SOURCE: Williams, C. H. “Introduction: Giraldus and Wales.” In The Autobiography of Giraldus Cambrensis, edited and translated by H. E. Butler, pp. 9-21. London: Jonathan Cape, 1937.

In the following essay, Williams describes Gerald's significance, accomplishments, and approach to history.

The reader anxious to set Giraldus against the background of twelfth-century Wales is at a disadvantage, for in the main Giraldus himself must be his guide. Valuable and important as his writings thus become, they have to be approached with a caution that will be all the more marked the more attracted we are to the man. The amusing foibles, prejudices and weaknesses that make Giraldus a human, lovable figure are just the features most likely to rouse suspicions as to his impartiality. Before we can use him as an historical source, we have to come to an opinion about his qualifications as a writer, and to do him...