Robert of Gloucester

Victoria Shirley (Cardiff University)

Ed. by Natalie Hanna, University of Liverpool
The Literary Encyclopedia. Volume 1.2.1.02: English Writing and Culture: High and Late Medieval, 1066-1485.
Vol. editors: Kate Ash-Irisarri (University of Edinburgh), Rory Critten (Université de Lausanne), David Fuller (University of Durham), Natalie Hanna (University of Liverpool), Hugh Magennis (Queen's University Belfast), Jamie McKinstry (University of Durham), Sarah Peverley (University of Liverpool), Sebastian Sobecki (Rijksuniversiteit Groningen)

Dates

Born c. 1260
Died c. 1300
Activity 1280-c. 1300

Places

Born in England
Active in England

Activities

Primary

Historian / Chronicler

Resources

Very little is known about the medieval historian Robert of Gloucester (fl. c. 1260–c. 1300) who is credited as the author of a thirteenth-century English metrical chronicle that survives in two separate versions. Composed sometime between 1272 and 1307, Robert of Gloucester’s Chronicle is an important source of thirteenth-century history, particularly for the rebellion of Simon de Montfort and the Second Barons’ War (1264-7). According to an entry in the ‘longer’ version of the Chronicle, Robert was a witness at the Battle of Evesham (1265), and he recounts the ‘dark weder’ (l. 11,742) that followed Montfort’s defeat:

An vewe dropes of reine     þer velle grete inou
Þis tokninge vel in þis lond     þo me þis men slou
Ver þretti mile þanne     þis isei roberd
Þat verst þis boc made     & was wel...

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2054 words

Citation: Shirley, Victoria. "Robert of Gloucester". The Literary Encyclopedia. First published 15 June 2021 [https://www.litencyc.com/php/speople.php?rec=true&UID=3805, accessed 09 June 2026.]