De Nugis Curialium
De Nugis Curialium is the major surviving work of the
12th century Latin author
Walter Map. He was an
English courtier of
Welsh descent, probably born in
Herefordshire, whose studies and employment took him to
Canterbury,
Paris,
Rome and to several royal and noble courts of western Europe. The book takes the form of a series of anecdotes of people and places, offering many sidelights on the history of his own time. Some are from personal knowledge, and apparently reliable; others represent popular rumours about history and current events, and are often far from the truth.
Distinctio prima
* A comparison of royal courts with Hell; Hell and its mythical inhabitants
* Courtiers and serfs (including a conversation with
Ranulf de Glanvill)
* The legendary King
Herla and the origins of the
Wild Hunt* Tale of an early king of
Portugal (probably
Afonso I or
Sancho I) who had his wife murdered
* Anecdotes of the poet
Giscard de Beaulieu and of another
Cluniac monk
* The capture of
Jerusalem by
Saladin on
2nd October 1187* Founding of the
Carthusian Order* Founding of the
Order of Grandmont by
Saint Stephen of Muret* Founding of the
Knights Templar by
Hugues de Payens with anecdotes of their early years
* The
senex Axasessis or
Old Man of the Mountain, founder of the
Assassins* Founding of the
Knights Hospitaller* Foundation of the
Cistercian Order with anecdotes of
Stephen Harding,
Bernard of Clairvaux and
Arnold of Brescia* Further anecdotes of the Cistercians,
Benedictines, Grandmontines and Carthusians
*
Gilbert of Sempringham and his Order
* The heretic or robber bands known as
Routiers, Brabantians or Brabazons
* The heretics called
Publicans and
Patarines; this section includes a tale of devil-worship which illustrates the development of medieval ideas of witchcraft
[Ruickbie, 2004, p. 68]* Narrative of a meeting with the
Waldensians, who had come to the
Third Lateran Council at
Rome in 1179 to petition
Pope Alexander III for the right to preach
* Story told by Philip of Naples of a meeting in
Montenegro with three hermits, a Frenchman, an Englishman and a Scot
Distinctio secunda
* Anecdote of Gregory, a monk of Gloucester
* Anecdotes of
Peter of Tarentaise* A meeting with
Luke of Hungary (afterwards
archbishop of Esztergom) at
Gerard la Pucelle's lectures at the
University of Paris; Luke's later encounters with the warring royal family of Hungary,
Géza II, his sons
István III and
Béla III and brothers
László II and
István IV, as told to Walter Map by
Hugh of le Mans,
bishop of Acre* Welsh religious practices, as exemplified by
William de Braose, Lord of Abergavenny* Helya, a Welsh hermit in the
Forest of Dean* Tale about
Cadoc, Welsh king and saint
* Tale of the Welshman Gwestin Gwestiniog and his fairy bride; the tale of their son Triunein Vagelauc, his service at the court of the king of
Deheubarth, and an attack on King
Brychan of
Brycheiniog* Tales of
Wild Edric, his fairy bride, and their son Alnoth; with a brief discussion of
incubi and
succubi* Brief meditation on fantastic narratives and their theological implications
* Tale of
demonic infanticide* Tale of
Saint Anthony, who encountered both a
centaur and (apparently)
Pan while searching for
Saint Paul* Anecdote about an unknown knight at a
tournament in
Louvain* The legendary fighter Gado and a supposed Roman invasion of
Offa's kingdom
* Tales of
Andronicus I Comnenus* Gillescop the Scot
* The Welsh and their hospitality
* Tales of King Llywelyn and his wife; with a reminiscence of a discussion of the Welsh between Walter Map and
Thomas Becket* Tales from South Wales: Conan the Fearless, Cheveslin the Thief, and a story from
Hay-on-Wye*
Vampire tales, citing
Gilbert Foliot and
Roger, bishop of Worcester*
Vampire tale from the
Historia Caroli Magni (pseudo-Turpin)
* The benefits of not following proverbial advice
Distinctio tertia
* The friendship of Sadius and Galo
* The quarrels of Parius and Lausus
* The story of Raso the
vavasour and his wife
* The story of Rollo and his wife
Distinctio quarta
* Autobiographical prologue and "epilogue"
* Copy of the letter (sometimes found among the works of Saint
Jerome) in which Valerius advises Rufinus against marriage
* Story of the boy Eudo deceived by the Devil
* Story of a
Cluniac monk (already told in
Distinctio prima)
* Story of a knight of "Lesser Britain" (i.e.,
Brittany) who rescued his dead wife from the
fairies (retold from
Distinctio secunda)
* Story of Henno-with-the-Teeth (probably the Norman nobleman
Hamo Dentatus) and his
Melusine-like wife
* Story of
Wild Edric and his fairy bride; with a description of their interview with
King William I (retold from
Distinctio secunda but including details not found in the earlier account)
* Story of Gerbert of Aurillac (
Pope Sylvester II) deceived by the Devil
* Story of the cobbler of
Constantinople* Story of the
merman Nicholas Pipe; anecdotes about phantom herds of animals; story of King
Herla (already told in
Distinctio prima); a brief satire on the court of King
Henry II* Story of Salius
* Story of Alan, so-called King of
Brittany (apparently
Alan Fergant)
* Story of the merchants Sceva and Ollo
Distinctio quinta
* Prologue; reflections on fame and the
chansons de geste* Story of the unidentified Apollonides,
rex in partibus occidentis ("a king of the western regions")
* Life and character of
Godwin, Earl of Wessex* Life of
Canute the Great and his dealings with Godwin
*
Henry I of England and
Louis VI of France* The death of
William II of England,
regum pessimus ("the worst of kings");
Map's first-hand account of the character of
King Henry II; and
Map's description of his own running dispute with Henry's illegitimate son
Geoffrey* A satirical comparison of the court of
King Henry II with
Hell (essentially a rough draft of the opening of
Distinctio prima). This concluding chapter begins with a citation of the words of
Saint Augustine: "I am in the world and I speak of the world, but I do not know what the world is".
* Antonia Gransden,
Historical writing in England, c. 550 to c. 1307 (London: Routledge, 1974) pp. 242-244.
* Leo Ruickbie,
Witchcraft Out of the Shadows: A Complete History. Robert Hale, 2004.
*
Gualteri Mapes De nugis curialium distinctiones quinque ed. Thomas Wright. London: Camden Society, 1850 (Latin text).
* Walter Map,
De nugis curialium ed. M. R. James. Oxford, 1914.
Anecdota Oxoniensia, Medieval and modern series, 6 (Latin text).
*
Walter Map's De nugis curialium tr. M. R. James. 1923.
Cymmrodorion Record Series no. 9 (translation).
* Walter Map.
De nugis curialium. Ed. and tr. M. R. James, C. N. L. Brooke, and R. A. B. Mynors. Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1983. (Latin text and facing-page English translation).
