris alumni]]
[[Category:English courtiers]]
[[Category:Canons (priests)]]