The History of Fulk Fitz Warine, an Outlawed Baron in the Reign of King John. Ed. from a Manuscript Preserved in the British Museum, with an English ... Illustrative Notes, by Thomas Wright

by Thomas Wright

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250 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1260

About the author

Thomas Wright was an English antiquarian and writer. Wright was born near Ludlow, Shropshire, descended from a Quaker family formerly living at Bradford. He was educated at Ludlow Grammar School and at Trinity College, Cambridge, whence he graduated in 1834.

While at Cambridge he contributed to the Gentleman's Magazine and other periodicals, and in 1835 he came to London to devote himself to a literary career.

His first separate work was Early English Poetry in Black Letter, with Prefaces and Notes (1836, 4 vols. 12mo), which was followed during the next forty years by an extensive series of publications, many of lasting value. He helped to found the British Archaeological Association and the Percy, Camden and Shakespeare Societies. In 1842 he was elected corresponding member of the Académie des Inscriptions et Belles Lettres of Paris, and was a fellow of the Society of Antiquaries as well as member of many other learned British and foreign bodies.

In 1859 he superintended the excavations of the Roman town of Viroconium Cornoviorum (Wroxeter), near Shrewsbury, and issued a report.

A portrait of him is in the Drawing Room Portrait Gallery for 1 October 1859.

He was a great scholar, but will be chiefly remembered as an industrious antiquary and the editor of many relics of the Middle Ages.

Reviews

[joan · Rating 3 out of 5]

It’s certainly an interesting genre, veering freely between the details of local military politics and extravagant transnational fantasy. Baron Munchausen might be a rival. But 70 pages is quite enough.

[Henri Moreaux · Rating 2 out of 5]

This book is the 1904 translation of an Anglo-Norman (early french) manuscript held in the British Library. It is believed to be penned by a monk in the 13th century, there is some uncertainty over whether or not the monk in the 13th century was writing the manuscript or copying the manuscript from another source.

Disputed as a biography it contains definite embellishment (most notably when Fulk Fitz-Warine fights a dragon) however whether this is merely embellishment or total fictionalisation hasn't been confirmed. At any rate there is definite proven factual points in the book, some possible conjecture, and some definite fiction.

Moving onto the writing itself, being a translation of an early manuscript it's rather rigid language which at times is rather inaccessible. The book is interesting from a history perspective however in terms of the actual enjoyment of reading it is rather dry and lacklustre.